The World Travel

The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven (traditional Chinese: 天壇; simplified Chinese: 天坛; pinyin: Tiāntán; Manchu: Abkai mukdehun) is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in southeastern urban Beijing, in Xuanwu 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. The Temple grounds covers 2.73 km² of parkland, and comprises three main groups of constructions, all built according to strict philosophical requirements:
• The Circular Mound Altar (圜丘坛) is the altar proper, located south of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. It is an empty circular platform on three levels of marble stones, where the Emperor prayed for favorable weather.

• The Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇) is a single-gabled circular building, built on a single level of marble stone base. It is located south of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and resembles it, but is smaller. It is surrounded by a smooth circular wall, the Echo Wall that can transmit sounds over large distances. The Imperial Vault is connected to the Hall of Prayer by the Vermilion Steps Bridge, a 360 meter long raised walkway that slowly ascends from the Vault to the Hall of Prayer.

- The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿) is a magnificent triple-gabled circular building, 32 meters in diameter and 38 meters tall, built on three levels of marble stone base, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests. The building is completely wooden, with no nails.

In ancient China, the Emperor of China was regarded as the Son of Heaven, who administered earthly matters on behalf of, and representing, heavenly authority. To be seen to be showing respect to the source of his authority, in the form of sacrifices to heaven, was extremely important. The temple was built for these ceremonies, mostly comprising prayers for good harvests.

Twice a year the Emperor and all his retinue would move from the Forbidden City through Beijing to encamp within the complex, wearing special robes and abstaining from eating meat. No ordinary Chinese was allowed to view this procession or the following ceremony. In the temple complex the Emperor would personally pray to Heaven for good harvests. The highpoint of the ceremony at the winter solstice was performed by the Emperor on the Earthly Mount. The ceremony had to be perfectly completed; it was widely held that the smallest of mistakes would constitute a bad omen for the whole nation in the coming year.
Temple of heaven is the biggest temple in Beijing. Other temples are the Temple of Sun in the east (日坛), the Temple of Earth in the north (地坛), and the Temple of Moon in the west (月坛).

To pray for advantageous weather, peace and prosper, China kings have annually organized ceremonies to pray with heaven, earth, sun and moon, of which Heaven Sacrifice is the most important. This ceremony was held at the Temple Of Heaven.
If having a chance to tour Beijing, you should visit The Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Temple of Heaven. Because these architectures are typical for the supreme level of China ancient architecture. China King called “Tianzi” means “son of heaven”. King of the Chinese used “son of heaven” condition to dominate and manage country. The heaven Sacrifices also became their privilege, people mustn’t imitate.

The Temple of Heaven built in 1420 was the place for Kings in Ming and Qing Dynasty (1368-1911) to worship The Heaven, The Earth. It is in the south of Forbidden City, five times wider than Forbidden City. The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low and the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought of 'The heaven is round and the earth is square'.

The Temple is divided by two enclosed walls into inner part and outer part. The main buildings of the Temple lie at the south and north ends of the middle axis line of the inner part. The most magnificent buildings are The Circular Mound Altar (Yuanqiutan), Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huangqiongyu) and Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (Qiniandian) from south to north. The Circular Altar has three layered terraces with white marble. 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.
Imperial Vault of Heaven in the north of The Circular Mound Altar is a small palace with one floor. It is surrounded by a smooth circular wall, the Echo Wall that can transmit sounds over large distances.

Another important building in Temple of Heaven is The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. It is a big palace with round roof and three layers of eaves. Inside the Hall are 28 huge posts. The four posts along the inner circle represent four seasons-spring, summer, autumn and winter; the 12 posts along the middle circle represent the 12 months; and 12 posts along the outer circle represent 12 Shichen (Shichen is a means of counting time in ancient China. One Shichen in the past equaled two hours and a whole day was divided into 12 Shichens). The roof is covered with black, yellow and green colored glaze representing the heavens, the earth and everything on earth. The Hall has a base named Altar for Grain Prayers that is made of three layers of white marble and has a height of six meters.
The ceremony of the king was very sophisticated, usually occurred before the dawn of winter solstice (December 22nd). The ceremony would be presided over by the King. Before the ceremony happened, they hung lanterns that included huge candles inside. A row of thuribles was placed at the southeast corner of The Circular Mound Altar, used to burn animals and fabrics offered to the heaven. In the ceremony, incense – smoke was spiralling up on altars, music and drum sound resounded, and atmosphere was very solemn.

Workers in China ancient time have promoted the imagination copiously in the process of building The Temple of Heaven. For example, the color of architecture has much breakthrough. The palaces of China kings usually have the roof of yellow tiles symbolizing of royal power. However, in architecture of The Temple of Heaven, the operators used the turquoise roof (symbolizing for the heaven) as the main color of the architecture. The roofs of Echo Wall, of The Circular Mound Altar, of The Imperial Vault of Heaven, of The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and of other surrounding buildings are in turquoise color.
The temple of Heaven was taken into "Category of World Heritage Sites" in 1998. Committee World Heritage Sites appreciate that: "The temple of heaven is the largest ancient architecture of China that has still existed. The temple of Heaven is famous for perfect planning layout; the composition of the architecture is special; decoration of the architecture is nice. It does not only keep an important position in China architectural history, but also is a precious heritage of architectural art".

(According to VnExpress, translating from ChinaBroadcast)