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Published: December 11th 2006
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Lama Temple Architectural Detail
The place used to be the residence of a Qing Dynasty prince After returning to Japan for two business days of back-to-back work (no time to explore anything else this time), I flew to Beijing yesterday night for a couple of weeks of business engagements in China. The good thing about arriving during the weekend is that I was able to dedicate the entire day today to explore a couple of places that I had never visited before: Yonghegong (or Lama Temple) and Tiantan (or Temple of Heaven).
The Lama Temple is an old palace built in the 18th Century to be the residence of Prince Yong of the Qing Dynasty. When he became emperor Yongzheng, he converted his palace into a lamasery for the Yellow Hat order of Buddhist monks. The most surprising part of the visit for me was to witness the large number of practicing Buddhists in mainline China. The place was literally packed with people of all ages doing their devotions in all of the halls of this very large complex of buildings. The scene was equally puzzling for the large number of notoriously secular European tourists visiting the site.
During my visit to the Lama Temple, I underestimated how cold the temperature could feel when you
are not really doing a lot of hard physical activity (it was around 32 degrees Fahrenheit, 0 degrees Celsius). My jeans and winter parka were just not warm enough to keep the chill off. Before heading for my next destination, I decided to return to my hotel and add a couple of more layers to my clothing.
As I arrived by taxi to the South Gate of the Temple of Heaven, I was greeted by a large group of fake-watch salesmen trying to sell me Rolexes, Breitling, and other luxury watches…for the equivalent of US $10 each. I am sure that their cost must be a couple of dollars apiece. I had to actually hustle to get to the ticket counter and away from them. I purchased a “go through” ticket for RMB 30 (or around US $4). At first, I did not know exactly what this designation really meant, but as I entered the first area of the park, the gatekeeper tore off a portion of my ticket, then I understood that I was going to go through several gates and gatekeepers in my journey through the park, with no going back to the place where I was
starting the visit.
The added layers of clothing certainly made a difference and I was far more comfortable as I went through the various areas and temples in the complex.
The very first area of the complex was the Circular Mound Altar (Yuanqiutan), an open structure resembling a pre-Columbian pyramid, but the structure is actually a flattened tiered cone. The top plateau was covered with large tiles representing the heavens and converging into a central slightly raised rounded stone that every other tourist (domestic and foreigner) visiting the site was trying to step on. From the top level, it was possible to see what was ahead, so I did not spend too much time there and proceeded to go through the next gate leading to the Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Echo Wall.
The Imperial Vault of Heaven is a circular structure built using classical Ming Dynasty architecture and used to house the artifacts used by Chinese emperors to conduct the ceremonies at the Circular Mound Altar. The current building is not the original structure built in this site. The original building was expanded and rebuilt during the Qing Dynasty.
The wall surrounding the Imperial
Vault of Heaven forms a perfect circle and its surface is very smooth. It owes its name to its amazing acoustic properties: two persons standing at opposite sites of the courtyard, behind the east and west annex halls and facing north, are able to maintain a whispering conversation in spite of the surrounding noise. When I was there, several pairs of people were having conversations this way.
To continue the visit of Tiantan Park, one must exit the area of the Imperial Vault of Heaven through the same gate used to enter the area and then go around the outside of the Echo Wall towards the north. At this point, the magnificent Chengzhen Gate frames the long Danbi Bridge and the the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in the distance. The Danbi Bridge is actually an elevated pathway between the two main areas of Tiantan, the one representing Earth in the south, and the one representing Heaven in the North.
The north point of the park is dominated by the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, built originally in 1420, during the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty, it’s original name was Great Hall for
Sacrificial Rituals. It has been rebuilt twice since then.
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