Trip to the Temple of Heaven

Two weekends ago Muir and I visited the Temple of Heaven.  All of the hiking and adventuring around India must have inspired us to continue sight-seeing in Beijing.  The Temple of Heaven is not a temple, but a park where the emperor used to pray to heaven for bountiful harvests and make animal sacrifices.  There are a few well-known buildings inside, most notably the Temple for Praying for Good Harvests.  We started at the east gate of the park, walked west to the Temple for Praying for Good Harvests, further west through the rose garden (which was covered to protect the plants from winter frosts), south past the Hall of Abstinence, back east and south to the Echo Wall and the Circular Mound Altar, and then north to the east gate where we exited.

Retirees playing cards along the Long Corridor

Temple of Praying for Good Harvests

A classic Beijing sweet snack - caramelized hawthorn haws

Inside the round Echo Wall

Echo Wall

Circular Mound Altar

For me, the highlight of visiting the Temple of Heaven was running across an impromptu crowd of singers in the park.  I actually had no idea what they were singing, but in my mind they were patriotic songs of the Communist paradise that was never to be.  Red song books had been handed out while there were still supplies, but many of the park-goers, mostly older adults and retirees judging from their weathered faces, knew the songs by heart.  They were not shy about singing in public and belted out the well-worn tunes with the same force and conviction that one might use to hail a taxi in Times Square.  The melancholy refrains tugged at the heartstrings and soared over the crowd as if saying in one voice, 'We survived.  We survived the Great Leap Forward.  We are still here, and we are proud to be Chinese.'  The only comparison I can think of that comes close is the tradition of singing the National Anthem before baseball games, which is certainly patriotic, but not as heart-breaking.