Abstract: Altar head，or“She shou”，also called “Wei shou”， “She ling”，“She tou”and “She zhang”in Shanxi Zezhou，was the leader of the Altar ( She) ，which was a ceremonial unit and civil autonomous organizations in North China． According to the stele inscriptions，altar heads had different serving terms． The long-term altar heads generally implement a system of rotation of 4 persons in every 3 years and were elected collectively by the villagers． The short-term altar heads，also called altar supervisors，were usually appointed by the long-term altar head on occasion of public facilities constructions． The identity of She Shou are more complex． Existing data shows that about 1 /10 of them comes from the lower gentry，and the rest are mostly ordinary villagers． During the Qing Dynasty，altar heads hosted seasonal sacrificial ceremonies，the management of village temples，the settlement of ordinary disputes，and coordination of supra-village relationships．