The Temple of Heaven

Ladies and gentlemen, my friends. I will be your guide today.

And it is my great honor to show you around the Temple of Heaven.

We are now in front of the east gate of the Temple of Heaven, and I'd like to give you a brief introduction about it.

The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 during the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty.

In 1988, it was listed as the World Cultural Heritage.

The main buildings in the Temple of Heaven are circular shaped. But each building has a round and a square wall around it. This layout shows the ancient people's belief that heaven was round while the earth was square.

Originally, the Temple of Heaven was called Temple of Heaven and Earth, because it was built according to the Temple of Heaven and Earth in Nanjing, the early Ming capital at that time, so both the heaven and the earth were worshiped here.

During the reign of Emperor Jiajing of Ming Dynasty, another structure, the Temple of Earth was built in the northern part of Beijing, and then the heaven and the earth were worshipped separately.

The Temple of Heaven was enlarged during the region of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty. It was damaged twice, one in 1860 and the other in 1900 by foreign invaders.

In 1918, it was open to the public.

Now, I'd like to show you the way to the most important building, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

It is one of Beijing's symbolic structures, and also the most famous temple structure in the world. In the old days, it was a place where the emperors in the Ming and Qing Dynasties came to pray for a good harvest.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests was first built in 1420.

The entire structure is supported by 28 massive wooden pillars. They are arranged in three rings.

There are four pillars in the center. And space between each of the four pillars symbolizes the four seasons of the year.

Secondly, surrounding the big fours, there are 12 pillars. And the space between the 12 pillars represents 12 months of the year.

Then there are another 12 ones symbolizing the 12 divisions of day and night.

To the east of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests runs a long corridor, which links the Divine Kitchen and Divine Warehouse together.

Now let's have a look at the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven was a place to keep the tablet of the god of the heaven and the tablets of the emperor's ancestors.

The echo wall is a circular wall surrounding the Imperial Vault of Heaven. 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, and another person will be able to hear the voice clearly at the other end.

In front of the Imperial Vault of Heaven, there are three stones, known as triple-sound stone. If you stand on the first stone and clap your hands, the echo can be heard once. A handclap on the second stone can produce the echoes twice. And if you do the same thing on the 3rd stone, the echoes can be heard three times.

After this, I'd like to give you a brief introduction of the Circular Mound Altar.

The 3-layered white marble altar in front of us is called Circular Mound Altar. It is enclosed by double walls. The inner wall is round shaped while the outer wall is square. That reflects the belief that people believed the shape of heaven was round, while the shape of earth was square.

In ancient times, emperor would come here and offer some sacrifices on it to worship heaven. During the ceremony, the emperor would report to the god of the heaven. Sometimes, the emperor had to come again and pray for rain if there was drought in that year.

It is located on a 3 layered round marble base. The top layer is 9 zhang in diameter. Zhang is an ancient Chinese calculating measurement. The second layer is 15 in diameter, which is three times five. And the 3rd layer is 21 zhang, which is three times seven. All these showed 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 altogether. And the numbers of the three diameters add up to 45 in total.

In the ancient times, the Chinese believed that 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 were Yang numbers that had special powers. Of all of them, 9 ranks the highest, meaning supreme power.

There is a piece of round stone known as Heavenly Heart Stone. It is surrounded by nine circles of fan-shaped stone slabs. And this is place where the emperor stood and prayed.

At the southeast of the Circular Mound Altar, there is a round shape platform made of green glazed bricks with nine stairs in the south, east and west. It is called Firewood stove. After the worshiping ceremony, emperor would stand on the platform to watch the burning of all the offerings to the god of heaven.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, my friends. So much for the brief introduction about the Temple of Heaven.

Please take a look around this place on your own.

Thank you.