Beijing: The Heaven Worshiping Ceremony

2010 is the sixth cultural week of the Temple of Heaven Park. I got the news that this cultural week will last for five days from the Chinese Lunar New Year's Day. So I made a Beijing Xian tour plan in advance and set off to Beijing. It was said the heaven worshiping ceremony would be conducted according to the standard of that in the thirteenth year (1748A.D.) of Qianlong reign in Qing Dynasty to reproduce the grand and magnificent scene of ancient heaven worshiping ceremony.

Built in the 1420 of Ming dynasty, the Temple of Heaven is one of the most iconic landmarks in Beijing. Emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasty would use the temple as the imperial sacrificial altar during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties to worship the heaven for a good harvest.
The itinerary of the heaven worshiping performance this year has changed and the actors had also been in the greatest number in the previous years. As usual, hundreds of performers wear costumes of the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911) act out the Heaven Worship ceremony as what their ancestor did for centuries. According to historical data, total 22 emperors had held 654 heaven worshiping ceremonies in the Temple of Heaven.

During the Xian tour, different temple fairs were also being held in this traditional Spring Festival. But to be honest, it is far less spectacular than the Heaven Worshiping Performance of Beijing.