皇家坛庙
(huáng jiā tán miào)

Imperial Temples

Imperial temples, altars dot Beijing

In addition to the grandiose Forbidden City, Beijing, now the capital of China, is also dotted with a number of prominent imperial temples and altars designed for Chinese emperors to hold ceremonies in honor of various gods or pay homage to their ancestors during the Ming (1368–1644) and the Qing (1644–1911) dynasties.

The best known of such sites include the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan), the Temple of Earth (Ditan), the Temple of the Sun (Ritan), the Temple of the Moon (Yuetan), the Altar of Land and Grain (Shejitan), and the Supreme Ancestral Temple (Taimiao).

Constructed from 1406 to 1420, the Temple of Heaven covers an area of 273 hectares, about four times that of the Forbidden City. It was visited annually by emperors to pray to Heaven for a good harvest. The complex is divided into inner and outer courts by two encircling walls, with the outer wall extending 6,416 meters and the inner one 3,292 meters.

The southern parts of the walls were designed in the shape of a square and the northern parts in the shape of a semi-circle, reflecting the ancient Chinese belief that “the sky is round and the Earth is square.”

In addition, all buildings and altars in the complex were designed in accordance with the ancient Chinese concepts of “yin and yanɡ,” “five phases” and the “24 solar terms.”

Situated near the north end of the complex’s axis is the most magnificent Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (Qiniandian). It is a circular building, 38 meters tall and 36 meters in diameter, sitting on a three-tier white marble base.

Other major buildings in the complex include the Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Circular Mound Altar.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven is surrounded by a circular wall, known as the Echo Wall, for it has the magic effect of enabling one person standing close to one spot of the wall to hear clearly a whisper uttered by another person to any other point on the wall. And the diameter of the Echo Wall reaches 61.5 meters.

The spectacular Temple of Heaven was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.

Shejitan or the Altar of Land and Grain is located to the northwest of Tian’anmen Square in central Beijing. Built in 1421, the altar was the venue for emperors to worship the God of Land and the God of Grain.

The altar is covered with earth of five colors: yellow in the center, blue in the east, red in the south, white in the west and black in the north. The yellow color represents the Yellow Emperor, a primogenitor of the Chinese nation.

It was turned into a public park in 1914 and renamed Zhongshan Park in 1928 to honor Dr Sun Yat-sen, who led the 1911 Revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and bring to an end the more than 2,000-year-old feudalistic rule in China.

Taimiao or the Supreme Ancestral Temple, situated to the northeast of Tian’anmen Square, was built in 1420 for emperors to pay homage to their ancestors.

The layout of this temple resembles that of the Forbidden City and the main hall in the temple, namely, the Hall for Worship of Ancestors, houses tablets of emperors and empresses.

In the 1920s, the temple and its surrounding areas were turned into a public park and today it is known as the Working People’s Cultural Palace.

In the autumn of 1998, Pucinni’s 1924 opera, “Turandot,” was staged in the temple. Also, since 1985, an annual grand fair has been held at the Temple of Earth to mark the Spring Festival or the Chinese New Year, drawing millions of holiday-goers.

All these places have become popular tourist attractions in Beijing for Chinese and foreign visitors alike.

Pictorial dictionary

·　庑殿顶　(wǔ diàn dǐng) hip roof

Wudiandinɡ, or hip roof, is a four-sided roof featuring sloping ends and sides. It was widely used in ancient architecture in China and other eastern Asian countries influenced by ancient Chinese culture, such as Japan and Korea.

Wudiandinɡ in China usually has one main ridge and four sloping sides and is divided into single-eave and double-eave roofs. The latter was regarded as the top architectural design, which could be used only for main halls in imperial palaces and Confucian temples during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911).

For instance, the 35-meter-high Taihedian or the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the main hall in the Forbidden City, features a grandiose double-eave hip roof.