The Temple of Earth is the second largest altar among the 5 altar temples in ancient Beijing (The first is the Temple of Heaven). It was used by the emperors in Ming and Qing Dynasties to hold prayer ceremonies every year to the God of Earth for a good harvest. The temple was built according to Chinese traditional thinking of the heaven and earth that the heaven is round, blue, southward and earth is square, yellow, eastward; dragon and phoenix are the symbol of heaven and earth. The existing places of interests include the Holy Storehouse (Shen Ku) storing things necessary for the sacrifice, such as food, wares, instrument and clothes for music and dance performance; Square Water Altar (Fang Ze Tai), the right worship place; Slaughter Pavillion (Zai Sheng Ting), where held the animal slaughter ceremony one day before the worship; Fast Palace (Zhai Gong), the accommodation place of emperors during the sacrifice; Earth God Whorship House (Huang Qi Shi) worshiping the sacred tablets of earth gods; Holy Horse Cote (Shen Ma Juan); Pailou Gates.
The Temple Fair is a reputed activity held during Chinese New Year holidays every year with distinct national characteristics and is world reputed as the ‘Carnival in China’. In the fair, tourists are able to see the reproduction performance of Qing Dynasty earth worship ceremony and traditional Chinese folk arts, such as opera, acrobatics. Besides, the snacks street is a popular attraction that you can never miss in the fair.
Bus Line:
Take No 18, 27,104,108,113,119,124,201,328,358,407,417(支),758803,850,858,912,415,847,849 and get off at Ditan Ximen Station.; take No 44, 62, 13,116,406,606,807 and get off at Ditan nanmen Station.
Open Hours:
06-21:00
Admission Fee:
RMB2