The Temple of Heaven in Chinese is Tiantan (天坛), served as an exclusive altar for emperors to worship gods, and pray for rain and a good harvest year during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It belongs to the World Heritage and has now been entitled an AAAAA tourist attraction across China. It is located to the southeast of Zhengyangmen (正阳门), 3 kilometers away from the center of Beijing. To today, it holds the world’s largest scale of and the most perfect ancient god-worshipping buildings in the world. Its total area covers 2,730,000 square meters and officially opened as a park to the public.

In the entire city there is Ditan Park (the Temple of Earth) to worship the earth in the north,the Temple of Heavento worship heaven (or gods) in the south,Ritan Park(the Temple of the Sun) to worship the sun in the east, andYuetan Park(the Temple of the Moon) to worship the moon in the west. Amongst them the Temple of Heaven is the most brilliant one and looks spectacular. The Temple of Heaven was initially built in the 18th year of Emperor Yongle’s reign (1420), and was renovated during the reigns of Emperor Qianlong and Guangxu during the Qing Dynasty. The Temple of Heaven consists of the Tanqiu (圜丘) and Qigu (祈谷) Altars, with two layers of walls which form the interior and exterior altars. The southern part of the walls is squared and the northern part round, which stands for a round sky and a square earth (this incorrect idea was held by the ancient Chinese). The main buildings are located inside the interior altar. The Tanqiu (圜丘) Alter is located in the south and the Qigu (祈谷) Altar in the north. The two altars stand on the same line connecting the south and north, blocked by a wall.

Besides the Taiji stone in the center being round, the stones surrounding the Taiji stone are all fan-shaped, and its number is the yang (yin and yang) one, which symbolizes the 9 layers of skies. The attached buildings of Tanqiu Altar include Huangqiongyu (皇穹宇) and the Echoing Wall (回音壁). Nowadays since the Tiananmen Tower has become the symbol of China, Qiniandian (祈年殿) of the Temple of Heaven has been treated as the symbol of the eternal ancient city. This building, 38 meters tall and 30 meters in diameter, contains very rich resources of knowledge.

At the same time it is also the peak technology of China’s wood architecture, connected by wooden joints and brackets. Another perfect advantage is its fantastic echoes. Shouting once in the center of Tanqiu Altar, you will hear a bright and deep echo from the depth ofthe placeunderground. It seems that this echo comes from the center of the earth, and also from the sky. Therefore, people granted it the very mysterious name “Heaven and Earth Stone (天心石)”. Huangqiongyu (皇穹宇) is surrounded by a 0.9-meter-thick wall. If you stand at one end of it whispering close to the wall, the person standing at the other end of it will hear your clear voice with a stereo effect as long as he pushes his face against the wall. Therefore, this wall was named “Echoing Wall”. This proves that the ancient Chinese of 500 years ago had already been able to use acoustics.