Dongcheng District, Beijing, China

We had a much needed 3-week holiday from school and work!  All 4 of us were exhausted from everything we had been through since moving to Beijing in August. We didn’t leave for our holiday right away, allowing a few days to relax.  It also allowed us to explore Beijing on a Monday with less tourists.  Both girls are beginning to get tired of ‘too many temples’, so we were careful to have other incentives like McDonald’s for lunch.  A balance between the Western fast food and the history of ancient China!

The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 with a total area of 270 acres.  It is the largest building for religious worship in China, which was originally used by the Ming and Qing emperors to pay homage to Heaven and to pray for a year of rich harvest.

From the early hours every day, until the sun gets too hot in late morning, hundreds of senior citizens come to the large Beijing park that encircles the temple itself.  We walked next to the Long Corridor, 5 meters wide and 350 meters long and has 72 rooms that share the same back wall.  Sitting in this passageway were groups of older people playing card games and checkers, knitting, and strumming musical instruments.  We also saw many retired Chinese people exercising in the work out park near the temple.  There was a variety of activity that every corner of the park and it’s fascinating to watch because of the energy these ageing Beijing residents throw themselves into the games and groups.
Temple of Heaven is an imperial complex of religious buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing.  The Temple of Heaven was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 and was described as “a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design which simply and graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution of one of the world’s great civilizations…” as the “symbolic layout and design of the Temple of Heaven had a profound influence on architecture and planning in the Far East over many centuries.”