CHINA 5A TRAVEL
Where Ming and Qing emperors prayed to heaven for good harvests — the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, with its triple cone of blue glazed tiles, rises from a sea of ancient cypresses in the world's largest altar-to-heaven complex.
Completed in 1420 together with the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven was the ritual stage where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties came each winter solstice to sacrifice to heaven and pray for abundant harvests. Its 273-hectare park — four times the size of the palace — is laid out along a strict north-south ritual axis and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The architecture is philosophy in timber and marble: the circular Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests stands on a triple terrace at the axis' north, the marble Round Altar at the south places the emperor at the symbolic centre of the cosmos, and the raised Danbi Bridge walkway connects them as a 'path to heaven'. The Echo Wall and Triple-Echo Stones show the same geometry used for acoustic wonder.
Today the surrounding park belongs to Beijing itself — locals practise tai chi beneath 500-year-old cypresses, fly kites on the altar terraces and, every April, walk through carpets of violet Chinese iris that bloom between the groves.
Highlights
Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests
The 38-metre, all-timber cone of blue tiles — raised on three marble tiers without a single nail — is Beijing's most graceful silhouette.
The Round Altar
A nine-ringed marble platform where the emperor knelt at the numerological centre of the universe.
Echo Wall & Triple-Echo Stones
Whisper along the curved wall of the Imperial Vault and be heard 60 metres away — acoustics from 1530.
Danbi Bridge
The 360-metre raised processional way that 'ascends to heaven' from altar to hall.
Ancient Cypress Grove
Thousands of contorted, centuries-old cypresses — including the famously twisted Nine-Dragon Juniper.
Park Life at Dawn
Morning belongs to locals: tai chi, sword practice, choir singing and calligraphy on the flagstones.
Photo Gallery
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