Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven, situated in southeastern part of Beijing, is the largest heaven-worshipping architecture in the world. It is first built in 1420 in the Ming Dynasty during the time when the Forbidden City was constructed. The Temple of Heaven encompassing 273 hectares .The perimeter of the Temple of Heaven is 6,369 meters with the wall 6 meters high. The Temple of Heaven was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.

The temple was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped heaven and prayed for good harvests. They came here twice a year, on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month and on Winter Solstice. All the Chinese Emperors paid strong veneration to heaven for they believed that the heaven could dominate and dictate everything in the human world. In order to tell people that their imperial divine power as the "Son of Heaven", they showed great concern over the rituals the construction of the construction for the Heaven worship.

At first, both heaven and earth were worshipped here. After 1530 when the Temple of Earth was built in the northern suburbs, only heaven was worshipped in this temple. The north part of the temple looks like a roundness and the south is like a square which reflected an ancient Chinese thought of The heaven is round and the earth is square'. It is divided into the Inner Temple (Neitan) and the Outer Temple (Waitan) by a double wall. Main buildings assemble in the inner part, including the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests(Qiniandian), the Hall of Imperial Zenith (Huangqiandian), the Circular Mound Altar(Huanqiutan), the Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huangqiongyu),  and Long Corridor (Changlang) etc. Temple of Heaven combines the architecture technology of Ming and Qing Dynasties together.
 

Main Sightseeing in Temple of Heaven
The Circular Mound Altar has three layered terraces with white marble. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 AD - 1911 AD), the emperors would offer sacrifice to Heaven on the day of the Winter Solstice every year. This ceremony was to thank Heaven and hope everything would be good in the future. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is a big palace with round roof and three layers of eaves. The roof is covered with black, yellow and green colored glaze representing the heavens, the earth and everything on earth. Inside the Hall are 28 huge pillars. The four pillars along the inner circle represent four seasons-spring, summer, autumn and winter; the 12 pillars along the middle circle represent the 12 months; and 12 pillars along the outer circle symbolizing the 12 divisions of the day and night or the 12 two-hour period in Chinese.  Another important building in Temple of Heaven is Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you look at it from far away, you will find that the Vault is like a blue umbrella with gold head. The structure was made of bricks and timber. The Vault was used to place memorial tablets of Gods.

The Red Stairway Bridge connects the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The south end of the Bridge is lower than its north end. The emperors in the past believed that they could go to heaven through this Bridge, which is why this bridge is also called Sacred Way. A Yulu Route and a Wanglu Route are on two sides of the Sacred Way. The former one is only for the emperors to walk on and the later one is for the princes and the high officials to pass.

Three Triple-sound Stone is outside of the gate of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you speak facing the Vault while standing on the first stone, you will hear one echo; standing on the second and then the third stone, you will hear two and three echoes respectively.

The Echo Wall is a circular wall surrounding the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Built of polished bricks, the wall is 3.7 meters high,90 centimeters thick and 193.2 meters long with three gates to the south. If one person speaks in his normal voice or even whispers at any point close to the wall, the wall will send the sound traveling along the wall,so another person can be able to hear the voice clearly at the other end. The phenomenon utilizes the theory of sound wave.

Besides carefully designed buildings, there are also some other scenes that you can enjoy like Nine-Dragon Cypress. It got its name from branches which look like nine dragons wind with each other. It was said that the cypress was planted more than 500 years ago. Really, a grandfather tree!

Here are 2 Temple of Heaven tour routes for you:
Beijing Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace Day Tour by Bus for $30
Beijing Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven Private Day Tour from $52