宗祧制度主要是有關古代王公貴族暨卿士世家為祖先設置祭祀場所，含宗、廟、祧、壇、墠等在規格及數量上的限制，並含祖先的昭穆和親族後嗣親疏次第等事項；宗祧制度因此亦關係到古代王公貴族暨卿士世家的繼承制度。在傳世的文獻中，有關先秦時代的宗祧制度大多散見於儒家子弟的著作，特別是在《禮》書之中；不過在出土的文物中，亦存有許多與先秦宗祧制度相關的資料。在下文中，作者先對先秦時代宗、祧、廟這三個字的本義予以考證，然後進入宗祧制度面的討論－含釐清禮家所言四、五、七廟制各說的內涵、檢驗其歷史真實性、查考其成說的部件和時代，並探討商周兩代宗祧制的因革等議題。在結語中，作者對各項發見作了一個綜述。
The Zong-tiao System was about the rules and regulations of the ancestral temples of the royal and feudal houses during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and the records thereof were mainly kept in the writings of Confucius disciples during the pre-qin period. In this essay, the author first elucidates the original meanings of the words zong and tiao, and then starts to do research works on the contents of the so-called 4, 5, 7 temples theories by these Confucius disciples. The author then examines the historicity of these theories and finds out the components forming these theories. The author also makes a study on the relative phenomenon during the Shang Dynasty and investigates the possible system connections between the two dynasties. Finally, in the Summary of this paper, the author presents all his findings.
