The Temple of Heaven, situated in southeastern Beijing, is the largest extant sacrificial temp in China as well as in the world. The construction work began in 1406 and ended in 1420 during the region of Emperor Yongle in the Ming Dynasty. It used to be the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped Heaven and prayed for good harvests. Every year they visited the temple three times: on the 8th day of the first lunar month to pray for a good harvest; on the summer Solstice to pray for abundant rainfall; and on the Winter Solstice to worship Heaven.
The Temple of Heaven is the general name for both Yuanqiutan(Round Altar) and Qiniandian(the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests). Covering a total area of 273 hectares, the park was surrounded by walls to the north and east. According to the ancient Chinese belief that the Heaven is round and the earth is square, the temple halls were designed as round and the bases are square.
The park was first opened to the public in the 1918 after renovation. Nowadays, it has become a favourite relaxing place for the elders where they can do morning exercise and practise calligraphy and painting.
Zhaigong - Hall of Abstinence
Zhaigong, the Hall of Abstinence, is located near the western entrance of the Temple of Heaven. It is encircled by two walls. The inner wall is called Purple Wall, and the outer one is called the Brick City. To further ensure the safety of the emperor, a moat was built to surround the Purple Wall.
A beamless hall and tow stone pavilions are the main structures here. The beamless hall was one of the famous buildings in Beijing. A blue-tiled roof atop the hall symbolized that the emperor must always acknowledge the Supremacy of the Heavenly Emperor. Of the two stone pavilions, the left pavilion keeps time while the right one has a bronze plate with “Rules of the Fast” engraved on it as a constant reminder to the emperor to observe fasting rules.
Yuanqiutan - The Round Altar
The Round Altar originally functioned as a sacrificial site for the emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is composed of white marble arrayed in three tiers, which was said to symbolize the Hell, the Mortal World and the Heaven from the bottom to the top respectively.
As odd numbers were considered heavenly and the nine is the largest single digit odd number, the number of stairs and balustrades here are multiples of nine. At the center of the top tier there lays a round stone called Tianxingshi(Heaven’s Heart Stone), which is surrounded by nine rings of stones, each composed of multiples of nine stones, so that there are altogether 81 stones. If you stand in the center of the upper terrace and talk, you will hear the echo of your voice because the balustrades send the sound waves back to the center.
Huangqiongyu - Imperial Vault of Heaven
First built in 1530 and restored in 1752, the Imperial vault of Heaven used to be a place to house the tablet of Huangtian Shangdi (the Supreme Ruler of the Universe) and the tablets of the emperor’s ancestors that were used in the Winter Solstice ceremony. With 19.5 meters in height and 15.6 meters in diameter, the circular building looks like an umbrella parachuting form the sky. Today, the interior decoration still remains to its original form.
Huiyinbi - Echo Wall
The wall surrounding the Imperial Vault of Heaven is the well-known Huiyinbi (Echo Wall). It is 193.2 meters in circumference, 3.7 meters high, 90 centimeters thick and 65.1 meters in diameter. What is interesting for the wall is that if one person speaks or even whispers at one end, the other would be able to hear rather clearly on the other end. This is probably because the eaves of the wall and the hermetically laid bricks make human voice “travel” round the wall easily.
Outside the west section of the Echo Wall is an ancient cypress, whose trunk twists like nine rising dragons, hence named Jiulongbai (Nine-Dragon Cypress). According to authentication, it was planted during the Liao or Jin period(916-1234) and has lived nearly 1,000 years. As the oldest cypress in Beijing City, it is now still flourishing.
Qiniandian - The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest
Situated on a three-tiered marble terrace, Qiniandian is a circular wooden structure with a unique architectural style. Once a place where emperors of Ming and Qing dynasties came to pray for good harvests, the hall looks both august and splendid with it saffire blue glazed tiles rooftops and exquisite interior designs.
Supported by 28 massive wooden pillars and other accessories, like bars, lathes, joint and rafters, the 32 meter high and 30 meter in diameter hall stands well since it was built. Besides, all the arrangements inside are symbolic: four 19-meter high pillars amid the hall dividing the space into four parts, representing the four seasons; the second ring of 12 pillars symbolizing the 12 months; while the third ring pillars representing the divisions of day and night.
The dominate feature of the hall is the patterns of its decoration, depicting mainly the dragon and the phoenix, which refers to the emperors and empresses respectively. Although hit by a lighting bolt in 1889 and some pictures are blurred, it’s still eye-catching.
In the Temple of Heaven there are many other things that are well worth a visit, e.g. Sanyinshi (Triple Sound Stone), Danbiqiao (Bridge of Cinnabar steps), Huangqiandian(Hall of Imperial Heaven), Changlang(Long Corridor), Qixingshi(Seven start stone), Fanlu(Sacrifice Burner), Yikan (Sacrifice Burial Ground), Tieliaolu(Iron Burner) and Shuanghuan Wanshouting(Double Pavilions of Longevity).
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