Beijing Part 3:

Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is a Taoist sacrificial "altar of heaven" constructed in 1420. All emporers of the Ming and Qing dynasties visited the altar. There are three main parts to the temple:

1. The Earthly Mount is the altar proper. It is an empty platform on three levels of marble stones, where the Emperor prayed for favourable weather;



2. The House of Heavenly Lord, a single-gabled circular building, built on a single level of marble stone base, where the altars were housed when not in use;



3. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a magnificent triple-gabled circular building, built on three levels of marble stone base, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests. It is 32 meters in diameter and 38 metres tall. It has four inner, twelve middle and twelve outer pillars, representing the four seasons, twelve months and twelve traditional Chinese hours respectively. Amazingly, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests was built without a single nail. Here is our favorite little tour guide Sydney in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.
   

Many Chinese people were gathered around the Temple of Heaven grounds singing together or playing music. We took two short videos when a man was playing a Chinese instrument while Sydney danced. At first, it was just a little toe tapping. Then, once she gets going, she really gets her groove on.

We were also very interested in the Chinese calligraphy that this man was "painting" on the walkway with water. He was practicing his calligraphy by painting a Chinese poem for all (except us, of course) to read. Sorry, no translation is available.

Imperial Summer Palace

The Summer Palace in Beijing was first built in 1750 but then was largely destroyed in the war of 1860. It was restored on its original foundations in 1886 and 1902 and is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges.

As you may know, unlike Japan, China does not still have an Emporer. So, the beautiful palace grounds serve as a public park as well as a historical site. There are some famous features within the Summer Palace, including the following:

Kunming lake occupies three-fourths of the park's land and across the lake spans the famous Seventeen-arch Bridge. The bridge was designed so that from the center arch, one can count 9 arches in either direction, which is a lucky number.

We took the (above pictured) dragon boat to get to the longest covered corridor in the world, which is 728 meters long and painted with more than 14,000 paintings. It was built in 1750 so the Emperor's mother could walk in the gardens protected from the elements.

There is a famous "marble" boat at the Summer Palace. It was originally constructed in 1755 and is made of wood, but is painted to look like marble.

We also saw many Chinese people, mostly ladies, doing their morning exercises on the Summer Palace grounds, and of course we captured a snippet of this on video for your viewing pleasure.

Lama Temple

Yonghe Temple, or the "Lama Temple" is a temple and monastery of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism located in the northeastern part of Beijing, China. It is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. The building and the artworks of the temple combine Han Chinese and Tibetan styles.

Construction on the Lama Temple started in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty. It originally served as an official residence for court eunuchs. It was then converted into the court of the Prince Yong, a son of the Kangxi Emperor and himself the future Yongzheng Emperor. After Yongzheng's ascension to the throne in 1722, half of the building was converted into a lamasery, a monastery for monks of Tibetan Buddhism. The other half remained an imperial palace.

After Yongzheng's death in 1735, his coffin was placed in the temple. The Qianlong Emperor, Yongzheng's successor, gave the temple imperial status signified by having its turquoise tiles replaced with yellow tiles which were reserved for the emperor. Subsequently, the monastery became a residence for large numbers of Tibetan Buddhist monks from Mongolia and Tibet, and so the Yonghe Lamasery became the national centre of Lama administration.

Along the central axis of the Temple grounds, there are five main halls which are separated by courtyards: the Hall of the Heavenly Kings, the Hall of Harmony and Peace, the Hall of Everlasting Protection, the Hall of the Wheel of the Law, and the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses.

It is said that one has "read" Buddhist scriptures one time through for every spin of this metal "scroll." I would have thought that Brian would be more into this sort of osmotic and efficient "Bible study," although here you see he only half-heartedly engages the scroll at my urging...what a good sport!

My sister's been visiting, so we've been busy. But stay tuned for more on China and our recent sightseeing in Japan, including our first-time trip to Hakone to see the elusive Mt. Fuji.