Soil and grain

Soil and grain was a common Chinese political term in the Sinosphere for the state. Shejitan, the altars of soil and grain, were constructed alongside ancestral altars. Chinese monarchs of the Ming and Qing dynasties performed ceremonies of soil and grain to affirm their sovereignty at the Beijing Shejitan.

During the Chinese Warring States period, ministers defied their rulers by claiming a greater loyalty to the "soil and grain".

A similar concept to sheji is that of the earth deities Tudi and Houtu. It is also linked to Sheshen or deities which are sometimes directly called soil (社)

Houtu is the overlord of all the Tudigongs ("Lord of Local Land"), Sheji ("the State"), Shan Shen ("God of Mountains"), City Gods ("God of Local City"), and landlord gods world wide.

In other cultures
Korean monarchs of the Joseon dynasty did so at the Seoul Sajikdan. It has also been rendered "gods of soil and grain" in English, owing to its associations of prayer and supernatural possibilities.

Sheji altar
Sheji altars (社稷坛) are altars dedicated to soil and grain. Beijing Shejitan is the most famous example