The Yongzheng Emperor Offering Sacrifices at the Altar of the God of Agriculture (detail), by anonymous court artists, 1723—35. Handscroll, colour on silk. The Palace Museum, Beijing.
Ritual
In a state with a multitude of different peoples religious belief and practice were necessarily diverse. Shamanism, the original belief-system of the Manchus, was practiced alongside Buddhism while Confucian Court ritual was essential to the legitimacy of the Qing dynasty. There were two major types of ritual. The first comprised offerings made to dead emperors by their descendents. Offerings were made to spirit tablets which were set on thrones and meant to embody the dead ancestor. The other major group of rituals involved seasonal and annual offerings at the altars of Heaven, Earth, Sun and Moon, Agriculture and Silk.
