Temple of Heaven (1): You are now entering the Temple of Heaven...

You are now entering the Temple of Heaven.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to try to take pictures that  do not include baseball hats.  Good luck.

Its summer, vacation season, and despite the fact that there are thousands of international tourists visiting these historical sites, there are even more Chinese tourists visiting.  With Westernization being what it is today (and the fact that baseball hats no longer require any association to the game of baseball) its virtually impossible to take a photo that does not have a baseball hat in it somewhere. Really.  Look closely and count them in the photos.  It could be a drinking game.

Oh well, I am taking photos document my trip, not to get published in National Geographic.  And besides, this is China as it is today.  Part of what I have enjoyed seeing is a culture incorporating input from around the world (well, limited input due to the Great Firewall of China, and other kinds of censorship) and blending those things into their own unique interpretation.  Even if I'm not down with all the baseball hats.

 











The Temple of Heaven is a complex of Taoist buildings in Beijing built between 1406 - 1420 by the Yongle Emporer, who also built the Forbidden City, so the style of architecture, colors and architectural details are very similar.  

The complex is as much landscape design as it is architecture, which you can see illustrated in this aerial map from Sacred-Destinations.com.  Both of which influenced design in the Far East for many centuries afterward.

After entering through two sets of gates, and crossing walkways with sections that include designated areas for people, depending on their societal class, you arrive at the Circular Mound Altar, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests.

    The Circular Mound Altar is a marble structure made up of three circular platforms.  It was built originally a in 1530 and re-built in 1740, so it was not part of the original design.  However, it is a distinguishing feature of the site and one hat sets it apart.  

According to Wikipedia, "The number nine represents the Emperor and is evident in the design of the Circular Mound Altar: a single round marmor plate is surrounded by a ring of nine plates, then a ring of 18 plates, and so on for a total of nine surrounding rings, the outermost having 9×9 plates".

Also, for some reason, people like to do the Titanic pose in the center of the top level.  So naturally, I must join in.  I should mention that this is listed as a "sacrificial altar", so I can only assume there were animal sacrifices of some kind?  I will have to research further.

Here is the view towards the rest of the complex...

Stay tuned for the next installment of the Temple of Heaven, featuring the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the Imperial Vault of Heaven...