Temple of Heaven

Today we went to the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing, in Chongwen District. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. It is regarded as a Taoist temple, although Chinese Heaven worship, especially by the reigning monarch of the day, pre-dates Taoism.

This area is now a public park with an entrance fee, except for those Chinese residents who are retired. The park is 3 times the size of the Forbidden City (which is 9 football fields long!) and was the starting point for the marathon during the Beijing Olympics in 2008. They still have the blue line that marks the marathon course through the park. All throughout the park are people doing tai chi, chorus groups singing, groups dancing, people gathering to play cards or hacky sac.

There are 3 main buildings in the park, the hall of prayer for good harvest (the round one with 3 tiers),the imperial vault of heaven (a circular building - single tiered - used for storing tablets of ancestors - with a circular wall surrounding it that echos), which is next to the circular mound altar (a 3 tiered platform that the emperor stood on to pray for good weather - mom and I are standing on the center of the platform for good luck!) There is also another building that the emperor used for fasting. Three days before he prayed for good harvest he had to fast - no meats, wine or concubines - just rice, veggies and tea.

We didn't stay here very long, although it would have been nice to visit the park more and play hacky sac with the locals or join in with their dancing.