Everyone may have traveled a lot in his life, but maybe every Chinese traveler must have a stop in Beijing. Since I was a child, I have been able to know all kinds of news about the capital from various books, TV programs, and radio broadcasts. I also thought about it many years ago. If I have time, I should also visit Beijing, feel the culture there, and experience the thousands of years of China. culture. So, on November 16, 2018, I boarded a flight to Beijing.
Since the flight was at 6:10 in the morning, I went out at four in the morning. In the early morning of mid-November in Xiamen, the heat has dissipated and autumn is getting stronger. A long-sleeved T-shirt is the most suitable attire for the moment. There are few vehicles on the road. After waiting for a few minutes, I finally got a taxi.
The ticket I bought this time is from Shandong Airlines, and the boarding gate is at Terminal T4. This is the first time for me to take a flight at T4 terminal. I feel that the overall feeling is worse than T3. It is very small and the design is not very reasonable. However, due to too many flights, the terminal building at this time is already crowded. travelers.
After more than three hours of flight, the plane landed at the Capital International Airport at 10:35. Although I was mentally prepared, the highest outdoor temperature in Beijing at this time was only 7°C, but as soon as I stepped out of the gate, the coldness was different from Xiamen’s 7°C. a concept. Before coming here, I always heard that the air index in Beijing is very bad and the smog is serious, so I bought a mask and prepared to go to "artificial biological haze removal". When I got out of the airport, I was stunned. What's wrong? ! The blue sky and white clouds, coupled with the golden ginkgo trees lining the roadside, are truly beautiful.
The booked hotel is located on Zhushikou West Road, so take the airport bus line 2, get off at Qianmen Street Station and walk back for a few hundred meters. It is only about 50 meters away from Exit D of Qiaowan Station of Metro Line 7. Beijing is a big city, and there are many people going to Beijing for various reasons. Therefore, hotel prices are generally high, and its traffic congestion is also famous. To ensure smooth travel, the subway is the safest, but if it is convenient, it is the bus. . Therefore, the reservation is a hotel apartment, and it is very close to the subway entrance.
After completing the check-in procedures (you can do it through the WeChat applet on your mobile phone), unload your luggage, and walk about 400 meters straight south along the street outside the hotel. Save the road and enter from here, but in fact, it should be the best to enter from the south gate.
The Temple of Heaven is the general term for the two altars, the Circular Mound and the Prayer Valley. There are two layers of altar walls, forming an inner and outer altar. The main buildings include the Circular Mound Altar, the Imperial Vault of Heaven, the Hall of Prayer for Harvests, the Hall of Emperor Qian, and the Gate of Prayer for Good Harvests, among which the most familiar ones are the Hall of Prayer for Harvests and the Echo Wall.
The rituals of worshiping heaven and earth in my country have a long history, and the formal activities of worshiping heaven and earth can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty, which was more than 2,000 years old, and continued until the disintegration of the feudal system in the early 20th century. The Temple of Heaven was first built in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420). It was a place for the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to worship the heaven and pray for a good harvest. It is a royal altar established in accordance with the traditional Chinese etiquette system. From the eighteenth year of Yongle (1420) in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle held the first joint sacrifice of heaven and earth in the Great Sacrifice Hall, to the last time in the thirty-fourth year of Emperor Guangxu (1908) of the Qing Dynasty. Thirteen emperors held a grand sacrifice ceremony at the Temple of Heaven. In addition to the ceremonies for offering sacrifices to heaven, every time the emperor ascends the throne, the birth of a prince, the canonization of the queen, honoring the queen mother, and other royal events, or national events such as natural disasters, rebellion by criminals, and invasion by foreign captives, the emperor either personally or sends important officials to the altar to hold the ceremony. funeral ceremony.
There is a gate in the east, west, south and north of the Temple of Heaven. The north gate is Zhenmen, also known as Beitianmen; the east gate is called Taiyuanmen, also known as Dongtianmen; the west gate is called Guanglimen, also known as Xitianmen. The south main gate is called Zhaoheng Gate, also known as Nantian Gate. Each door is inscribed with a combination of Manchu and Han Dynasty. Arrange the order of the second character of each door name as Yuan, Heng, Li, and Zhen. "Yuan" represents the beginning of all things, and the impartiality of the heaven and earth; "Heng" means the growth and prosperity of all things; Not biased, so that all things can be upright and durable.
As soon as you enter the north gate, there are still ginkgo trees on both sides of the road. This happened in the early winter, and the golden ginkgo leaves fell all over the ground with the wind, paving a thick layer. The gray stone road in the middle, under the trees on both sides Gold, looks simple and simple.
The time to go is a little late. If it is one to two weeks earlier, the leaves of ginkgo will be less and it will be more beautiful
Temple of Heaven Park Logo
Go straight for more than 100 meters after passing Beitianmen, and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is on the right. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests was formerly known as the Great Prayer Hall, which was first built in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty. In the 24th year of Jiajing, it was rebuilt into a triple-roofed round hall named "Daxiang Hall". It was destroyed by thunder and fire in the fifteenth year of Guangxu (1889). The Hall of Prayer for Harvests we see now was rebuilt as it was during the Guangxu period. Since there were no blueprints left in those days, the craftsmen could only rebuild from memory. Therefore, the current Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is much chunkier than the one built in the Ming Dynasty, and the roof has also become much smaller.
In 1860, the photo of the Hall of Prayer for Harvests in the Temple of Heaven was taken by Felice Beato, a reporter accompanying the British and French Allied Forces.
In the current Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the red lampposts can be used as both lighting and speakers
The blue glazed tiles on the outer wall of the hall are particularly beautiful
Doornails in a nine-by-nine arrangement
Danbi Bridge, also known as Haiyan Avenue, is also the central axis of the Temple of Heaven Park. It was built in the eighteenth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420). It is 360 meters long and 30 meters wide. It is a huge and long brick and stone platform. Two culverts are called bridges. It is connected to the Chengzhen Gate of the Circular Mound in the south, and the south brick gate of the Prayer Valley Altar in the north. The Circular Mound Altar was first built in the ninth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1530). , go straight along the Danbi Bridge, and after passing the Chengzhen Gate is the Huangqiongyu.
In the northwest corner of the outer wall of Huangqiongyu, there is a famous cypress tree named "Nine Dragon Cypress". It is said that nine-striped dragons can be seen coiled on the trunk of this cypress tree more than 600 years old.
Kowloon cypress. Do you know why so many people stretch out their palms to "luck" this tree? Because some tour guides will tell their group members that the air near the trunk will feel hot when the palm is close to the trunk.
The Huangqiongyu courtyard is located on the north side of the Circular Mound Altar, facing south, with a circular wall and three glazed doors on the south. The main buildings include the Huangwanyu and the East and West Side Halls.
The main hall of Huangqiongyu is supported by sixteen pillars around the circle, eight eaves pillars on the outer layer, eight gold pillars in the middle, and a common golden bucket arch on the pillars on the two floors to support the ceiling and caisson on the arch. The color painting of dragon, phoenix and seal, the ceiling pattern is a gilded two dragons playing with beads, and the caisson is a golden dragon caisson. The span of bucket arches and caissons in the Imperial Vault of Heaven is unique in ancient Chinese architecture. The auxiliary hall of the imperial vault, the top of Xieshan hall, the blue glazed tile roof, six steps on the front, decorated with scroll paintings, exquisite in shape. The East Hall is dedicated to the God of Ming Dynasty (the Sun), the Big Dipper, the Five Stars of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, and Zhou Tianxing, while the West Hall is the place where the God of Night Light (Moon) and the Gods of Cloud, Rain, Wind and Thunder are enshrined. Counting from the north side of the road in front of Huangqiongyu Hall, the first three stone slabs are "three-tone stones". The circular wall around the courtyard of Huangqiongyu is about 3.72 meters high and 0.9 meters thick. The wall is made of Linqing bricks from Shandong, and the tiles are roofed with blue glazed tubes. This is the famous "Echo Wall". However, there are too many tourists, and now when you go to the Temple of Heaven, you can't experience the Sanyin Stone and the Echoing Wall.
Emperor Vault. From a distance, the roof looks like an open blue umbrella
The interior structure of the building and the altar
A building with a bucket arch structure without beams
Imperial Vault of Heaven and East Side Hall
Whispering gallery
blue tile
After leaving the Imperial Vault of Heaven, go straight northward and you will arrive at the Circular Mound. The buildings on the ground of the Circular Mound are round inside and square outside. The first layer of walls is square and called outer; In the center of the interior is the platform for offering sacrifices to the sky (also known as the platform for worshiping the sky), that is, the Circular Hill Terrace. In the Ming Dynasty, it was a three-story blue glazed round altar. It was expanded in the 14th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1749), and the blue glazed glass was changed to a moxa leaf bluestone table top and white marble columns.
The Temple of Heaven is the place for the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the heavens, and the word "Tian" can be seen everywhere, and nothing can better reveal the sky than the round mound, its size and components.
The number nine is used repeatedly, and the Book of Changes believes that nine is the extreme number and a symbol of dignity. Quanqiu Altar has a very close relationship with "Nine". Its center is a round marble called "Tianxin Stone". Facing outward from the center, each of the three floors is covered with 9-ring fan-shaped stone slabs. From 9 yuan in the first ring to 81 yuan in the ninth ring, the middle layer is from 90 yuan in the 10th ring to 162 yuan in the 18th ring, and the lower layer is from 171 yuan in the 19th ring to 243 yuan in the 27th ring. There are a total of 378 nines on the three floors, a total of 3402 pieces, symbolizing the nine heavens."
Praying Valley Altar. Think about the previous emperors, standing on this bare altar before sunrise when counting nine cold days, they must be cold to death.
The round stone slab protruding from the surface in the upper left corner is the Tianxin Stone, and the surrounding is paved in multiples of nine. It is said that when people stand on the Tianxin Stone and speak, they will feel that their voice is particularly thick and loud.
Look at the light pole. It was originally built in the ninth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that the material is Jinshen, and it is nine feet nine feet nine inches high. The current lamppost has been preserved since the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. It is nine feet high and 28.8 meters high. When the ceremony of worshiping heaven is held, a large lantern with a diameter of 1.3 meters and a height of 2.15 meters is hung on the lamp pole, which is called Wangdeng. There used to be three during the reign of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, and two were demolished by Yuan Shikai when he was restored to offer sacrifices to heaven, so only one remains today. It is said that Yuan Shikai hoped to arouse the support of the people of the country through the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven at the Temple of Heaven, and to be a unique emperor, so he stayed one and went to the other. Go straight from the south gate of Yuanqiu to the exit of the south gate.
Burnt wood stove. At the beginning of the ceremony of worshiping the sky, a clean calf is first placed on the stove, and burnt with pine branches and reeds to welcome the god of heaven, which is called "burnt wood to welcome the god of the emperor". After the sacrificial ceremony is completed, all the tributes listed on the emperor's god's case, as well as the blessing plates and silk are respectfully transported to the furnace and incinerated. The emperor also needs to stand aside respectfully and watch, which is called "Wang Liao".
Liao furnace. Iron furnaces for incineration of offerings. The eight burners here are used to incinerate the offerings that were placed in front of the gods of the eight emperors of the Qing Dynasty.
Ancient meets modern
bird on persimmon tree
Famous Beijing Sunburn Roast Meat. This restaurant is just opposite the hotel where I live, but only a dozen meters away. Unfortunately, I can't eat alone, so I have to wait for the next time. For dinner, I ate the "Siluke Beef Noodles" next to it. It was slightly salty, but the taste was acceptable. I tried their barbecue, which was different from what I had when I went to Lanzhou. I didn't like it very much. I guess it added Beijing's Roast it.
The pot of spicy peppers is the same as the one seen in Lanzhou
Beijing is cold and dry in winter, so I went back to the hotel early to make tea to refresh myself. At the end of the day, not only did I have a sore throat, but I also noticed nosebleeds before going to bed at night. The masks I had prepared came in handy at this time. I felt much better wearing them to sleep, and it was not in vain that I had to travel all the way to bring them here.
