The Temple of Heaven is a huge 267 hectare park surrounded by a wall. The temples within the park were constructed from 1406. Ming and Qing dynasty emperors visited the temples to participate in prayer ceremonies for good harvests. In 1918 the temple complex was turned into a park and became open to the public.
The temple buildings are beautiful.......
I am sitting on the stairs. The building behind me is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.
While I really enjoyed looking around the temple buildings, the people in the park were the real attraction. The grounds surrounding the temples are a popular place for Beijing residents to come for exercise and recreation. I have never seen anything like it in Australia and I think it may result from a large population of apartment-dwellers. It was so communal and fun! We had a fantastic morning walking amongst the rows and rows of ancient trees (some up to 800 years old!) and watching all of these activities......
These ladies were playing a game that involved hitting a modified shuttle cock with ping pong paddles. I couldn't decide whether to call it pingminton or badminpong. I'm sure the players have a better name than either of my options.
The temple buildings are beautiful.......
I am sitting on the stairs. The building behind me is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.
David on the other side of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.
While I really enjoyed looking around the temple buildings, the people in the park were the real attraction. The grounds surrounding the temples are a popular place for Beijing residents to come for exercise and recreation. I have never seen anything like it in Australia and I think it may result from a large population of apartment-dwellers. It was so communal and fun! We had a fantastic morning walking amongst the rows and rows of ancient trees (some up to 800 years old!) and watching all of these activities......
David on one of the paths.
Tai-chi
These ladies were playing a game that involved hitting a modified shuttle cock with ping pong paddles. I couldn't decide whether to call it pingminton or badminpong. I'm sure the players have a better name than either of my options.
Fan dancing.
It was hard to capture a lot of the activity with just a photo, so we took a few videos. The first one below is a group playing a game with a little 'ball' that looked like a cross between a shuttle cock and a hacky sack. This seemed to be a popular activity, with lots of groups doing this.
There was a large choir group in the middle of the park. It seemed as though anybody was invited to sing (who could understand and read the words - which counted us out). There were two conductors who took turns, plus a keyboard player. They were amazing.....
A group playing Chinese instruments and singing, with a brief cameo from David on the right. Something that was very noticeable to me is that in Australia a group like this would be busking, but nobody we saw in the park was collecting money. It seemed to be performance purely for the joy of music and entertainment.
The park was literally full of people enjoying themselves in a huge variety of different activities. Everywhere we walked there was something new to watch. As I mentioned I have never seen anything quite like it before. It was worth the slightly sore feet from walking around a fairly large space.
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