This term has two meanings. One is a grand sacrificial ceremony held in ancient times by an emperor after ascending to the top of Mount Taishan to pay tribute to heaven and earth, announce his achievements, thank gods for having brought him and his people good fortune, and inscribe his achievements on a huge stone. He performed this ceremony to declare to the world that his power was bestowed by Heaven. A heaven-worshipping ceremony was held on an earthen terrace on the top of Mount Taishan. An earth-worshipping ceremony was held on a clearing on the Liangfu or the Yunyun Hill near Mount Taishan. According to legend, the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors, hero Yu who brought floods under control, King Tang of the Shang Dynasty, King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty (?-1043 BC) all held such ceremonies during their reigns. After the founding of the Qin Dynasty, only the First Emperor of Qin (259-210 BC), Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (156-87 BC), and Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (5 BC-AD 57) held such ceremonies on Mount Taishan. The other meaning of this term is an ode composed to urge the emperor to hold such a sacrificial ceremony or to record its actual process if a sacrificial ceremony was held to extol his achievements. Such an ode was first written by Sima Xiangru (179?-118 BC) of the Western Han Dynasty. Liu Xie (465?-520) of the Southern Dynasties held that the ode, as a declaration of royal achievement in its era, should be solemn, grand, factual, eloquent and graceful. To extol an emperor's greatness and the miraculous power of heaven and earth, the author should select old yet lucid words from the classics, or use new words rich in implication. He should give free rein to his imagination. Sacrificial odes later became standard commemorative speeches. Liu Xie's requirements, when observed, may help boost the image or morale of a company, a governmental or cultural institution, a region or even the whole country. Good ceremonial speeches, poems or essays can become representative writings of a particular era.

Sima Xiangru's “The Sacrificial Ceremony” is well-structured yet not sufficiently graceful. Yang Xiong's “The Tyrannical Qin and the Benevolent New Regime” is graceful yet not sufficiently factual. However, both of these writings have been passed down for generations as classics. (Ban Gu: A Commentary on Sacrificial Ceremonies)

An ode to sacrificial ceremony is representative of an era. Before committing one's thought to paper, one should grasp its essence. He should draw upon the tenets of The Book of History to develop the basic structure of the writing and the terms from the masterpieces of old times to enrich the expressions, thus making his writing refined yet understandable, novel yet not superficial. If an ode to sacrificial ceremony is appealing in content and grand in style, it will be truly a great work. (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)