Temple of Heaven Park
The Temple of Heaven is located in Chongwen District, Beijing, on the east side of Yongdingmen Nei Street. It was originally a place for the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to worship the Emperor of Heaven. It was built in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420), and was finally completed during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty after continuous renovation and expansion. The Temple of Heaven covers an area of 2.73 million square meters. The main buildings include the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the Circular Mound, the Imperial Vault of Heaven, the Palace of Fasting, the Divine Music Office, and the Sacrifice Place. It was opened as a park in 1918. The Temple of Heaven is divided into two parts, the inner and outer altars. The inner altar consists of the Circular Mound and the Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests. The northern part of the inner altar is the Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests, and the southern part is the Circular Mound Altar. A 360-meter-long Danbi Bridge connects the two altars. The main buildings of the two altars are concentrated at both ends of the Danbi Bridge. The southern end of the Danbi Bridge has the Circular Mound and the Imperial Vault of Heaven, and the northern end has the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The Danbi Bridge, also known as the Sea-grabbing Avenue, is a huge brick-paved high platform commercial road and the main axis of the Temple of Heaven. On the east side of the Danbi Bridge, there are ancillary buildings adapted to the sacrificial function of the Temple of Heaven: the slaughter pavilion, the kitchen for the gods, the storehouse for the gods, etc. On the west side of the Danbi Bridge, there is the Zhai Palace, which is the place where the emperor fasts before the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven. The outer altar is a forest area with a lot of trees planted. In the southwest of the outer altar, there is the Shenyue Office, which was the place for practicing sacrificial rituals and music and training sacrificial music and dance students in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Since the Beijing Tiandi Temple was first built in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420), the history of the Temple of Heaven as a dedicated altar for the emperor to worship the Emperor of Heaven has continued for more than 490 years. The Xinhai Revolution that broke out in 1911 ended China's feudal monarchy of more than 2,000 years, and also ended the sacrificial history that lasted for 5,000 years throughout Chinese history. From then on, the Temple of Heaven, which was used exclusively for emperors to worship, was "open to everyone". In 1918, the government of the Republic of China opened the Temple of Heaven as a park and implemented ticket sales. In 1951, the Beijing Municipal Government established the Temple of Heaven Management Office, and in 1957, the Temple of Heaven was listed as one of the first batch of ancient buildings and cultural relics protection sites in Beijing. In 1961, it was listed as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection sites by the State Council.