Hello lovely Steemit Peeps.
Well we’ve made it to my 50th adventure – something of a milestone. Today we are still exploring the wonders of Beijing.
I hope you enjoy and are inspired to go on adventures of your own.
I may have mentioned in a previous post that China was not real high on my bucket list of places to travel. In fact – given all the amazing places in the world – China didn’t actually feature at all. That – I found out – was certainly a mistake and one that luckily got rectified when my youngest brother-in-law moved to Shanghai, met a lovely Chinese girl, and decided to get married over there.
Given that we were travelling all that way it seemed a waste not to spend a few extra weeks looking at what China had to offer. It wasn’t that I didn’t know it had some great wonders – for some reason they just had never appealed. I was more interested in exploring the wilds of South America (still to do) soaking up the history of Europe (partly done) and finding secluded little known beaches of S.E. Asia (okay this one might be done to death now)
As it turned out I loved China so much I see several trips back at some time in my future (there’s just too much to see.)
We started our travels in Beijing visiting The Great Wall – which you can read about here.
The city itself has so many wonders (and an opportunity to knock some more off my UNESCO World Heritage List.
So with a few days to before we had to join our small group of intrepid travellers from all over the world- we decided to set out and explore Beijing on foot – now we are pretty used to walking fair distances and prefer to walk when we get the chance – but when a local tells you its just a short stroll.. multiply it by 10. And account for the amount of pollution in the air in Beijing, which can be a bit hard on the breathing.
After perhaps an hour of walking we came across the Temple of Heaven. And how aptly it seemed to be named. The exquisite architecture dominated the 273 hectare park – an oasis in the middle of one of China’s busiest cities. It certainly looked like a piece of heaven.
It turns out the temple is not actually a temple at all – but a sacrificial alter, that served as a location for the rites performed by the Ming and Qing emperors who prayed for bounteous harvests and asked for divine inspiration and atonement.
The Temple of Heaven was designated a UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998 and is wonderfully preserved. The landscape and layout is as it was originally with both the original preserved buildings and some reconstruction done in the same manner. Its worth paying the 30RMB to access all the gated areas of the complex – otherwise 10RM will get you into the park.
Beijing in October during National Holiday is a site to see. Thousands upon thousands of people come in from the country side on a pilgrimage to see Mao lying in state in Tiananmen Square. So of course all the significant sites become crowded. For @cryptoandzen crowds can be a bit of a challenge. Being about as non-Asian as you can get- he was also quite popular. Being stopped regularly while Chinese from the countryside – many of whom had never been to the city or had never seen a westerner, took photos with him to show their friends and family back home. Being of Filipino ancestry I mostly blended into the background 😊
Despite the crowds the park does seem an oasis, with large cedar trees and beautiful floral gardens.
The complex itself is separated into three distinct group of buildings, and these are arranged to reflect the relationship between heaven and earth, as it was understood at the time.
The Temple of Heaven is an axial arrangement of Circular Mound Altar to the south open to the sky with the conically roofed Imperial Vault of Heaven immediately to its north. This is linked by a raised sacred way to the circular, three-tiered, conically roofed Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests further to the north. Here at these places the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties as interlocutors between humankind and the celestial realm offered sacrifice to heaven and prayed for bumper harvests. To the west is the Hall of Abstinence where the emperor fasted after making sacrifice. The whole is surrounded by a double-walled, pine-treed enclosure. Between the inner and outer walls to the west are the Divine Music Administration hall and the building that was the Stables for Sacrificial Animals. Within the complex there are a total of 92 ancient buildings with 600 rooms. It is the most complete existing imperial sacrificial building complex in China and the world's largest existing building complex for offering sacrifice to heaven. Source
There is something about standing in front of buildings built long before the little country I live in was ever even discovered. On my travels I have been constantly awed at some of the amazing sites I have seen. It’s very humbling and you feel a sense of how small you are in the larger scheme. Many of these buildings stood for centuries before I stood in front of them and will continue to do so centuries after I am gone.
It's easy to imagine the solemn ceremony at Winter Solstice, when the Emperor came to pray and worship Heaven. The pressure they felt may have been enormous. Their rule was seen as mandated from Heaven. A bad harvest could easily mean they were out of favour and bring about their downfall. I'm sure their praying was very vigorous and fervent!
It's not uncommon to walk around the park and see the old men playing Mahjong, or like many of the open spaces in China, the locals practicing Tai Chi. Somehow in the middle of the most populous and busy countries in the world, people find a way to connect with nature and their inner spirit and find a sense of calm. It's something we could all learn from.
Tourist Info
Chinese Pinyin: Tīan Tán
Location: Southeast of central Beijing.
Opening Hours: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Ticket Price: low season Y10–30; high season Y15–35
How to get to the Temple of Heaven: Bus 3, 6, 17, 20, 35, 39, 54, 106, 116, 120, 122, or 803.
The Temple of Heaven is just one gem that I discovered while in China, and there are many more I am excited to share. I hope this inspires you to visit places you may otherwise have not included in your bucket list. Sometimes you can be surprised and amazed by the unexpected.
Til next time
Steem on in Love and Light
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