西周時期，「皇天」作為超越時空的絕對至上神，不與「土」或「地」相對。春秋或戰國早期，「皇天后土」一詞出現，它最初是天地神靈的意思，作為人格神監視著人間的活動，同時它也是天地信仰觀念的標誌。在漢代，皇天后土也被理解為一種陰陽關係，在天父地母的觀念下，后土被女性化，成為一種地母神。漢武帝創立並親臨的甘泉泰畤、汾陰后土祭祀成為西漢最為重要的國家祭祀。泰畤、后土祭祀也被理解為一種天地祭祀，泰一相當於皇天。匡衡、王莽主張的南北郊祭祀，開始以《周禮》、《禮記》等儒家經典來規範統一政權的天地祭祀，在時間上天地祭祀與冬夏至及陰陽交合密切聯繫起來，這對後世影響深遠。

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, “Huangtian” (Heaven-Lord), as the absolute supreme god transcend time and space, was not opposite to “Tu” (土) or “Di” (地). In the Spring and Autumn Period or the early Warring States Period, the term “Heaven-Lord and Earth-Goddess” appeared, which originally meant the gods of heaven and earth. As a personality god monitored the activities of the human world, it was also the symbol of the belief concept of heaven and earth. In the Han Dynasty, “Heaven-Lord and Earth-Goddess” was also understood as a yin-yang relationship. Under the concept of “the heaven is father and the earth is mother”, the Earth-Goddess was feminized and became a Goddess of “Di”. The “Ganquan-taizhi” (甘泉泰畤) and “Fenyin-houtu” (汾陰后土) which Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty founded and attended were the most important state fiesta in the Western Han Dynasty. “Ganquan-taizhi” and “Fenyin-houtu” were also understood heaven and earth Fiesta, “Taiyi” (name of a god in legend) was equivalent to Heaven-Lord. The southern and northern suburbs sacrifice advocated by Kuang Heng (匡衡) and Wang Mang (王莽) began to use Confucian classics such as Rites of Zhou and Records of Rites to regulate the heaven and earth sacrifice of the unified regime. In terms of time, the heaven and earth sacrifice were closely related to the winter and summer solstice and the combination of Yin and Yang, which had a profound influence on later generations.