“Temple of Heaven”

Saturday was one of our last chances to tour around Beijing so we decided to get up early and visit the Temple of Heaven, which we have wanted to see. The Temple of Heaven is a large sacred area south of Tiananmen where the Emperor used to make sacrifices and pray for a good harvest. The temple is very large but not unlike many of the other temples we have seen. What makes it unique is that the middle-aged Beijingers use the large park that surrounds the temple complex for recreation. They just sit around in the park enjoying nature or engage in a number of activities. We saw people enjoying choral singing, various styles of dance, various martial arts, tai chi and other forms of exercise, badminton and other similar kinds of racket sports. The park opens at 6:00 AM so the action starts early. We were there at 8:00 and home by noon – good thing too because it was very hot most days are in the 30’s now and this Sunday it is supposed to hit 38 – that’s 100 for you Fahrenheit people!