the temple of heaven

the temple of heaven is situated in the southern part of the city. it was built in 1420, encompassing 273 hectares (674 acres). the perimeter of the temple of heaven is 6,369 metres with 6 metres high.

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. 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 temple of heaven is regarded as one of the greatest architectural structures in the world. some environmental artists and gardeners describe the temple as a place where people can talk to the heaven. in beijing, four imperial temples were built during the ming and qing dynasties (1368-1911). at the southern end of the city axis is the temple of heaven. it is the most important of the four. the other three are the altar of the earth in the north, the altar of the moon in the west, and the altar of the sun in the east just behind the beijing friendship store. all of them are still standing, but the temple of heaven is the largest group of temple buildings of its kind in china, nearly four times larger than the forbidden city. the whole building complex was designed in a way that makes you feel close to heaven. in making the heaven-like structures, the designers made good use of colour, sound, geometric figures of the circle and the square, and changes in height. the combination of building and garden help make it appear mysterious and magical.

the temple's architecture has two themes. one is "on the earth," while the other is "in the heaven.' the square-shaped palace for fasting in the west of the temple appears like a "forbidden city" in smaller size. the circular shaped qiniandian (hall of prayer for good harvests) and huanqiu (circular mound altar) are thought to have been connected with heaven. this symbolizes the second theme, which dominates the whole temple.

in imperial days, the chinese people believed that the sky was in circular shape and the earth was square. on the basis of this traditional concept, the circle was widely adopted in the design of the temple's main buildings. it is in accord with people's imagination of heaven.

nowadays, there are more than 100,000 trees of various kinds, of which 60,000 are evergreen pines. out of 60, 000 pines, 2, 566 are ancient cypresses. of these ancient trees, 100 trees reach the age of more than 1,000 years. the temple of heaven has the most ancient trees in beijing.

after the completion of the temple of heaven in 1420 in more than 500 years until the qing dynasty, 22 emperors made 654 sacrifices to heaven in the temple of heaven.

in ancient china, sacrifice to heaven by people has a history of about 5,000 years. it originated from natural worship. people thought that everything was dominated by heaven due to underdeveloped science in ancient china. ancient chinese hoped that heaven could help them by sacrifice. this objectively reflected the people's wishes to nature. but emperor regarded, sacrifice to heaven as his patent and tried to consolidate his rule through sacrifice to heaven. in ancient china dozens of temples of heaven were built and only the temple of heaven in beijing is still standing. it is the largest architectural group of buildings and unique in the world today. the republic of china (1912-1949) in 1912 abolished the activities of sacrificing to heaven. it was open to the public in 1919.

hall of prayer for good harvests

this is the hall of prayer for good harvests, the main building in the compound. it is a lofty cone-shaped structure with triple eaves, and the top is crowned by a gilded ball. the base of the structure is a triple-tiered circular stone terrace over 5,900 square metres in area. each ring is balustrade in carved white marble. it gives the effect of lace when seen from a distance. the roof of the hall is made of blue glazed tiles, following the colour of the sky.

the building is not only splendid in outer appearance, but also unique in inner frame. without the use of steel, cement and nails, even without the use of big beams and crossbeams, the entire structure--38 metres high and 30 meters in diameter--is supported by 28 massive wooden pillars and a number of bars, laths, joints and rafters. the four central pillars, called the dragon-well pillars, are 19.2 metres high, and so big that each will take two and a half men to encircle it with their arms stretched out. they represent the four seasons. there are two rings of twelve pillars each, the inner ring symbolizing the twelve months and the outer ring the twelve divisions of the day and night. the pillars, 28 in number also represent the 28 constellations in the sky. the timber for making these pillars was shipped all the way from yunnan province in southwest china. the centre of the stone-paved floor is a round marble slab with as a natural pattern of dragon and phoenix. on your right (east) there used to be two sets of screens, two chairs and a long table. the tablets of the emperor's ancestors were placed on the table, which is now on display. on your left (west) the chair was used by the emperor to take a rest after the service.

the day before praying for good harvests, the emperor came to the hall of imperial zenith just behind this hall to present incense and then came here to inspect the tablets. the tablet of the god of heaven was kept in the shrine while other tablets were placed on the stone platform. he then left by the left side gate for the storehouse of the gods to inspect sacrificial articles before he returned to the hall of abstinence.

on the day of the prayer, the emperor worshipped the god of heaven. fire was built in the oven to usher in the god of heaven. the emperor presented white silk and three courses of dishes to the god. finally, the silk and food were taken away, followed by music and dance.

during the ceremony, the emperor stood on the dragon-and-phoenix marble, delivered a speech and tasted the offering food. the princes stood outside the hall, with the band, the dancers and officials standing on both sides.

the hall has no walls, only partitions of open lattice windows. the ceiling is painted with fine color drawings. it was struck by lightning and burned down. in 1889 and was afterwards rebuilt according to its original design.

five thousand dragon designs are decorated on the inside and outside of the hall of prayer for good harvests. they are very sumptuous, and colours are natural and harmonious. they are suited to the occasion.

on each wing of the main hall, there are subsidiary halls in which were worshipped the gods of the sun, the moon and the stars and the gods of wind, rain, thunder and lightning. now the halls are used as gift shops.

going out of the gate of the hall of prayer for good harvests, we come to a raised passage 360 metres long, 28 metres wide and 2.5 metres high. this broad walk, called danbiqiao (red stairway bridge) connects the two sets of main buildings in the temple of heaven.

in the middle of the passage there is a platform on the eastern side. this is where the emperor changed his clothes before going to worship.

to the south lie the imperial vault of heaven and the circular mound altar. these three buildings are arranged in a straight line. an aerial view of the enclosure will show that the wall to the south is square while the one to the north is semi-circular. such a pattern represents the ancient belief that heaven was round and the earth square.

imperial vault of heaven

this is the imperial vault of heaven, which is a smaller structure. seen from a distance, it looks like a blue umbrella topped by a gilded ball. this circular building has no crossbeams. its dome is supported by a complicated span work, which is in complete conformity with the principle of dynamics. it was built in 1530 and rebuilt in 1752. since 1949 it has been renovated several times. as you can see, its decorative paintings still retain their fresh colors. after the service, the tablets of the gods of the sun, the moon, etc. were placed on the stone platforms.

the building is encircled by a round wall, known as the echo wall. a mere whisper at any point close to it will send the sound traveling along the wall so that the echo earl is heard clearly at the other end. this is made possible because the wall is round, it has eaves and all the bricks are hermetically laid.

in front of the steps leading down from the hall is the triple-sound stones. if you stand on the first stone and call out, the sound will be echoed once; on the second stone, the sound will be heard twice; and on the third stone, the sound will be repeated three times. this phenomenon is due to the differences in the distance, which the sound waves have to travel from the stone to the echo wall. as a result, the sound waves returning at different intervals create different echoes.

several years ago, a visiting former democratic german premier described the echo wall as "a microphone of several hundreds years ago!'

circular mound altar

south of the echo wall stands the circular mound altar that is wholly built of white marble. the altar is enclosed by two walls, a square wall outside and a round one inside. its layout forms a geometrical pattern but the structure itself is se designed as to make the most ingenious use of geometry. the altar is 5 metres high. the upper terrace is 30 metres in diameter, the middle terrace 50 metres and the bottom terrace 70 metres. each terrace has four entrances and a flight of nine steps leading down in every direction. at the centre of the upper terrace lies a round stone surrounded by nine concentric rings of stones. the number of stones in the first ring is 9, in the second 18, and so on, up to 81 in the 9th ring.

the middle and bottom terraces also have 9 rings each. the total number of the marble slabs paved on the altar's surface is 3,402. even the numbers of the carved balustrades on these terraces are also the multiples of 9. the number of the balustrades is 360, which stands for the 360 degrees of the circumference of heaven. when you stand in the center of the upper terrace and speak in a low voice, your echo will sound much louder to yourself than to others, as the sound waves are sent back by the marble balustrades to focus at the centre.

the altar was built in 1530, and rebuilt in 1740 in the qing dynasty. although it is over 200 years old, the structure still stands perfectly erect without sagging or cracking.

every year on winter solstice, escorted by soldiers and officials, by musicians and by princes of the royal blood, the emperor would come here to make solemn sacrifice. from the front gate to the entrance of the temple, each gate and every window over-looking his route had to be closed tight. no foreigners were allowed to watch the procession and foreign diplomats were officially advised to stay in their quarters that day. it even happened that the train from tianjin was forced to stop so as not to disturb the silence of the ceremony

the emperor spent a night of fasting and praying in the temple. the king of zhou, claiming to be the son of heaven, made the first offer to heaven 3, 000 years ago. yuan shikai (1859-1916), the head of the northern warlords in the last years of the qing dynasty, made the last sacrifice to heaven in 1914.

southeast of the circular mound altar stands an oven built of glazed tiles. it was used as a sacrificial vessel for roasting ox and sheep, etc.

southwest of the altar is a lantern-viewing platform, on which a big pole was fixed for hanging big lanterns during ceremonies.

how to offer sacrifice to the god of heaven

the official in charge of religious affairs worked out a program of sacrificial ceremony and put it on the table in the hall of supreme harmony for approval by the emperor. then the prayers were taken to the hall of complete harmony for the emperor to practice. before the ceremony, the emperor had to wear uniform and ritual hat and fast for two days in the hall of abstinence. the day before the ceremony, officials put up a tent near the altar for the emperor to change his clothes and shoes before service. when the emperor left the hall of abstinence, the boll started boating until he arrived at the altar. ovens were ht and the sacrificial ox was roasted. the emperor then led the military and civil officials mourned the altar and offered sacrifices. they looked up to the heaven to see the god off, and music and dance followed. after the ceremony, the emperor went back to the hall of abstinence in the chiming of the bell.

hall of abstinence

the hall of abstinence is located on the western side of the temple. in the ming and qing dynasties, emperors and their ministers used to hold three-day fasts there in spring, summer and winter every year before con- ducting religious rites. in august 1986 the hall of abstinence was converted into an exhibition hall containing sacrificial relics. some 300 relics including utensils and musical instruments, are on display for the first time. most of these relies are from the qing dynasty (1644-1911). they are placed in the original order in which they were used in a sacrificial ceremony.

there are flags used during dances and two sets of percussion instruments called bianzhong (a set of bells; chimes) made of bronze, and bianqing (a set of musical instruments) made of jade.

altar of the god of agriculture

the altar of the god of agriculture was the site of imperial sacrifices dedicated to the cult of shennong, the legendary "first farmer" of china. it is located in the southern part of the city, directly to the west of the temple of heaven, and occupies a total area of three square kilometres. the altar itself, which faces south, is 1.5 metres high and 15 metres long and wide respectively. the hall to the north houses the sacred tablets and is provided with a platform for "observing the harvest.'

according to the rites of the qing dynasty, on the day of the spring equinox as fixed by the lunar calendar, the emperor would come here to sacrifice to the sacred tablet of shennong (the holy farmer). following this ceremony, the emperor would plow several furrows of land with his own hands and retire to the observation platform to watch the princes, ministers and a representative group of common people finish the task. it was said that the emperor's plowing "set an example of industry to his subjects, thus dignifying the toil of the meanest agriculture laborers.' the area also contains an altar to the year god built in 1532 for carrying out sacrifice to the planet jupiter and auxiliary halls on the east and west for carrying out sacrifices to the deities of the 12 lunar months ( yuejiangshen ).

 

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