We are now at Zhaohengmen in the Temple of Heaven, which is now the south gate of the Temple of Heaven.
Located in the southeast of Beijing, the Temple of Heaven was originally a sacred place for emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties to worship heaven and pray for blessings, and it is the largest existing architectural complex dedicated to heaven in the world.
The Temple of Heaven was built in Yongle of Ming Dynasty from four to eighteen years. The whole building layout is in the shape of "Hui", which is divided into two parts: the inner altar and the outer altar, each surrounded by an altar wall. The outer altar is the gate for the emperor to worship in the Temple of Heaven. The east gate, south gate and north gate were all opened later. The inner altar wall is divided into four "Tianmen" in the east, south, west and north. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the place where worship to heaven was held here was called the altar of heaven and earth. In the ninth year of Jiajing (1530), Fang Zetan (Ditan) was built in the northern suburbs, and they sacrificed to heaven and earth respectively. Since then, it has been dedicated to heaven and has become a veritable Temple of Heaven. After the founding of New China, the Temple of Heaven returned to the hands of the people who were truly masters of the country and was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.
Go in through the south gate and go north. The first thing you see is three tall stone platforms on the west side of Zhao Hengmen, called Zuotai. There is a long pole on the stage, called a lamppost. When offering sacrifices to heaven, a big lantern with a diameter of six feet and a height of eight feet is hung on each of the three lamp posts. If it is lit, it will not go out, oil will not flow, and wax flowers will not be cut. It can burn for 12 hours and is called "Panlong overnight treasure wax".
At the moment, in front of us is the ball altar, commonly known as the altar, which is a veritable Temple of Heaven. The ball altar is divided into three layers, and there are nine steps around each layer. Each floor is surrounded by finely carved white marble railings. The number of railings is nine or multiples of nine, that is, the upper layer is 72, the middle layer 108, and the lower layer 180. At the same time, the fan-shaped slates laid on each floor are also nine or multiples of nine. For example, the center of the top floor is a round marble (called Tianxin Stone or Taiji Stone). From the center stone, there are 9 first rings, 18 second rings and 8 1 9 ninth rings. The middle layer is ten ring No.90 plot to 18th Ring Road 162 plot; The lower layer is from 19 ring 17 1 to 243 ring 27, and there are 378 "9s" in the third layer, which is 3402. At the same time, the upper diameter is 9 Zhang (take 19), the middle diameter 15 Zhang (take 35) and the lower diameter 2 1 Zhang (take 37), which are both multiples of 9 and the meaning of "Ninth Five-Year Plan". Why use nine or multiples of nine to design and build an altar? The reasons are as follows: 1. In myths and legends, the gods in the sky live in the sky of nine, and nine or multiples of nine are used to symbolize the sky of nine to represent the supreme and greatest celestial body. Secondly, in ancient China, odd numbers were regarded as positive numbers and even numbers as negative numbers. The sky is Yang and the earth is Yin. The Temple of Heaven is used to worship heaven and can only be built with positive numbers. And "nine" is regarded as "extremely positive number" and is the most auspicious number. In addition to feudal superstition, this design regulation reflected the superb mathematical knowledge and calculation ability of craftsmen at that time, which was really amazing.
From the south gate, there is a furnace burning green glazed tiles in the south corner of the inner wall, which is the place where pines and cypresses are burned during the sacrifice to heaven, and the dishes and silks are burned after the sacrifice. There is a mound beside the burnt stove. After the sacrifice, the tail hair and blood donated to the whole cow were buried in it, indicating that the ancestors would not forget to eat its hair and drink its blood. As you can see, there are eight burners in the front row of the incinerator, which are specially used to burn pine and cypress branches, pine flowers and pine towers when offering sacrifices to heaven. There is also a pair at the east and west gates of the altar.
Now we come to the imperial vault with a history of more than 400 years. Brick and wood structure, the whole temple is supported by eight eaves columns, and there is no beam at the top. Many bucket arches are stacked layer by layer, and the ceiling shrinks layer by layer, forming a beautiful dome-shaped caisson. The stone throne in the center of the temple is the place where the gods are placed; The stone platforms on the left and right sides in front of the throne are the places where the ancestral tablets of emperors of past dynasties were placed. Outside the temple, things are attached to the temple, which is a memorial tablet dedicated to the sun, moon, stars and the gods of sex, rain, wind and thunder. Now it is displayed as it is, with wax figures of officials who sacrificed to heaven in the Qing Dynasty.
Now I'd like to introduce you to the Echo Wall, which refers to the tall round wall that surrounds the royal vault and the East-West Annex Hall. If two people stand under the wall behind the East-West Annex Hall in the hospital, both facing north and whispering to the wall, they can talk to each other like talking on the phone, which is extremely wonderful and interesting. This is the origin of echo wall.
Below is a charming central stone. There is a central stone in the upper center of the dome altar, which is another wonderful place that tourists are most interested in. Standing on the center stone, I spoke softly, with a loud voice and a feeling of * * * echoing. But people standing outside the second and third ring roads don't feel this way. Why? It turns out that this is also an acoustic phenomenon: because the surface of the altar is very smooth, the sound wave can be quickly reflected back after reaching the stone fence with equal distance around it. According to an acoustic expert's test, the total time from pronunciation to sound wave returning to the center stone is only 0.07 seconds. The speaker can't tell its original sound from its echo at all, so the person standing on the middle stone sounds that its echo is particularly loud. Feudal rulers described this acoustic phenomenon as "an elephant hanging in the sky", which was the infinite homing and unanimous response of all the people in the world to the imperial court, and was also given the reputation of "taking everything from the stone".
We came out from the west of the imperial vault, where there was an ancient cypress named Jiulongbai, whose trunk was winding like nine coiled dragons, hence the name. It is said that this ancient cypress has grown before the altar was built, with a history of nearly a thousand years. Pines and cypresses are widely planted in the Temple of Heaven, and the trees are long, tall, evergreen and lush. Lintao, Jyukai, is full of dense forests, creating a vast scene of "vast sea and vast sky".
The road under our feet is now called a single bridge, which is obviously a straight and open avenue. Why is it also called "bridge"? Because there is a coupon hole under the road, it just forms a three-dimensional intersection with the avenue above, so it is called a bridge. This is a north-south Shitai Avenue. It is 360 meters long and about 30 meters wide. The whole bridge body gradually rises from south to north, with a height of about 1 m at the southern end and about 3 meters at the northern end. This design and construction symbolizes the emperor's step-by-step promotion and ascension to heaven; Secondly, it means that it is a long way from the earth to heaven. The single pen bridge is the main axis of the inner altar of the Temple of Heaven, which plays an important role in connecting the southern end of the dome and the northern end of the praying altar. The slabs on the center line of the bridge deck are called Shinto, and the slabs on the left and right sides of Shinto are called Imperial Road and King Road respectively. The God of Heaven follows the "Shinto Road", the emperor follows the Imperial Road, and the princes and ministers follow the King Road.
At this moment, the entrance to the sacrificial gate is at our feet-commonly known as "the gate of hell". Why is it called "the gate of hell"? Because before the sacrifice day, the "shepherd" and "army" of the sacrifice place in the southwest corner of the Outer altar need to transport cattle, sheep, deer and rabbits from west to east from this cave gate to the slaughter booth for slaughter. This activity is called "Sacrifice". Because all the livestock passing through this gate are slaughtered as sacrifices, it is called "the gate of hell".
Go north along the single-stroke bridge, and now on our left is the service platform, which is located on the east side of the northern section of the single-stroke bridge and is a raised platform. This is the place where the emperor changed his coronation clothes (sacrificial clothes) when he went to the Hall of Prayer to worship the valley.
To the west is the Zhai Palace, which is located among the trees on the south side of Xitianmennei Street in Song Bailv. It used to be a place where feudal emperors fasted and bathed before coming to the Temple of Heaven to pray for the valley. Zhai Palace covers an area of 40,000 square meters, and the building is square, with a main hall, a bedroom and a bell tower. Surrounded by two walls and a moat, it is beautifully built and heavily guarded. Entering the main entrance of Zhai Gong, the magnificent main hall, with red walls and green tiles, is very spectacular. It is said that this kind of blue tile is used to show that the emperor has not dared to be arrogant so far and can only "submit to heaven." The main hall is divided into five rooms, which are arch-shaped and brick-structured. The whole hall needs neither beams nor beams, so it is also called "no beam hall". There are two stone pavilions on Danyong in front of the temple, and the smaller one on the right is where the memorial tablet is placed. The square and tall building on the left is called "Stone Pavilion for Fasting Copper Man". According to historical records, during the emperor's fasting, there were several squares in the pavilion, covered with Huang Yun satin tablecloths, and a bronze statue with a height of one foot and five inches stood on it. The bronze man presented a simple card with the word "fast" engraved on it, so that the emperor was "shocked, but (Ke Sisheng) respectful and relaxed." It means that the emperor should be vigilant and not forget to fast with his heart. There are three forms of fasting in the Qing Dynasty: one is the statue of Wei Zhi, a famous minister in the Tang Dynasty, the other is the statue of Leng Qian, a music official in the early Ming Dynasty, and the other is the statue of Gang Bing, a eunuch in the Ming Dynasty. According to legend, these three people are all famous for their bravery in honest and frank. This system was established in the eleventh year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty and was also used in Qing Dynasty. According to the regulations, the bronze statue here is a statue of Leng Qian.
What we see now are the Hall of Praying for the Year and the Valley of Praying for the Year, which were sacred places for the Valley of Praying for the Year of Emperor Meng Chun in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Leigongzhu in the center of Baoding symbolizes the "unification of the world" of the Emperor of Heaven.
What we see below is the Huanggan Hall, which used to be the place where the tablets of the gods and the ancestors of the emperors were usually placed, also known as the bedroom of the altar of prayer for the valley. Later, flags, rituals, musical instruments and other things used in sacrificial ceremonies were also stored here. There are many sacrificial cultural relics in it, which are now displayed as they are, and there are wax figures of the Qing emperor who sacrificed to heaven, which are for tourists to watch all the year round.
What we see now is that the "God Chef" used to be a place for slaughtering livestock and offering sacrifices. What you see below is the treasury of the gods, which is a warehouse for collecting sacrifices. Now it passes through a "W"-shaped corridor with 72 rooms, which plays an important role in connecting the altar for praying for the valley, the chef, the god library and transporting sacrifices. The number of rooms in the corridor is exactly the same as the number of 72 goblins. It used to be said that this is a place where goblins gather, and the lantern-shaped vertical lights in the corridor are dim and gloomy. Later, the windowsill was removed, so the promenade landscape changed a lot and became a good place for people to play.
On our left is the seven-star stone, which is located in the open space on the southeast side of the promenade. There are seven big stones and one small stone. Why is it called "Seven Star Stone"? It is said that when Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty moved to Beijing, he wanted to build an altar and temple building dedicated to heaven and earth, but it was difficult to find a suitable place. At this time, one night, he dreamed that the Big Dipper landed here, saying that the sky was satisfied, which solved the difficulty of indecision and made a decree to build an altar here. According to records, the seven-star stone was placed here after artificial carving in Jiajing nine years in Ming Dynasty. Emperor Jiajing was superstitious about Taoism, and the Taoist priest told him that the southeast space of the New Year Hall was bad for his throne and longevity. So they set up seven-star stones here to suppress Feng Shui. There is also a small stone in the northeast corner of the Seven Star Stone, which is said to have been added by the rulers of the Qing Dynasty to commemorate the merits of their ancestors. It is located in the northeast of the Seven Star Stone to show that it does not forget its origin.
Thank you.