The ancestral temple in Beijing was built in the 18th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (1420). It was rebuilt many times in Jiajing, Wanli and Shunzhi years, and was greatly renovated in the first year of Qianlong (1736), which lasted for four years. Before Qianlong abdicated, the Sanjindian and its affiliated buildings were expanded. According to the principle of "left ancestors and right houses", the shape is completely imitated by Nanjing ancestral hall. The ancestral temple was built in the left front of the Forbidden City, that is, in the southeast, and the social altar (now Zhongshan Park) was in the right front. The ancestral hall is the ancestral hall where the Ming and Qing emperors sacrificed their ancestors, covering an area of 6.5438+0.4 million square meters. Red walls on three sides, surrounded by layers of pine and cypress, set off a magnificent and orderly building. The incense hall, located on the central axis, is the place where the emperor holds big sacrifices, the bedroom is the place where the empress dowager is worshipped, and the temple is the place where the emperor's ancestors are worshipped.

The ancestral temple in Beijing has experienced two great changes in history. In the fourth year of Hongzhi (149 1), a temple was built after sleeping to house the memorial tablet of the emperor's distant ancestors, which was the first change. The second change took place in the 14th year of Jiajing (1544), and the ancestral hall was transformed into nine independent temples by Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty. Only five years later, except Zong Rui, the father of Ming Shizong, all the other nine temples were burned down. In the 22nd year of Jiajing, due to the limited area of ancestral temple, Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty decided to restore the original appearance, that is, all the memorial tablets of emperors below Ming Taizu were concentrated in one sleeping hall, which took two years to complete. This is the ancestral temple that has been preserved to this day, and it has a history of more than 460 years.