Beijing Revisited, The Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven, first visited by me in 2011, and lovely to visit again. The Temple is situated in parkland, the total size of the site is 2,700,000 square metres. The park is beautiful and is well used by the local people. Before we went to visit the main buildings on the site we wandered through the parkland, and enjoyed watching ladies fan dancing, people playing ball games and groups of ladies dancing to modern music. It is wonderful to see the open spaces being used so well by the local people.

The Hall of Prayers for Good Harvests, built totally of wood, with no nails!  I recently saw a very interesting programme about these buildings, they do not have foundations, but are built straight on to the ground. The strength of these buildings is actually in the ornate roof supports as seen in the photo below. An experiment was done on a scale model of one of the pavilions in the Forbidden City, this building was then subjected to various strengths of earthquakes, using a special machine. It was found that the building did not collapse, it just moved a few inches. This probably explains why so many of these fascinating buildings are still standing, even though they have been built in an area known to suffer from earthquakes.

Wonderful decoration of these buildings, with a practical reason too :)

The marble terraces surrounding the Hall.

It was busy the day we visited but not too bad, we could get around very well :)

One of the side Pavilions.

I am fascinated by the roof furniture on these buildings, these are the Imperial Dragons, representing the authority of the state. 

Below is the procession of animals, seen on the most important buildings, led by a man riding a Phoenix, brought up in the rear by the Imperial Dragon :) The maximum number of animals in these processions is ten, as can be seen on the roofs of the most important buildings in the Forbidden City.

Beautiful items and interiors of the buildings.

Green roof tiles this time, all decorated on the ends with dragons :)

 

Approaching the Royal Vault of  Heaven,

The beautiful decorated ceiling, and roof supports of the Royal Vault of Heaven.

Below, a beautiful Wisteria plant blooming over a pergola in the parkland :)

Beijing, Jingshan Park, Part 2

The famous view from the pavilion at the top of Jingshan, looking over The Forbidden City :) It is amazing to see the City from this angle :)

On the way up to the top of the hill we came across this beautiful Wisteria.

The Pavilion at the top of Jingshan hill. The hill is man-made, and was constructed from the material that was dug out to make the moat surrounding The Forbidden City, and neighbouring canals.

Another view looking out over the roofs of the Forbidden City.

One of the corner towers of The Forbidden City.

Looking North from Jingshan Hill,  the Drum Tower can be seen, as mentioned in my last blog  :)

A few more photos of the spectacular views from the Pavilion :)

The white building in the centre back of this photo is the Mao Zedong mausoleum which is situated in Tiananmen Square.

All the major sites are built on the North /South axis, from the North is the Bell Tower, The Drum Tower, Jingshan Park, The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square which all lie on this axis. The plaque above  shows the north/south line going through Jingshan Park.

A pretty little Pagoda :)

Looking West from Jingshan Hill, the White Pagoda on the left of the photo is in Beihai Park, I haven't managed to visit the Pagoda yet, but maybe next time?!

The three storied pavilion at the top of Jingshan Hill. 

A beautiful Pagoda, one of many in the park :) 

I love the decorations on these buildings :)

So beautiful :)

Two more photos of the White Pagoda in Beihai Park.

Beijing, Jingshan Park, Part 1

Jingshan Park lies directly to the north of The Forbidden City, covering 57 acres. As with all Beijing Parks it is a lovely place to visit, beautifully looked after, and very much enjoyed by visitors and locals. The main attraction of this park is the man made hill in the centre of the park, which at one time was the highest point in Beijing, which gives the most amazing views over the Forbidden City. .

The park is filled with wonderful plants, the Peonies were all in bloom when we were there, as were the tulips.

Beautiful blooms, peony above and tulips below :)

The parks in Beijing do not close early, I am sure this lamp lit up would have looked beautiful, I would like this in my garden....:)

Tulips planted in swathes made a gorgeous sight.

I love peonies :)

Walking through the Park heading for the central artificial hill, 'Jingshan' which literally means 'Prospect Hill', this hill is sometimes also known a 'Coal Hill'.

Gorgeous buildings everywhere, I never got tired of seeing these beautiful buildings, this one was not open to the Public.

We climbed to the top of Jingshan, which you will see in the next blog, walking back on our way out of the park it was getting towards dusk, we could see this area lit up with the last of the sun as we thought. We were wrong, the Peony Garden was being lit up in various colours, which made a spectacular sight. 

 

Pink

Red

Yellow 

and Green :)

Up to the top of Jingshan in the next blog :)