The Temple of Heaven

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The Temple of Heaven (Part One)

The Temple of Heaven is located in the south of Beijing. It was built in 1420 in the Ming Dynasty. The Temple of Heaven covers 273 hectares and is a place for emperors to worship the god of heaven. The northern wall of the Temple of Heaven is round, symbolizing the heaven. Its southern wall is square, symbolizing the earth. They symbolize the idea of “round heaven and square earth ”.

The main buildings gather on the two sides of its central line. From south to north, there are the Circular Mound Altar, the Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. Both the Circular Mound Altar and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests are round. Each of them stands on a square yard. In the Circular Mound Altar, all of the numbers, such as the number of its stairs, are related to the number “9”. Because in ancient China, “9” was said to be the biggest Yang Number , which symbolized the heaven and the emperor. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is the main building in the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is well-known worldwide, and it has high art value.

The Temple of Heaven (Part Two)

The Temple of Heaven was repaired by Emperor Qianlong. Its lavish hall exactly showed the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty. But the lightning destroyed the hall in 1889. Emperor Guangxu thought this was very unlucky. So the hall was rebuilt immediately after the accident. Though the Qing Dynasty under the reign of Guangxu was not as rich as it had been under Qianlong, the hall rebuilt was just as grand as the original one. In order to symbolize the heaven and the earth, the northern part of the temple is round while the southern part is square. The temple is enclosed by a square wall outside a round wall.

The famous buildings in the inner enclosure include the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, the Circular Mound Altar and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Enjoying a long history of civilization, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is already the landmark of Beijing, while the Imperial Vault of Heaven is also famous for two structures with peculiar acoustic features, that is, the Echo Wall and the Triple-Sound Stone. If you whisper at any point close to the wall, your friend can hear you clearly on the other side, maybe 40 or 50 meters away from you.