On our final day in Beijing, we set off early to visit 2
attractions - Temple of Heaven and Yong He Gong Lama Temple.
Early morning at the park
Practicing Taiji
The morning was windy and after a short ride from the hotel,
we arrived at the park just before the Temple of Heaven. The Chinese really
knows how to keep themselves healthy!! There were grannies playing badminton,
grandpas practicing Taiji, senior citizen playing card games or knitting in the
park and there was also a mass dance going on!! Such relaxing life, don’t you
think? And with weather like that, I won’t mind flexing some muscles too.
Brain exercise for senior citizen
Temple of Heaven
Temple of Heaven is also known as 天坛, originally built in 1420 where Emperors of the Ming and Qing
dynasty worship yearly for good harvest. It consists of 3 layers of tiled roof,
representing heaven, earth and mortal world. Initially, the roofs were blue,
yellow and green respectively. Some years later, an Emperor, whom I can’t
recall, changed the color of all the roofs to blue since it was a temple to worship
heaven.
Isn't it pretty?
The structure of this temple is supported by 28 wooden pillars arranged in circles to represent the 4 seasons, 12 months and 12 divisions or 時辰 of a day. It had undergone extensive restoration after it was badly damaged during the opium war. It is beautiful and we were wowed by the amazing architecture of the structure. My fingers just couldn't stop snapping the camera shutter.
Interior showcase. See how decorated the pillars were? Such intricate architecture
There is a hall situated beside the main temple and it showcased some artifacts used during the ceremony by Emperors. Apparently, Emperor Kangxi was on the throne for the longest time and Emperor Qianlong visited the Temple of Heaven the most number of times.
List of Emperors of the Qing dynasty
Ancient wine pots
Next, we visited Yong He Gong Lama Temple, just a short ride away. It is not the typical temple where you will expect to see Shaolin monks, but a Tibetan Buddhist temple very similar to those in western China. Personally, it resembles temples I've seen at Jiu Zhai Gou. The monks wore red robes with yellow headgears. In the olden days, there were red, blue, green etc sect and that particular group we saw belonged to the yellow sect since they wore yellow headgear. What is more amazing about Yong He Gong was that both Emperor Yongzheng and Qianlong grew up there. That is also the final resting place of Emperor Yongzheng.
Yong He Gong Lama Temple
The Lamas. I realized they wore leather shoes!!
Similar to the palace, Yong He Gong was divided into 5 halls, arranged one after another and separated by courtyards. Each hall has its divine purpose and was stunning in its own way. In every hall, there were once or more statues, and each deity has its own job scope. Sadly, no photography was allowed as it was deemed disrespectful to take pictures of spiritual statues.
4 languages!! Mongolian, Tibetan, Chinese and Manchu
Joss sticks
I remembered I was awed by the statue in the last hall. It was a 26 meter tall statue of Maitreya Buddha (18m above ground and 8m underground) craved out from one single piece of sandalwood. When our tour guide said that, all our jaws hit the floor. You have to see it to believe it!! It looked absolutely gorgeous and unbelievable!! I think it may have to take more than a thousand years to grow a tree with with that kind of diameter, and it was from Nepal. Anyway, that statue already made its way into the Guinness book of records.
Restaurant where we had our final lunch
After a quick lunch, we headed to the airport and boarded our flight home. That concludes our short getaway to the ancient city of China.
Flying home
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