Temple of Heaven, Beijing (1406–1420): Ming Imperial Altar

The Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) in Beijing is a complex of altars and halls where the emperors of Ming and Qing China made sacrifices to Heaven and prayed for good harvests. It was built between 1406 and 1420 under the Yongle Emperor, at the same time as the Forbidden City, and was remodelled by later rulers. It is one of the finest examples of Chinese ritual architecture, and its circular Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests has become a symbol of Beijing.

Background: the emperor and Heaven

In traditional Chinese political thought, the emperor ruled as the Son of Heaven, holding the Mandate of Heaven as long as he governed well. Floods, droughts and famines could be read as signs that Heaven was displeased. Performing the sacrifices to Heaven correctly was therefore one of the emperor’s most important duties, and only the emperor himself could carry them out.

The first Ming emperor had built an altar to Heaven and Earth in his capital Nanjing. When the Yongle Emperor moved the court north to Beijing, he needed a new altar to match the new palace. The Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City were planned together as parts of the same project, which followed Yongle’s seizure of the throne in the Jingnan Campaign.

Construction and remodelling

The complex was built between 1406 and 1420 in the south of Beijing, to the south-east of the palace. At first it was called the Altar of Heaven and Earth (Tiandi Tan), because both were worshipped there together, as in Nanjing. Its main building was a rectangular hall for the combined sacrifices.

In 1530 the Jiajing Emperor reformed the state rituals and ordered separate altars for Heaven and Earth. A new Altar of Earth was built in the north of the city, and the Circular Mound Altar was built for the solstice sacrifice to Heaven. The complex was renamed the Temple of Heaven in 1534. In the 1540s Jiajing also replaced the old rectangular hall with a round, triple-roofed building, the forerunner of today’s Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

These changes were bound up with politics. Jiajing had come to the throne in 1521 as a cousin of the previous emperor, and his long dispute with senior officials over how to honour his own father, known as the Great Rites Controversy, made him intensely interested in ritual. Reforming the state sacrifices allowed him to assert his authority over the court and to present himself as a restorer of ancient practice.

The Qing dynasty kept using the temple after 1644. The Qianlong Emperor enlarged the Circular Mound Altar in 1749 and in 1751 gave the round hall its present name and uniform blue roof tiles, blue being the colour of Heaven. Earlier its three roofs had been blue, yellow and green.

The main buildings

The temple is laid out along a north–south axis. In the south stands the Circular Mound Altar, an open three-tiered terrace of white marble with no building on top. Its paving stones and balustrades are arranged in multiples of nine, the highest odd number, associated with Heaven. Here the emperor made the great sacrifice at the winter solstice.

North of it is the Imperial Vault of Heaven, a smaller round hall built in 1530 that held the spirit tablets used in the ceremonies. It is surrounded by the circular Echo Wall, whose smooth curved surface carries a whisper from one side to the other.

A raised walkway about 360 metres long, the Vermilion Steps Bridge, leads north to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. This round wooden building, about 38 metres high and about 32 metres in diameter, rests on a three-tiered marble terrace. Its timber frame is held together by traditional joinery. Inside, 28 columns support the roofs: four central columns represent the seasons, an inner ring of twelve the months, and an outer ring of twelve the traditional two-hour divisions of the day.

West of the main axis lies the Hall of Abstinence, where the emperor fasted and purified himself before the rites. The whole complex is enclosed by two sets of walls, rounded on the north and square on the south, reflecting the ancient belief that Heaven is round and Earth is square.

The rites

The most important ceremony took place at the winter solstice. The emperor travelled in procession from the Forbidden City, spent the night of fasting in the Hall of Abstinence, and before dawn offered sacrifices of food, silk and jade at the Circular Mound Altar, accompanied by music and ritual dance. In the first lunar month he prayed at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests for an abundant year. Ordinary people were not allowed to watch. In times of drought the emperor could also come to pray for rain, and the Qing emperors attended the main sacrifices in person whenever they could, since sending a deputy was seen as a lapse in duty. The Qianlong Emperor, who reigned for 60 years, was known for his close attention to these rites and personally led the sacrifices on many occasions.

The grounds were planted with thousands of cypress and juniper trees, chosen as symbols of endurance. Several thousand old trees survive, some of them believed to be several hundred years old, and they give the complex its quiet, wooded character today.

Later history

The temple suffered during the crises of the late Qing. In 1889 lightning set fire to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, which burned to the ground. It was rebuilt in the following years on the earlier pattern, using timber brought from abroad because suitable large trees could no longer be found in China. During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, troops of the foreign allied armies occupied the grounds.

The imperial rites ended with the fall of the Qing in 1912. In December 1914 the president of the new republic, Yuan Shikai, performed a winter solstice sacrifice at the Circular Mound Altar as part of his attempt to make himself emperor; it was the last ceremony of its kind. The temple grounds opened to the public as a park in 1918, and in 1998 the site was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 1406–1420: the Altar of Heaven and Earth is built in Beijing under the Yongle Emperor.
• 1530: the Jiajing Emperor separates the rites; the Circular Mound Altar and the Imperial Vault of Heaven are built.
• 1534: the complex is renamed the Temple of Heaven.
• 1545: a round, triple-roofed hall replaces the original rectangular hall.
• 1749: the Qianlong Emperor enlarges the Circular Mound Altar.
• 1751: the round hall is renamed the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and given blue tiles.
• 1889: lightning destroys the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests; it is later rebuilt.
• 1914, December: Yuan Shikai performs the last sacrifice to Heaven.
• 1918: the grounds open to the public as a park.
• 1998: the Temple of Heaven becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Why it matters

The Temple of Heaven shows how closely religion, cosmology and political power were linked in imperial China: the state’s survival depended on the emperor’s correct relationship with Heaven. Its buildings turn those ideas into geometry, colour and number, and it remains one of the most admired works of Chinese architecture.