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Having arrived in Beijing early morning we had a whole day to explore at least one of the city’s top 10 great attractions so we chose the Temple of Heaven as it was walking distance from the hotel.
We had spent the morning checking into our hotel organised through our G Adventures tour and catching some 40 winks as it had been a long overnight flight from Melbourne. That same flight (MH370) mysteriously disappeared some few months later, for all we know it could have been the same aircraft we travelled! It was quite perturbing when we stopped to think about it.
We were hungry so we found a place close by for lunch. It was our first challenge with the language barrier; we couldn’t read the menu so pointed to the pictures. Our waitress disappeared for a few seconds and came sprinting back with a piece of paper that had written on it Chinese characters and the English equivalent of the most popular food groups. Utilising the translation we ended up with peppered beef with rice and and chicken with chilli and vegetables. The food was very tasty and our experience with communication was quite delightful. Except I had a little trouble trying to explain hot tea, what I did get was iced tea in a bottle! Beer is definitely easier to order 🙂
We entered the temple from the north gate entrance which took about 15 minutes to walk to from our lunch stop. It cost 35 Yuan (around $6) for a combination ticket entry plus another 6 Yuan for an excellent map with descriptions in English and Chinese. The map was one of the nicest we had ever seen, it looked like a hand painted parchment which tucked away into its own sleeve, it was definitely a keeper.
The combination ticket got you into all the parts of the complex, otherwise you can pay for each part separately. The Temple complex was opened to the public in 1988 and is set in a park covering an area of 2,700,000 square meters, most of which is parkland. The Temple of Heaven Park was originally the place where the emperors of the Ming Dynasty (15th Century) and Qing Dynasty held the Heaven worship ceremony. It was the sacred alter for emperors to offer sacrifices to Heaven and pray for bumper harvest. Ancient beliefs like “circular heaven, square earth” “supernatural heaven, low earth” and “blue heaven, yellow earth” are all reflected in the architecture.
Walking down through the North Heaven Gate took you down a long avenue of Cyprus trees and amongst pretty flower arrangements to the first point of interest – the “Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests” – a beautiful triple-gabled circular temple resting on three tiers of marble. The construction represents ancient Chinese philosophy and astronomic knowledge.
If you looked close enough at the blue tiles which symbolise heaven then you can see beautifully painted Chinese dragons. We spent some time taking photos and exploring the structure before strolling south across the Danbi Bridge to the “Imperial Vault of Heaven” and the echo wall.
The Danbi Bridge is a good few hundred meters long and is really just a wide paved walkway. Beautiful Chinese architectural gates at either end form the entry and exit points between the temples.
The Imperial Vault of Heaven is a single-gabled circular temple sitting on a single level marble base and is a place housing gods tablets to be used at the Heaven Worship Ceremony.
The echo wall that encompasses the temple echoes the sound of your voice around the wall if you were to face and talk at it! With hundreds of tourists, mainly domestic, all trying to do the same thing then the prospect of hearing your own echo was pretty slim! The one thing we did notice was the lack of western tourists, the demographic was mostly domestic and even here in China you see large tour groups following the flag! (I learnt later from our G Adventures guide that it’s the law.) With 2,700,000 square meters to explore it didn’t feel that crowded 🙂
Moving towards the South Gate, we came across the Circular Mound Altar, a large mulch-tiered circular platform altar which was once a place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasty’s worshipped Heaven on winter solstice every year.
We took time to not only explore the main central structures but also the smaller architectural interests off to the side. Strolling amongst the old Cypress trees some of which formed some interesting shapes, it was very pleasant. The gardens themselves held much fascination as here we witnessed Chinese enjoying recreational activities such as dancing, jogging and even a singing choir. Older people seem to enjoy walking with radios attached to their hips blaring traditional Chinese music!
Another favourite with the locals was Badminton, there were no dedicated courts, they would just enjoy batting the shuttlecock to each other.
Around the long corridor near the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests were large groups of locals all sitting in small groups of about 4 to 6. On closer inspection we could see they were playing games like Chinese Checkers and cards. We stood with fascination as we witnessed the enjoyment in their game playing.
In all the parks we have been to around the world we have never witnessed such community gatherings and recreational enjoyment from a nation as we have seen today.
We had spent about 4 hours exploring the sites of the park and by 5pm we started to feel the effects of jetlag from the travelling so we headed back to the hotel. We took the exit out the west gate but not without first stopping to look at the Beamless and Fasting Palace. These small group of structures were covered with beautiful colourful Chinese art.
Our first day in Beijing had been a rewarding introduction to the start of our trip through China. We had thoroughly enjoyed the Temple of Heaven, it ranked among one of our favourite places in Beijing.
Our second day was another day which we had to ourselves before meeting with our tour group in the evening. We decided we would spend it at the Forbidden City which I will cover in a separate post.
Visited: October 2013
If you have enjoyed the photos and would like to see more! then the complete gallery can be viewed in the Trip Photos
The place looks gorgeous! I’m loving all of the colours 🙂
It is very lovely and so tranquil too. In my opinion much nicer than the Forbidden City which has no greenery!