An inspiring visit to the Temple of Heaven on a steamy morning this week provided a window into the ancient pagan history of Beijing and how it influenced the spirituality for future generations. When Qin Shi Huang united all of the Chinese provinces under the Qin Dynasty, the first heavenly temple was built in the ancient capital of Chang’an in 231 BC. In 1368, the Ming Dynasty took the Mandate of Heaven from the Song Dynasty, ruling from the city of Nanjing, in northeastern China. In 1420, Zhudi Emperor moved the capital to Beijing, as a result, commissioning the construction of many historic sights we know and recognize today that reflect the tranquility of Ancient China. The Forbidden City and the Ming Tombs were built during this time. The most important was the Temple of Heaven, or 天坛. 
The Temple of Heaven’s purpose is just as it sounds: a place for reflection, sacrifice and prayer leading directly to the gods in Heaven. There were two days of the year that were most important for prayer. The winter solstice ceremony was a beg to the gods for them to bring wind and water to come at the right times. The summer solstice ceremony was an elaborate prayer for a successful harvest. These were conducted in the temple’s sprawling square by the emperor, to truly justify the people’s requests.
Moving forward into the present day, there are some other non spiritual functions of this pristine place. This tranquil spot in the middle of Beijing’s urban skyline provides a natural setting for reflection and companionship. Being one of the most serene parks in all of Beijing, hundreds of retired people come here every morning to exercise with their village-mates to keep their bodies and minds in shape during the later years of their life. It was truly exhilarating how physically fit they were, pushing their body to its optimum fitness. However, what impressed me the most was their spirit and thirst for life’s challenges. 
Finally, as a major tourist destination in China, the Temple of Heaven is a vibrant convergence of different cultures. In my short visit, I had the opportunity to chat with Israeli and Singaporean families, a Buddhist monk as well as the energetic locals. As we all we joined together and participated in the traditional morning exercises, we forged a bond filled with strength of spirit. This was the vision of Qin Shi Huang: the reverence of a heavenly body above through prayer, ceremony and worship. The Temple of Heaven today has embraced these principles and provides a welcoming retreat for both Beijing locals and its worldly visitors.
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Wow how informative and what a special place to be. Thank you for sharing your experience
Very impressive and imaginative. I hope to be able to experience this one day. I am sure you had an amazing time. Thanks for sharing such an incredible experience with us.
Great job with your article, Matthew. You sound like you truly enjoyed and cherished your summer trip to China. I love that you provided the history of the Temple of Heaven. I didn’t know that the Forbidden City and the Ming Tombs were built at the same time! As a place for meditation, I’m sure your visit there greatly calmed and relaxed you. The Temple of Heaven sounds like the perfect place to unwind and truly immerse yourself in nature.
Thanks Matthew, for sharing your inspiring and fascinating visit to Beijing’s Temple of Heaven. I enjoyed learning both the historical perspective as a place where the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty held the Heaven Worship Ceremony to pray for good harvest and the present day destination as spiritual retreat were local retirees gather for morning exercises and to find companionship. A special place to keep your mind and body rejuvenated. I hope to one day visit this sanctuary of health and heaven!
Wow very exciting place to be! Tourists around the world gather to pray. I didn’t know that a temple was built by all the chinese provinces under the Qin Dynasty. It seemed to be that those people probably came everyday to exercise. I’ll try to come visit this Temple Of Heaven.
Wow that seems like an amazing place to be. It is cool to learn about the different religions around the world. I would love to visit the temples if I were to fly to China. It was interesting to learn about the different practices. It was also very interesting to learn about the history of the temples.
Thank you so much for explaining your visit to the Temple of Heaven. I’ve never heard of the Temple of Heaven before. There’s so much history behind it, and I can’t believe that it has stood for 600 years. I didn’t know that the summer and winter solstice were important for prayers to gods. I find it amazing that some retirees that live in Beijing exercise every morning at the Temple of Heaven. I’d love to visit the Temple of Heaven one day if I got the chance!
It looks like you really liked your trip to China this summer. Although I’ve never heard of it before, I think the Temple of Heaven is a really good place to visit. I always wanted to try meditating when I go to China and I think the Temple of Heaven is the perfect place: “a place for reflection, sacrifice, and prayer!” I think this temple will be a very unique landmark between the urban skyscrapers of Beijing. You did a really nice job explaining the temple and its background. Even only looking at the picture, I could imagine how peaceful and calm this place was.
This article is so interesting, Matthew! I used to think that many Chinese people are not that religious. However, this article has taught me differently. I learned that the temple of heaven is a very important place of prayer. Thanks for sharing!
Visiting China once again was definitely another great experience! The temple of heaven seems to be a great place for quieter breathtaking experiences. This is especially true since there isn’t the hustle and bustle of people that would disrupt its tranquility. Meditating here would definitely radiate a feeling different from when we meditate in another garden. This place offers another great way to celebrate the winter and summer solstices. I would love to visit this welcoming retreat when I have the chance!
It’s so nice to see that you have immersed yourself not only into Chinese culture but also into Chinese religion. This article taught me a lot about the ancient history and the religious aspects of China. And to see that it is still vibrant today just shows how resilient Chinese religion and culture is as a whole.
This article was very informative and interesting. I am really surprised how a building built so far into the past is still in use today. I also really like the idea of that building, to provide people with an escape from a busy life in the city. I hope maybe one day I can go there myself and see it. I also really liked the use of the pictures in the article. They give a good representation as to how it really is over there.
My parents have visited the Temple of Heaven and showed me pictures! Interesting to learn about the history of Beijing; the Temple of Heaven being the most important historic sight constructed under Zhudi Emperor’s rule, in 1420. Also cool that two days of the year were dedicated for prayer. I’ve learned of many cultures that reserve days for the country and individuals to reflect on their society. The “convergence of different cultures” because of the Temple of Heaven being a major tourist destination was also cool to learn about, as well as meeting new people. Thanks for the great article!
I bet if we had one more day in Beijing we would have visited this. We were already too busy at the forbidden city and the Great Wall. I don’t even remember hearing about this temple if we ever did. This temple looks amazing I wish we had the chance to see it at the time, but it will just have to be added to the itinerary with Shanghai. I am sure my grandpa has seen this because he has been too china many times, but he has never told me about it I will have to ask him.
This is so amazing how you had this opportunity to go back to China over the summer! I wish I could go and see our exchange students again. This sounds like you have an amazing time that really impacted your life. I would love to see an article about how this trip overall changed your outlook on China or on life or maybe not at all! Thank you so much for sharing your amazing experience and hopefully, you learned something there that you can keep with you forever.
Matthew, what a nice history lesson about the Temple. I am sure that you had a great experience in visiting China. It is nice to see that while many tourists flock to the larger cities and try to take in all the changes that China has experienced in recent years there is still a place of peace and quite to reflect. It is also interesting to observe that across all cultures the people have prayed for rain and a good harvest.
This looks like a magnificent temple.
I love the ancient architecture, especially that it is round.
What a serene and spiritual place, and a beautiful park as well.
Nice to know that it is being enjoyed by locals and tourists.
Your trip must have been amazing.
Thanks for sharing.
Your article was right on point. I love to read about ancient history and finding reasons why and how the ancients built their fabulous buildings and temples. Being there gave you inspiration and helped you find the reason to tell this wonderful story. I look forward to reading about all your future travels and the seeing the world through your eyes.
What a lovely article! It seems like you had a great experience there! I would love to go to China one day! I love the pictures you included. My parents work in flushing, and we always pass by a park. When we go, we see a lot of people doing Chinese yoga, and stretching at like 7:00 in the morning. I love the picture of the man doing a split. That’s really funny! I think that stretching makes them really flexible, or its in the genes. My grandma could do a split and she is a lot more flexible than me.
What a lovely article! It seems like you had a great experience in China! I hope to get the chance to go to China one day. I never knew that the temple has so many purposes such as a place for reflection, and sacrifice and prayer. I loved looking at all the pictures you had, especially the ones of the guys stretching. My parents work in flushing and whenever we pass by the park, we always see a lot of people doing Chinese yoga, and stretching at like 7:00 in the morning. Maybe that’s why my grandma can do a split
Wow! What an amazing and interesting article. I was born in Beijing and I cannot be happier to see someone write an article about my hometown, but it also made me miss my hometown even more. Even though when I was born in Beijing and lived there for so many years, I still haven’t been to most of the places mentioned in this article. After reading this article, it rose my interest in these places even more because of their ancient history and interesting architectural style, both shows the ancient history of China. And I will definitely go visit these places whenever I have the chance to.
Wow, amazing article!! When I was in China and walked around in the morning, the first thing I saw was the elderly people exercising in the parks. This article does a great job of capturing what it is like in China. It is cool to see the pictures of you interacting with the local people and hopefully making conversions. The history and culture are much different from America’s but it is important to learn and understand it.
It’s so nice to see that you have immersed yourself not only into Chinese culture but also into Chinese religion. This article taught me a lot about the ancient history and the religious aspects of China. And to see that it is still vibrant today just shows how resilient Chinese religion and culture is as a whole.
Interesting article! I’ve never been to the Temple of Heaven and would love to visit it someday. I had no idea the winter and summer solstice were such important days for prayer at this temple. It’s interesting how so many different cultures converge here. The Temple of Heaven sounds like the perfect place for prayer, reflection, and exercise.
北京之所以能作为中国的首都就是因为他有着浓郁的传统气息。许多中国古代重要建筑都在北京竖立着。从人们最熟悉的紫禁城到十三陵还是长城都是在这个城市一点点建成的。许多北京老人被称为老北京。他们喜欢在安静的公园里打发他们的时间一个早晨或又是一个下午。
Spirits must have a huge influence on Chinese culture huh? It’s pretty cool to see how organized a Chinese lifestyle is. I wonder what else has had an impact on Chinese culture, because at times, it can seem fairly diverse. And how important is it to visit the Temple of Heaven everyday? I would think that everyone is obligated to visit it at one point, but I doubt that a given person will visit everyday.
It’s so nice to see that China has deep culture but also into religion. This article taught me ancient China’s history and the religious aspects of China. And to see that it is still vibrant today just shows how resilient Chinese religion and culture is as a whole. I hope I have the opportunities to visit Temple of Heaven.
Interesting article there. I thought that Chinese lifestyle was different everyday but it turns out they are pretty organized. This article taught me ancient China’s history and the religious aspects of China. It is cool to see the pictures of you interacting with the local people and hopefully making conversions. The history and culture are much different from America’s but it is important to learn and understand it.
This article was very informative and interesting. I am really surprised how a building built so far into the past is still in use today. I also really like the idea of that building, to provide people with an escape from a busy life in the city. I hope maybe one day I can go there myself and see it. I also really liked the use of the pictures in the article. They give a good representation as to how it really is over there.
Great article. I now know The Temple of Heaven’s is a place for reflection, sacrifice, and prayer leading directly to the gods in Heaven. I always knew the elderly liked exercising, but in parks is something new to me. It’s really awesome that you went to China, it seems like you were able to obtain a lot of information. Great job.
Thank you for writing this interesting article on Beijing. You looked like you were having an enjoyable experience there. I thought that the fact that the ming tomb and forbidden city were built at the same time around was pretty cool. I thought that temple was just for praying but I discovered that they did things differently and find a nice and peaceful spot to take a look at all the scenery.I wish I could go there myself and relax and meditate, it just seems so peaceful and serene.