Today is the first day of our tour. But, we faced a challenge - how to meet with our tour group. Our tour leader asked us to go to Temple of Heaven to unite with the group. Where the hell the temple is then? We did not want to take a cab (I know, we are cheap). Looking at the map, it seemed that it would be just 30-minute walk from our hotel to the temple. Thus, we decided to take a walk....
We got lost right after we left the hotel... The map we got from the hotel was poorly drawn. Carl asked me to ask two guys who were passing us. I was kind of hesitant to ask them since they did not look "friendly". Right, I am a bit judgmental when it comes to asking for direction... I ended up asking an elderly couple with a grand kid. They were very helpful. They suggested us to take bus because it's a 1 hr or 1.5 hr walk (what???). But, we thought we had time anyway - the tour wouldn't arrive in Beijing until noon. So, we started our first walking journey - Finding Temple of Heaven.
On the way to the temple, we got a chance to learn what Beijing looks like. It's pretty much like Shanghai - many high-rise condos mixed with old houses and hotongs (胡同). In each hotong, you can see very traditional living styles of Bejingers. In this sense, Beijing is a mixture of old and modern living styles.
After almost 2 hours of walking, we found the Temple of Heaven. The tour leader asked us to meet with the group at the south gate of the temple. We navigated our way to the gate and waiting for the group's arrival.
When we met up with the group, there was no introduction of group members. Well... doesn't matter - we would know them eventually, which we did - at least 80% of them by the end of the 5-day tour.
The temple is very big - it was twice size of the Forbidden City if I did not hear the tour guide wrong. For the detailed description of the temple - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Heaven.
The temple consists of three main sections - Circular Mound Altar (圜丘坛), Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇), and Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿). You will notice that the round/circle shape is the main shape in this complex. Blue is the main color. Round/circle means Heaven. Blue also refers to Heaven. In contrast, you will notice that the Forbidden City consists of square shaped buildings and yellow color. These refer to the emperors.
Your voice can be heard by all people on the Circular Mound Altar when you are standing the centre of the circular. Thus, the central point was the place where the Emperor stood when he held ceremonies to pray for better weather. This reminds me Chinese great scientific invention and architecture. In addition, there are many circles spread out starting from the central point. The first circle surrounding the central point consists of 9 stones. The second circle consists of 18 stones. Basically, each circle is based on a factor of 9. Also, there are 27 layers of stones under the circular.It was a long walk from the Circular Mound Altar to Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇).
After passing through the Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇), it took another long walk to arrive Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿). According to our tour guide, the hall was the place where the emperor prayed for good harvests (not for a good year by Chinese characters).
As you see, there is a yellow stick on the top of the roof, which refers to the emperor. Also, the number of plates on the inner circle is the same as that on the outer circle. Basically, each circle on the roof has the same number of plates. According to the tour guide, there were no nails used to build this hall. The structure is supported by specific joints in the wood.
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