Temple of Heaven, Chongwenmen, Beijing, China

Walking up Qinian Ave 

The sky has been grey and polluted for days. The haze makes the sky look an off brown and yellowish colour. You can taste the pollution at the back of your mouth as it coats your throat like a ugly ball of cat hair. 

Kara's Chinese colleagues say it's just fog and that's what the weather forecast predicts too but propaganda prevails in this communist country. 




It's not really surprising that the American embassy air quality index, that we check constantly has maintained an unhealthy to hazardous reading for days. 

Our sinuses have been working in overdrive and there's a noticeably clear correlation between air quality and those little mucus snot balls all over the ground. 

Another side effect from the pollution is fatigue. That blah feeling, you're not sad or happy or bored you're just blah.  You're so blah that you can't imagine doing anything other than staying in bed for the weekend. So we nearly let another weekend slip by, but on Wednesday morning a cold winter wind blew across the capital. Not a strong breeze but enough to carry the PM2 particles out over the China Sea towards neighbouring Korea and clear our air a little.

Another 'foggy' day in Beijing

The sky wasn't exactly blue; although it was cloudless, the haze was ever present. Downstairs we bought little bready pork bao'ser for breakfast. The flavour intense and strong enough that we'd surely be burping that up later. For the first time in days we could distinctly smell the tobacco smoke wafting out of the noodle shops, it's surprisingly how much the pollution blankets your sense of smell. The air was clearer. So we thought about going out and doing something. It is still the middle of winter though, so something not so far away! 

Ballroom dancing

The Temple of Heaven and its surrounding 267 hectares of park is few hundred meters behind our apartment and is considered one of the big Daoism attractions in Beijing. 

It's even bigger than the forbidden city and although we didn't realise at the time just how big it is, it seemed ideal for a morning stroll. So we wrapped up warm and set off. Arriving at the North Gate it was a little confusing, do we need tickets? Or not?


 Lots of people seemed to just be walking in? We bought the 10kuai combo entry tickets, from the small wooden building by the entrance which allowed us into any three 'things'. Cool, there are 'things' to see. We giggled, and walked in. 

It was built between 1406 and1420 during the Ming dynasty and reign of the Yongle Emperor, who like all Emperors was considered the 'son of heaven'. The Emperor acted of behalf of his heavenly authority and with the uttermost earthly respect built the Temple of Heaven in Beijing for the highly intricate ceremonies and, most importantly, for their annual sacrifices. Twice a year the emperor and his entourage, who wore special robes for the occasion, would move from the Forbidden city to the Temple to pray for a good harvest. The entire park was built, was enriched in deep symbolism and was designed to reflect the ancient belief in mystical cosmological laws. From the circling curved walls which depict Heaven and Earth to the decoration on the pavements to the number of pillars on each specifically coloured building. 

John standing on REAL grass

Park doorway

500 year old tree

Taking a break

Facing us from the main North entrance, there was a large stone courtyard covered in couples slowly dancing. 

Hall for Prayer of Good Harvests

It was so cold that as they moved around while the steam from their breaths hovered above their heads. Around the courtyard were old green pine trees, short but thick with branches and under them there were small stone statues of grinning lions. 

The below freezing temperatures didn't at all seem to be deterring people. The park was humming with life, a group of people were waving long silver swords in the air, in a type of silent controlled tai chi movement, behind them older men were vigorously practicing kung fu. 


On the damp grass people were swinging large ropes attached to trees and one couple were even throwing knifes at boards on the tree trunks, small children playing just nearby. 

Sword fighters

To the right of the large courtyard off the path, about 50 older woman danced in a controlled aerobic movement and stepped and waved in time to static music pumping out of a tiny black jukebox. Badminton was popular but not as popular as another game, like hackie sack, but with weighted feathers. Encouraged to join in, John gave them a few kicks but it was much more difficult than it looked! 

We walked forward, amazed at how engaged people were, not bothered by those around them. At a small hut several people were crowded together singing, to no one in particular and down on the patio huddles of grandparents played some board game, unintentionally listening to the singers.

It was freezing but the locals didn't look like they noticed the cold. 

Arriving at the East gate

We walked on and found ourselves at the East gate, having walked in the wrong direction. So we turned and briskly walked on. 

The main attraction and the first place we arrived and had our tickets checked was the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. The main building is a really big circular-shaped temple built up on terraced white marble. Everything was very white and very cold, but the temple itself a stark contrast of vivid colours. 

Inside the Temple

Bottom view of the temple

Intricate interiors

Hall for Prayer of Good Harvests

We clambered up the steps for a closer look. First you can see the large blue and yellow placard above the door, which was inscribed by Emperor Jiajing (1521-1567). Peering inside, we could see the walls and roof carefully painted with ocean blues, golden yellows, deep reads and turquoise greens. The hall was constructed with thought and meaningful design. 

Worship Hall

The four main pillars represent the four seasons, inside twelve pillars represent the months and the twelve outer pillars represent the traditional Chinese hours. Together the twenty four pillars represent the twenty four months in a Chinese solar cycle. Although the original building was burnt down due to lighting strike in 1889 the current wooden temple is quite stunning and supposedly built without the use of nails. It has three roofs tiled in blue which symbolise getting closer to heaven, but everything kind of mixed with the hazy polluted sky.

From the temple there are several buildings flanking its courtyard which were supposedly the kitchens and other prayer rooms. Inside they showcase the ancient worship rituals and evolution of the prayer halls.

Down the raised Imperial stairway

Placard inscribed by Emperor Jiajing

From there we followed the raised Imperial stairway south to the Imperial Vault of Heaven. This mini sized version of the Hall for Prayer of Good Harvests is also built on raised marble and is surrounded by a small circular wall. The wall, nicknamed Echo wall, is meant to exaggerate noises. We gave it a go but it didn't seem to work for us! 

Imperial Vault of Heaven

Entrance to Imperial Vault of Heaven

Next door is the Circular Mound Alter and our last 'thing'. Built in 1530, the white marble alter is decorated lavishly in carved dragons and was used by Emperors during the winter solstice to send worship and prayer for favourable rain, to the heavens.

Imperial Gate

Heart of Heaven

 Circular Mound Alter

On the top of the marble mound is the heart of heaven, surrounded by nine, the luckiest most heavenly number, of marble rings. It's said that those who stand on the heart can receive good feelings and luck, so we waited and took a turn, but really, all we felt was cold! Actually, also a little hungry!

We started to look for the way out through all the old pines, juniper and cypress trees. We came across another grand building, the Fasting Palace or Hall of Devine Abstinence surrounded by a small moat. This is where the emperors would come, three days before a ceremony and fast from indulgences: including meat, drinks, woman and music. We decided not to go in this time as we were starting to get the hunger grumps.

Ancient lantern holder

Let's go this way

Eventually we made our way back to the main North gate, relieved and hungry! 

Tot siens,

John and Kara