集权礼制阶段是中华传统礼制演化中一个完整的发展时期。它是以大一统专制主义的中央集权为政治基础，以小农经济为经济基础，以儒家思想为理论基础，以五礼为形式，以伸张皇权为主要内容的国家礼仪制度。集权礼制可分为四个发展阶段：秦统一到隋朝是形成阶段，唐宋是成熟阶段，元明清（道光前）是衰变阶段，道咸以降到民国政府是集权礼制的转型阶段。四个阶段具体表现不同，各阶段的特点也非常明显。道咸以降西风东渐日趋明显，近代工业在中国萌发并迅速成长，尤其是西方思想、礼仪与中华传统礼制扞格不入，都促使中华传统礼制进行变革，然而由于各种原因，中华传统礼制没有完成现代转型。

The centralized ritual system has constituted an important period in the evolvement of Chinese traditional rituals. It is a national ritual system with centralized power in despotism as its political foundation, small-scale peasant economy as its economic foundation, Confucianism as its theoretical foundation, five rituals as its forms and upholding imperial power as its content. The centralized ritual system can be divided into four stages:the forming stage from the founding of the Qin Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, the mature stage in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the declining stage in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties (before the reign of Emperor Daoguang) and the transition stage from the reigns of Emperors Daoguang and Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty to the period of the Republic of China. The four stages manifest in apparently different ways and thus their features are distinctive. Along with the growing trend of the eastward spread of Western culture since the reigns of Emperors Daoguang and Xianfeng, modern industry started and developed at a rapid rate in China. The departure of Chinese traditional rituals from Western rituals and ideas forced Chinese traditional rituals to reform. However, due to various reasons, Chinese traditional ritual system has not accomplished its modern transition.