Experience the world-famous Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven is a ritual temple complex located in the southeastern of Beijing. Covering an area of 273 hectares which is even larger than the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven is known to be the largest and most representative structure among existing China's ancient sacrificial buildings. As an important worship centre of royalty, the Temple of Heaven is the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties celebrated the national rites and sacrifices to pay homage to Heaven and plead to give good harvests. The memorial ceremony held in the Temple of Heaven is regarded as one of the major rites in a year. Ancient Chinese notion claimed that emperors are the "Son of Heaven", so the temple complex's design reflects the emperors' unique role in the relationship between heaven and the earth, and this relationship also occupied a central position in the ancient Chinese cosmology. Encompassing the essences of ancient philosophy, history, mathematics, mechanics, aesthetics, and ecology, the Temple of Heaven deserve to be an outstanding cultural masterpiece of Chinese civilization.
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