The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest
. . . so we headed over to another of our favourite spots on the Beijing Tourist Trail, the Temple of Heaven.
The Temple of Heaven is actually a large park, 273 hectares of gardens, ancient cypress and lawns surrounding a temple compound built along a north-south axis. The compound’s centerpiece is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, where each year, from the first incarnation of the temple in 1420 to the last Emperor’s abdication in 1911, the Emperor would come on the winter solstice to pray for a successful harvest the following year. The architecture of the entire compound is based on elaborate symbolism and numerological principles to assist the Emperor in his prayer. For example, within the main Hall, there are four posts representing the four seasons, 12 posts representing the 12 months; and 12 posts representing the 12 shichen (there are 12 two-hour shichen in a day).
Still life with urn
Still life with door
These days the Temple is a tourist attraction of enough importance to merit a 47 million yuan restoration (about $8 million AUD), completed on May 1 of this year. And as you can see from the photos, they got their money’s worth – the place looks brand-spanking new.
Looking north from the Circular Mound Altar to the Imperial Vault of Heaven (foreground) and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (background)
Nice photos! I was there in January of ’06 and you couldn’t even get close to the temple due to scaffolding and restoration. We still had a wonderful time, however, wandering around the Park in the winter. Good luck on all your travels! LB
When are you guys going back to Zhongwei?
I can’t wait for updates on the actual walk!
Hi Lucy, thanks on the photos and great to see you here. Where are you blogging from? Blogspot is blocked so we can’t get on.
Stephen, we arrived in Zhongwei last night! We’ll spend today getting all our stuff ready to go and spamming our friends, then we’re off.
e&b
I was there in November, the day was very nice, everything looked wonderful.
In the grounds of the Temple of Heaven lots of old folk were sitting round playing cards in dozens of small groups with their pot of tea etc…
My time is Beijing was great, found people friendly and polite. Lots of good shopping, surpised at how modern the city is now and the emphisis on things for young people from fashion to sport.
Loved the restaurants, the acrobat theatre, my walks in Beijing day and evening, the Forbidden City was wonderful,
I want to return and see much more….