Burning Sacrifice

The worship began with burning sacrifice, when the official of ceremony chanted and the sacred oven blazed. Then a complete calf, slaughtered for offering, was sacrificed upon the oven.

Sacred Burial

Twelve iron ovens, eight in front of the sacred oven and four at the gates of the altar, served for burning pine tree boughs. The boughs cracked in fire, emitting perfumes that would drove devils away and bear humans¡¯ prayer up to the Heaven. Beside the iron ovens is a sacred tomb. The tail of the calf was to be buried in it together with its blood and fur in memory of the ancestors who gulped raw meat and blood before the invention of fire.

On the Circular Mound Altar the emperor communicated to Heaven what have come to pass in the last year and what he had achieved, confessed his misdeeds and begged for pardon, and beseeched Heaven to be pleased with his sacrifice and to give blessing and grace to this world in the year to come.

The altar was then lighted by three light posts 36 metres high. The dark sky was also lighted as if by premature morning glow. In time of old the emperor gave signals with the lights so that the dukes and princes, far away in their feudalities, knew that his majesty was worshiping Heaven and in piety. Signal lights enlisted all commoners in the capital who saw them into this great ceremony.

The ceremony ended in ancient music and perfumes from burning pine tree boughs.

Such sophisticated ceremony of Heaven worship reached its prime during the rein of Emperor Qianlong. In the 60 years when he was in throne, Emperor Qianlong paid personal visit to the Temple of Heaven 59 times. He used to walk from the Forbidden City to the temple in reverence to Heaven. The emperor curtailed the ceremonies of worship after he was 60 years old, but he didn¡¯t curtail his piety and bade his ministers heed the worship of Heaven and of the Ancestors.

But such a divine service came to an end in 1911 with the dethronement of Emperor Puyi, the last emperor of China. The temple was rendered under the charge of the ministry of domestic affair, still forbidden to ordinary people. But the walls of the temple could not withhold their curiosity. More and more people ventured in to explore the divine altar of Heaven, in spite of official prohibition. Unlawful penetration prompted the government to open the temple to public in 1913. Admission in the first ten days was free. Curious visitors poured into the temple from all directions. Five months later, the Ministry of Domestic Affair made a proposal to open imperial palaces including the Temple of Heaven to public. This popular bill was vetoed by one man, President Quan Shih-kai, who had the abandoned Temple of Heaven in his mind.

On December 23, 1914, Yuan Shih-kai, in Ming costumes and followed by his ministers, visited the Temple of Heaven to worship and ¡°pray for the people¡±. He bowed and kowtowed unfatigably in the devotion that rivaled that of emperors. But why did an elected president conduct worship at the Temple of Heaven, the imperial altar? People got the answer the next year, when the Congress, controlled by Yuan crowned him as emperor. Yuan Shih-kai assumed the throne January 1,1916, declaring the new Republic Empire of China. The whole nation cried out in protest. And Yuan had to leave the throne 83 day later. He became the last person to perform worship of Heaven at the temple.

Both emperors of ancient China and Yuan Shih-kai of the Republic conducted the ceremony in order to give their authority a divine justification. The social order was determined by the rites prescribed by ancient philosophers, which set distinction between Heaven and humans, ruler and the ruled, father and son, husband and wife. This is what has made the social organism work in the 2,000 years of history.

Circular Mound Altar of Heaven

Double-Circle Pavilion

Danbi Bridge

Gate of Prayer for Good Harvests

The Hall of Abstinence

The Imperial Vault of Heaven

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests