Sacred and Big Sacrificial Altars Temple of Heaven in Beijing

When you come to Beijing, beside Great Wall, Forbidden City and Summer Palace, there also has another historical site that you cannot miss - Temple of Heaven. Temple of Heaven or also called Tiantan Park in Chinese has become one of the world heritage and famous till around the world. The name of the temple is very suitable. Why? Because at past, it was used to be the place where the emperor’s of Ming and Qing Dynasties worshipped heaven and prayed for the good harvest.
Actually in Beijing, there were 4 sacrificial temples built in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Beside Temple of Heaven the important one, there have Altar of the Sun in the east, Altar of the Earth in the north and Altar of the Moon in the west. All of them are the important ancient sacrificial altars which still exist.
Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 and covering 273 hectares area. For more than 500 years, the temple had become the place where 22 emperors make their sacrifices. In ancient China, emperor was known as the Son of the Heaven. They believed the sacrifices would help them realize a good harvest. That’s very important because at that time, harvest was the base wealth of China. Enter to the main area, you will see a huge yard or hall which looks like Forbidden City’s one.

Look from the outside, the main building of the temple which called The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest looks like a cone round shaped with a pointed peak. The more eccentric is the detail of architecture inside of the building which setting without any nail. The detailed was just so brilliant! It was so ancient, unique and beautiful.

Temple of Heaven was opened to the public in 1919. For attracting more visitors, around the temple was built a big park. After that the building was listed as one of the world’s heritages by UNESCO. Today, the park attracts so many local people to come, mostly the elder people. They come to do their daily activities there including, dancing, exercise, walking around the park, tai chi, doing water calligraphy etc. There visitors not only will see ancient architecture - the most famous one sacrificial altars, but also can directly see the life style, culture and habits of local people in Beijing. Till now, Temple of Heaven have been treated very well and become one of the Beijing tourism icons.

Article Resource: http://beijinggreatwallhkingtour.edublogs.org/