Temple of Heaven in Beijing

The Temple of Heaven is a very attractive visiting place in Beijing. The Temple of Heaven is a complex of Taoist buildings which was visited by emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to offer sacrifices to heaven and pray for good harvests.



This Temple of Heaven is situated in southeastern urban Beijing, in Xuanwu District. It is regarded as a Taoist temple, although Chinese Heaven worship, especially by the reigning monarch of the day, pre-dates Taoism.

The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing. It is much bigger than the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace with an area of about 2,700,000 square meters. As Chinese emperors called themselves 'The Son of Heaven’, they dared not to build their own dwelling, 'Forbidden City' bigger than a dwelling for Heaven.

The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low and the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought of 'The heaven is round and the earth is square'.

The Temple is divided by two enclosed walls into inner part and outer part. The main buildings of the Temple lie at the south and north ends of the middle axis line of the inner part. The most magnificent buildings are The Circular Mound Altar (Yuanqiutan), Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huangqiongyu) and Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (Qiniandian) from south to north. Also, there are some additional buildings like Three Echo Stones and Echo Wall.Almost all of the buildings are connected by a wide bridge called Vermilion Steps Bridge (Danbiqiao) or called Sacred Way.



An interesting and famous place for you to visit is called Echo Wall owning special feature. The wall encloses the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Its perimeter is 193 meters.

If you and your friend stand at the east and the west roots of the wall respectively and you whisper a word, then your friend will hear clearly what you say.

Admission Fee: CNY 30 (Nov. 1 to Mar. 31)
CNY 35 (Apr. 1 to Oct. 31)
Opening Hours: 06:00 to 20:00
Recommended Time for a Visit: One and a half hour
Bus Route: 2, 6, 17, 34, 35, 110, 120, 122, 610, 707, 721, 739