Altars for all Seasons

Part of A Better Guide to Beijing

The Mongol Yuán dynasty built Běijīng largely according to the layout prescribed in the 2nd century BCE classic Rites of Zhōu, and while the Míng slightly altered the shape and later added the southern Outer City, it followed the same general approach when constructing yet further ceremonial altars and imperial temples.

Tiān Tán (天坛), the Altar of Heaven (Temple of Heaven Park), was the most important of several altars with different purposes at the five compass points around Běijīng (the centre, from the Chinese point of view, being the fifth point). It is the one that comes nearest to retaining its original splendour, although the site has been much invaded by modern building, losing perhaps 40% of its original area.

The foreign-built railway line from Tiānjīn ran right up to its west gate for a while after the Boxer Rebellion, and the British forces of the multinational army that relieved the legations in 1900 camped there. In 1917, a brief attempt to restore the Qīng dynasty ended bloodily at the same site, and later the Republican government set up a radio station and a medical laboratory in the grounds. According to the Chinese press, it was used as the headquarters of a germ warfare unit during the Japanese occupation.

The enclosure of the Altar of Agriculture (先农坛, Xiānnóng Tán), on the west side of the city’s main axis opposite the Temple of Heaven and now almost completely overlooked by visitors, was once nearly as large. The site was also home to the Altar of Mountains and Rivers (山川坛, Shān Chuān Tán) now marked only by a modern memorial, as well as another small altar to its west, which may be the Altar to the Gods of the Sky (天神坛, Tiānshén Tán). The site was revamped several times during the Míng dynasty. Occupied by US forces after the Boxer Rebellion, it has now shrunk to a small fraction of its former size. A hint of its original rounded top is provided by the curved route, unusual for Běijīng, of a street lined with towering apartment buildings and well to the north of the present main gate.

To these and the Altar of Land and Grain (社稷坛, Shèjì Tán, in Zhōngshān Park) at the centre were added the Altar of the Moon (月坛, Yuè Tán) at the west, the Altar of the Earth to the north (地坛, Dì Tán), and the Altar of the Sun to the east (日坛, Rì Tán) by the Míng Jiājìng emperor in the 1530s as part of his general overhaul of religious rites. Other altars came and went, too.

An Altar of Sericulture (to the mythical Yellow Emperor’s wife, credited with inventing silk manufacture) is said to lie within what is now the top-security Zhōng Nán Hǎi government compound, and so its continued existence is unlikely.

Altar building was revived at the end of the 20th century with the brand new construction of the Altar to the Century (Běijīng World Art Museum) in 1999 to worship the changing of the name of the millennium by the Western calendar.

Next in South of Qián Mén: Altar of Agriculture
Previous: Temple of Heaven Park
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.

For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.