祧
ancestral temple; inheritance
Meanings
2 senses · 5 examplesnoun
ancestral temple for distant ancestors; inheritance of the main family line
archaicIn ancient Chinese clan systems, the tiāo was the temple dedicated to sacrifices for distant ancestors (beyond the four generations kept in the main ancestral hall). The term later extended to mean the inheritance of the family line, particularly in the compound 兼祧 (simultaneously inheriting two family lines).
Ancient ritual systems stipulated that when kinship bonds were exhausted, the spirit tablets would be moved and stored in the tiāo temple.
He simultaneously inherited two family lines, continuing the family line of both his elder uncle and his father.
verb
to move ancestral spirit tablets of distant generations into the main ancestral temple
archaicIn traditional ancestral worship, when an ancestor became sufficiently distant (typically after five generations), their spirit tablet would be ritually moved (tiāo) into the temple of a more distant ancestor. An ancestor who was never moved (不祧之祖) was considered a founding or particularly revered ancestor.
When kinship bonds were exhausted, the tablets would be moved—this was an important regulation of ancient clan systems.
Confucius is revered as an 'immovable ancestor' whose status is never transferred.
Show 1 more exampleShow fewer examples
After five generations, the tablets would be moved, transferring the spirit tablets of ancestors above the great-great-grandfather into the tiāo temple.