From Temple Ritual System to Visual Governance: Ritual Space and Moral Order in Ming-Qing Ancestral Hall Murals in Shanxi

Duan Meng; Lee Hoi Yeh

doi:10.47297/wsprolaadWSP2634-786526.20260701

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From Temple Ritual System to Visual Governance: Ritual Space and Moral Order in Ming-Qing Ancestral Hall Murals in Shanxi

Volume 7, Issue 1

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From Temple Ritual System to Visual Governance: Ritual Space and Moral Order in Ming-Qing Ancestral Hall Murals in Shanxi
From Temple Ritual System to Visual Governance: Ritual Space and Moral Order in Ming-Qing Ancestral Hall Murals in Shanxi
Faculty of Arts, Sustainability and Creative Industry(FSKIK), Sultan Idris Education University(UPSI), Tanjung Malim, Perak, 35900, Malaysia
Vol. 7, Issue 1, Pages: 119-128(2026)
Published：28 February 2026
DOI：10.47297/wsprolaadWSP2634-786526.20260701
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Meng Duan,Yeh Lee Hoi.From Temple Ritual System to Visual Governance: Ritual Space and Moral Order in Ming-Qing Ancestral Hall Murals in Shanxi[J].Research on Literary and Art Development,2026,07(01):119-128.
DOI：

Meng Duan,Yeh Lee Hoi.From Temple Ritual System to Visual Governance: Ritual Space and Moral Order in Ming-Qing Ancestral Hall Murals in Shanxi[J].Research on Literary and Art Development,2026,07(01):119-128. DOI： 10.47297/wsprolaadWSP2634-786526.20260701.

摘要

Abstract

This study takes the murals of twelve Ming-Qing ancestral halls (1550–1850) in Shanxi as the core

adopting multi-source evidence including literature and archive retrieval

film and video data analysis

and field investigations in museums and heritage institutions to explore how ancestral hall murals translate the national temple ritual system into local clan's "visual governance" technology. The results show that through the threefold mechanism of "ritual choreography—moral demonstration—cyclical display"

the murals transform abstract Confucian order into a spatial script that can be repeatedly watched

practiced and updated

enabling clans far from the capital to continuously perform the ritual order recognized by the state. Theoretically

this study expands the media dimension of "visual governance"; methodologically

it demonstrates the mutual verification path of archive-image-collection evidence; and it provides a new perspective for understanding the "state-society" interaction in pre-modern China.

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references

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