Beijing Travel Guide: Beijing Attractons: Temple of Heaven

Tiantan Park is an icon of such enduring value that it shorthands the entire city. The park's classic Ming architecture gives it heaps of symbolic value and the name has been used to brand products from tiger balm to plumbing fixtures, as well as decorating a plethora of tourist literature. It's set in a 267-hectare (660-acre) park, with four gates at the cardinal points, and walls to the north and east. It originally functioned as a vast stage for solemn rites and rituals.

So beautifuly proportioned and positioned that it has become Beijing's "official civic symbol", Temple of Heaven was built between 1406 and 1420, the same time that Ming Emperor Yongle laid out and built the Forbidden City. He oversaw the construction of an enormous park and altar to heaven directly south of the palace. Each year on the winter solstice the emperor would lead a procession out of the Forbidden City across what is today Tiananmen Square southward down the Imperial Way to Tiantan, the Temple of Heaven, where he would perform rites and make sacrifices to the cosmos on behalf of China. Much of the architecture of these ancient rites survives in Tiantan Park (Tiantan Gongyuan), but what makes this park so singular among attractions in China is a single remarkable building, a magnificent tower known as the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (Qinian Dian).

The centerpiece Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests that dominates the complex is the city symbol and is a faithful reconstruction of the original, which burned in 1889. Inside, 28 wooden pillars support the 39-meter tower, whose three conical roofs are covered in blue glazed tiles reflecting the sky. The wooden walls are richly decorated inside and outside.

Elsewhere on the 273-hectare (674 acre) site are such wonderfully-named features as the Bridge of Vermilion Stairs, the Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Echo or Whispering Wall, whose remarkable acoustical design carries even whispered sounds over a distance. Nearby are the three terraces of the Circular Mound, where emperors offered up their prayers. Come in the morning to enjoy the sunrise, breathe in the fragrance of the ancient cypress trees and perhaps join in the tai chi exercises and other activities of the assembled people.