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The Temple of Heaven is a worthwhile visiting place in Beijing. It is much bigger than the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace with an area of about 2,700,000 square meters. The Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As Chinese emperors called themselves 'The Son of Heaven' ,they dared not to build their own dwelling,'Forbidden City' bigger than a dwelling for Heaven.

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. Also, there are some additional buildings like Three Echo Stones and Echo Wall.Almost all of the buildings are connected by a wide bridge called Vermilion Steps Bridge (Danbiqiao) or called Sacred Way.

The Circular Altar has three layered terraces with white marble. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 A.D. - 1911 A.D.), 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. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest 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 which is made of three layers of white marble and has a height of six meters.

Temple of Heaven, Beijing

Tourists trying to hear the echo

Another important building in Temple of Heaven is Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you look at it from far away, you will find that the Vault is like a blue umbrella with gold head. The structure of it is like that of Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, but smaller in size. The structure was made of bricks and timber. The Vault was used to place memorial tablets of Gods. White marble railings surround the vault.

Map of Temple of Heaven (Click to enlarge)

The Vermilion Steps Bridge connects the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The south end of the Bridge is lower than its north end. The emperors in the past believed that they could go to heaven through this Bridge, which is why this bridge is also called Sacred Way. A Yu Route and a Wang Route are on two sides of the Sacred Way. The former one is only for the emperors to walk on and the later one is for the princes and the high officials to pass.

Three Echo Stones is outside of the gate of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you speak facing the Vault while standing on the first stone, you will hear one echo; standing on the second and then the third stone, you will hear two and three echoes respectively.

Another interesting and famous place for you to visit is called Echo Wall owning special feature. The wall encloses the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Its perimeter is 193 meters.

If you and your friend stand at the east and the west roots of the wall respectively and you whisper a word, then your friend will hear clearly what you say. Isn't it interesting? The phenomenon utilizes the theory of sound wave.

Besides carefully designed buildings, there are also some other scenes that you can enjoy like Nine-Dragon Cypress. It got its name from branches which look like nine dragons wind with each other. It was said that the cypress was planted more than 500 years ago. Really, a grandfather tree!

Imperial Vault of Heaven, Temple of Heaven

Beijingers rest and entertain themselves in the park

Nearby The Temple of Heaven, there are many interesting places to see. Taoranting Park is few blocks away west of it. Beijing Museum of Natural History is next to the west gate of The Temple of Heaven. Get out of Tiantan Dongmen Subway Station of Line 5 from Exit A, you can see the Hongqiao Pearl Market on the other side of the road. 

The 8th Tiantan Culture Week

Time: Lunar January 1– 5 (January 23-27, 2012)

Activities: Reproduce The God of Heaven Praying Ceremony according to the history record in the Qing Dynasty, including the honor guard performance, ritual music and dance, and the ancient music show. The ritual parade is made up of 320 guards. The organizer also made the emperor’s sedan chair according to records and the real object in the Forbidden City, to show the tradition of worshipping the god of heaven vividly. There are special ancient music concerts in the Divine Music Administration every day and every music show takes 30 minutes.

Show Schedule:
The Honor Guard Performance: 09:30-10:00,13:30-14:00 from the West Heavenly Gate
Ritual Music & Dance Show: 10:40-11:10,14:40-15:10 at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (Qiniandian)
Ancient Music Concert: 10:30-11:00,14:30-15:00 at Ningxi Hall of the Divine Music Administration

Ticket Type	Nov.1-Mar.31 (next year)	Apr.1-Oct.31
Entrance Fee	CNY 10	CNY 15
Combination Ticket	CNY 30	CNY 35
Hall of Ceremonial Music & Hall of Abstinence	CNY 10	CNY 10
Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, Circular Mound Altar & Echo Wall	CNY 20	CNY 20
Opening Hours	06:00-22:00 From Mar.1 to Jun. 30: Combination Ticket unavailable after 16:00; Scenic Spot Ticket unavailable after 17:00; Scenic Spots closed at 17:30. From Jul. 1 to Oct.31: Combination Ticket unavailable after 16:30; Scenic Spot Ticket unavailable after 17:30; Scenic Spots closed at 18:00. From Nov.1 to Feb.28/29 (next year): Combination Ticket unavailable after 15:30; Scenic Spot Ticket unavailable after 16:30; Scenic Spots closed at 17:00.
Recommended Time for a Visit:	1.5 hours
By Subway	Subway Line 5: get off at Tiantan Dongmen Station, Leave from Exit A and you'll find the East Gate of the Park of Temple of Heaven.
By Bus	Take bus 6, 34, 35, 36, 39, 41, 43, 60, 116, 610, 707, 723, 743, 957, or 958 and get off at Tiantan Dongmen (East Gate) Station. Take bus 36 (环), 53, 120, 122, 525, 610, 800 (内), 803 or 958 and get off at Tiantan Nanmen (South Gate) Station. Take bus 2, 7, 15, 17, 20, 69, 105, 707, 729, or 826 and get off at Tiantan Ximen (West Gate) Station. Take bus 6, 34, 35, 36 (环), 106, 110, 687, 707, or 743 and get off at Tiantan Beimen (North Gate) Station.  Beijing Bus / Subway Search

Recommended Tours including the visit to the Temple of Heaven:  Beijing Highlights Tour: 4 days to Forbidden City - Temple of Heaven - Tiananmen Square - Badaling Great Wall…  5 Days Beijing Tour: to Forbidden City - Temple of Heaven - Hutong - Badaling Great Wall…  Group Tour of Beijing: 5 days small group tour to visit the top sites in Beijing  More Beijing Tours  Recommended Nearby Hotels: RJ Brown Hotel, Beijing      Tiantan Hotel     Jinjiang Inn, Beijing (Comfort Inn)

 Other famous temples in Beijing:
Dajue Temple     Tanzhe Temple      Yunju Temple     Guangji Temple