Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is my final sightseeing visit in Beijing. Like Beihai Park and Hou Hai, the Temple of Heaven is a quiet sanctuary within an ambitious megalopolis. The temple’s walls partition the roaring city from a peaceful 2.7 million square meter garden that cradles the brilliant shrine. Passing through the temple gates and leaving the traffic behind, we found relief from the thirty-six degree heat in a cool forest of stout evergreens. The temple was constructed in 1420 and was used by the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to worship heaven and pray for bountiful harvests. Today, the main buildings such as the Alter of Prayer for Good Harvests (pictured) are swarmed by tourists, but the park remains a tranquil refuge where Chinese families find serenity over a picnic lunch and a game of dominos.