對於帝王祭祀而言，古代禮經中僅有一些似明又晦的文本，不易析出運作準則，故在帝制之初各項祀典正逐漸興立時，唯帝王祭祀未能形成制。帝王祭祀制度約在帝制建立之後的七百年，即北魏孝文帝時才粗具規模，經過漫長的凝成與建置，終於也緩步發展出一套獨特的祭祀模式。其中的建置與變化，絕大部分的動力都是出自於帝王本身，因此兩千年的古代帝王祭祀史，可說是歷朝皇帝陸續建構而成的，不僅標誌著歷朝皇帝對先代帝王的禮敬，也傳達出對權位與統緒所做的自我詮釋。 本文從明太祖營建京師帝王廟談起，明太祖的合廟京師成為歷史上的創舉，在崇德報功的禮敬之外，也為自己的政權在大歷史中確立承先啟後的樞紐地位。接著，回溯自秦以後的歷代帝王祭祀，對兩千餘年的發展軌跡做縱向的考察，據祭祀形式與規制變化，區分為五個發展階段，分別討論各時期對前代帝立是如何禮敬追記。進而，從外在具體制度的變化，探究蘊含於祭祀制度之內的思維概念，分析各時期所組合不同的祭祀對象，可反射出帝王內心所欲塑造的「帝王意象」；再者，觀察歷代帝王如何通過祭祀儀式，對於自身源於帝制傳承而建構的「帝統意識」，破先秦的經典中已立堯、舜、禹、湯、文、武為一脈的統緒，使帝王之統得以延伸解釋。

Regarding the imperial sacrifice, there are only some obscure texts recorded in the Chinese Classics that makes the task of analyzing its operation principles difficult. At the beginning of the imperial system, various sacrificial ceremonies are gradually springing up except the imperial sacrifice that has however not been established. Not until seven hundred years after the establishment of the imperial system, at the time of Hsiaowen Emperor（孝文帝）of the Northern Wei Dynasty, has the imperial sacrifice system begun to take shape. After a long period of consolidation and construction, at last the imperial sacrifice has slowly developed a unique model of its own. Among those constructions and changes, most of the motivations come from the emperors themselves. Therefore, the two-thousand-year imperial sacrifice history is fair to be seen as constructions of generations of emperors through the history. It not only symbolized the respect from those emperors to their imperial ancestors but also conveys their sense of self-interpretation toward power and succession. This paper starts by talking about Ming Taizu’s (明太祖) building the Imperial Temple in the capital city. his capital-based Imperial Temple that combines spirits of the ancestors together has become an initiative throughout the history. In addition to show the respect of honoring merits and virtues, the initiative has also established his dominant position in the history of carrying on the heritage from the past and opening up the future of his political power. Then, this paper traces back the history of the imperial sacrifice to the times as early as Qin Dynasty to conduct a vertical probe on its development for more than two thousand years, and based on the sacrifice form and regulation change to divide the development into five stages to discuss how former emperors are respected and commemorated in different times respectively; furthermore, from observing the external practical change of the sacrificial system, to discuss the thinking concept that is contained in the system as well as to analyze those different combinations of objects receiving sacrifices in teach period so as to reflect what “imperial image” (帝王意象) that emperors desire to shape in their minds; and to observe how emperors in the history through sacrificial ceremonies treat the “consciousness of imperial convention” (帝統意識) that they inherit from the imperial system and break through from the already existed succession of Yao (堯), Shun (舜), Yu (禹), Tang (湯), Wen (文), Wu (武) in the book of Pre-Qin Dynasty to expand the meaning of imperial succession.