Temple of Heaven

Overview
 

The Temple of Heaven is seen as the most holy of Beijing’s imperial temples. It has been described as "a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design".

The Temple of Heaven was where the emperor came every winter solstice to worship Heaven and to solemnly pray for a good harvest. Since his rule was legitimized by a perceived mandate from Heaven, a bad harvest could be interpreted as his fall from Heaven’s favor and threaten the stability of his reign. So, it was not without a measure of self-interest that the emperor fervently prayed for a very good crop.

In line with the Confucianism revival during the Ming dynasty, the sacred harvest ceremony was combined with the emperor’s worship of his ancestors. This embellishment was also, in effect, self interest on the part of the emperor. For according to the Confucian pattern of social organization, just as the emperor respected his ancestors, so a younger brother should respect an elder brother, a wife her husband, a son his father, and a nation’s subjects their ruler. Incorporating ancestor worship within the most solemn ceremony of the imperial ritual calendar, indirectly Built as a place of worship, the temple is different from any other imperial structures. There are two parts in the temple zone. The outer wall of the temple zone is 6,416 meters in length while the inner wall 3,292 meters long.

The architecture of the temple represents two themes: in the heaven and on the earth. The 6 meters high walls of the temple constitute a semi- circle in the north and a semi- rectangle in the south. This special layout illustrates an important belief in ancient China that the heaven is round and the earth rectangular. The northern section of the wall is high while the south is low, which means that the heaven is higher and superior to earth. All the essential architecture of the temple were built along a north – south central axis and are linked by a bridge called Danbi. The four main structures from the south to the north are the Circular Mound later (Huang Yuan Qiu Tan), the Imperial Heavenly Vault (Huang Qiong Yu), the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (Qi Nian Dian), and the Hall of Imperial Zenith (Huang Qi Dian). Other interesting places in the park include the Hall of Abstinence, the Dressing Platform and the Nine Dragon Cypress. The Temple of Heaven has been nominated by the UNESCO as a world heritage. The significance of the temple of Heaven, apart from its historical value, lies in its superior architecture, which has had a far reaching influence in China as well as in other Asian countries as Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

Location
-Located in southeastern Beijing.

Features
A masterpiece of architecture and landscape design Nominated by the UNESCO as a world heritage Use to worship Heaven and to solemnly pray for a good harvest