Day11  Tiantan Park ( Temple of Heaven)
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We enjoyed a relaxing morning, no desperately early start and we walked from our hotel to Tiantan Park.  Along the way we passed many Hutongs and many shops selling a multitude of wares.  We had been joined by Vince Maher who is a keen photographer and eager to capture the Chinese culture.  We strolled the 2.5kms. to the park stopping for photos and a drink.  The sun was particularly intense but in the streets there was some shade provided by the trees lining the pavements.  We entered the park via the North gate and were immediately impressed with the formality of the park.  Everything had a place and was well looked after.   We were outside the structures in an area open to the public without payment.   There were people walking, sitting, carrying birds in cages, singing, playing instruments, a choir singing a song to the tune of 'Jingle Bells', a group of people playing instruments, a large group of men and women waltzing.  The further we walked into the park the more unusual some of their activities became.  We saw elderly ladies polishing large trees, with their bodies!  It was time to do some proper sightseeing and leave these locals to their leisure activities.
The temple of Heaven had lived up to it's reputation, what a beautiful building.  The interior was spectacular and you could only imagine what it was like when the Emperors were there.  The most impressive and lasting image has to be the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests with the three tiered roof in dark blue glazed tiles.
The Temple of Heaven has been called 'the noblest example of religious architecture in the whole of China'. It was started in 1406, in the reign of Emperor Yongle, and was completed in 1420. The huge site, twice the size of the Imperial Palace. The emperors came to Tiantan at the winter solstice to offer sacrifices to Heaven.   These were very important occasions for which the temple's grandeur and simplicity provided a fitting background. The temple's design symbolised certain elements of their beliefs. The altar and temple buildings are located within a wall that is half-circular to the north, and square to the south. During the Yongle period, annual sacrifices to the earth at the summer solstice were  performed here. The outline of the enclosure represented the imagined shapes of heaven (curved) and earth (square). The roof tiles of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests are a deep blue, the colour of the sky. Each of the main structures in the temple has three tiers, making a total of nine, a number in Chinese cosmology representing Heaven. A separate Altar to the Earth  was constructed to the north of the city. From the West Heavenly Gate, an avenue leads to the Hall of Abstinence (Zhaigong). For three days before the rites began, the emperor would have forsworn meat and wine, and the last day of his fast would be spent here. For his safety, the hall was enclosed by a moat. The Circular Mound (Yuanqiu), an open altar set on three round marble terraces, was built in 1530. The emperor used to come here to commune with Heaven and, interestingly, there is a curious acoustical effect to be heard from the centre of the Circular Mound. Next to the Mound is the Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huangqiongyu), a wooden structure roofed with blue tiles and built entirely of wood in 1530. The Imperial Vault is surrounded by a round wall, popularly known as the Echo or Whispering Wall, because of its acoustics. If the round courtyard is  quiet, two people standing at any point along the wall with their heads at approximately the same distance off the ground can hear each other talking. From the Imperial Vault, there is a fine walk along a raised walkway called the Bridge of Vermilion Stairs. This leads to the main building of the park, the magnificent Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. A triple roof covered in blue tiles and crowned with a gilded ball tops this round wooden hall. The walls are painted in rich colours. It stands on three marble terraces. The original Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest was built in 1420, but burned down in 1889 and was later reconstructed. At the time, there were no trees in China tall enough to supply the wood for the columns, and these pillars, representing the four seasons and four directions, were imported from Oregon in the USA by the American lumber dealer, Robert Dollar.  The Hall is a showpiece of architectural ingenuity, 39 metres (125 feet) high and supported by 29 wooden pillars, standing without the aid of nails. Note that our photos are in reverse as we entered the park from the North.
What a beautiful place.  The rest of our day, having walked back to the hotel, was spent relaxing.  In the evening we went to a street market called the Silk Market.  The Chinese are experts at copying and a wide range of 'designer goods' were on sale.  There was no problem with communication in the market.  The Chinese are becoming expert salesmen and are very persistent in their tactics. Tomorrow we we planning to go to the Summer Palace.

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