In balance to the Temple of Heaven, Temple of Earth was built in 1530 in the Ming Dynasty, it was subsequently renovated in compliance with an imperial decree of Emperor Qianlong in 1749 in the period of Qing Dynasty, after the Cultural Revolution, in 1981 it was restored.

Different from the Temple of Heaven, the altar of Earth is shape of square, followed the Chinese idea of “Heaven is round, earth is square”. The Emperor would visit here on the day of summer solstice, during the ritual, sacrifices were offered on the altar to appease the gods of earth, which we believe they will help mankind in return.

This altar in the center is called 方泽坛 or Fangzetan, which can be literally translated as “Square Shaped Moated Altar “, there was a mini moat surrounding the altar, but no more today…we are in shortage of water…

During the ceremony, 15 statues of mountain gods would be presented in the north side of the 2nd terrace (not the top one), 8 statues of ocean gods and river gods would be presented in east and west side respectively on the same terrace.

Today Temple of Earth is most frequented not by tourists but local residents, as large space provides an ideal place for playing Taichi and other excercises.

It is still busy around the year, there 3 times of book fairs, and during the Chinese New Year, a traditional temple fairs will be held here as well.

How to get here: Lama Temple Stop of Subway Line 2, go to the north east exit, there is just about 5 minutes walking.

Ticket: 5 Yuan, go to the altar may be charged at another 5 yuan.

Tips: Here is very close to the Lama Temple, the Confucius Temple and Guozijian (the old Imperial College), you can make it a package for a full day visit, and after that for conclusion of this busy day,  it is good to go into the small alleys around Nanluoguxiang looking for a cup of beer.

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Mouth of a turtle, who is carrying a stele. His name is BiXi (赑屃), the 6th son of the dragon.

A Panaroma view of the Confucius Temple and the Imperial College.

As the two places are just by neighbour, they just share the same entrance at the of Confucius Temple, it costs 20 yuan.

Confucius Temple

The Beijing Confucius Temple was built in 1302 in the Yuan Dynasty, just outside of the temple, and the two sides of the entrance, there are two steles to order every visitors to dismount from horse or off the sedan chair.

Confucius (Chinese: 孔子; Kǒng zǐ; K’ung-tzu). “Master Kong,” (551 BC – 479 BC) was a thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese culture.

His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China over other doctrines, such as Legalism (法家) or Taoism (道家) during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). Confucius’ thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism (儒家). It was introduced to Europe by the Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who was the first to Latinise the name as “Confucius.”

His teachings may be found in the Analects of Confucius (論語), a collection of “brief aphoristic fragments”, which was compiled many years after his death. Modern historians do not believe that any specific documents can be said to have been written by Confucius, but he was thought to be many of the First, the first editor or author of sorting and passing on the literature of the ancient China, the first to extend cultural education to the common people.

Confucius believed in that human society was a systematic collective body, which could be held together only by some norms (Rites and Decorum) of conduct so that only by this way, that peace and happiness could be brought to the people. “Once you have restrained your personal desires and made your words and deeds conform to decorum, you will be universally acknowledged as bearing the virtue of humanity” (克己复礼，天下归仁者), here includes a couple points of moral cultivation, such as: Loyalty or Faithfulness(忠), Filial Piety(孝), Respect(悌), Wisdom(智), Courage(勇), Honesty(诚) and Forbearance(恕). No wonder one of his disciples said “Our master’s doctrine is simply this: faithfulness and forbearance.”

Though he was not turn out to be successful in his own political life, his idea shaped shaped Chinese and China’s politics till now.

Duke of Yansheng (衍聖公 Yan Shenggong) was created as a marquisate for the direct descendent of Confucius from the Western Han dynasty. The last Duke Yansheng, K’ung Te-ch’eng (孔德成), 77th generation of Confucius died in 2008 in Taiwan. More of Confucius family tree at Wiki in Chinese.

The complex aligned along a central axis. From south to north, noteworthy structures includes the Xianshi Gate (先师门), Dacheng Gate (大成门), Dacheng Hall (大成殿) and Chongshengci (崇圣祠, not opened to public yet).

Inside the temple there are 198 stone tablets positioned on either side of the front courtyard, and they contains more than 51,624 names of Jinshi (the advanced scholars) of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and 14 stone stele pavilions of the Ming and Qing dynasties that hold the precious historical information of ancient China.The temple also contains stone tablets recording the names of many generations of scholars who passed the Imperial Examination, a reproduction of a Western Zhou period stone drum made during the reign of Qianlong (1735-96), and 189 stone steles containing the Thirteen Confucian Classics, presented by the city of Jintan in Jiangsu Province.

The Temple has many old trees, including one Cypress tree known as the “Touch Evil Cypress” (除奸柏). Its name derives from a story that when a famously corrupt official passed by, the tree knocked off his hat.

Guozijian or Imperial College

The Guozijian (國子監), the School of the Sons of State sometimes called the Imperial Central School, Imperial Academy or Imperial College was the national central institute of learning in the capital of each dynasty, it was the highest institute of learning in China’s traditional educational system.

Formerly it was called the Taixue for noble students. The central schools of taixue were established as far back as 3 CE, when a standard nationwide school system was established and funded during the reign of Emperor Ping of Han.When disbanded during the 1898 reform of the Qing Dynasty, the Guozijian was replaced by the Imperial Capital Academy.

Guozijian were located in the national capital of each dynasty — Chang’an, Luoyang, Kaifeng, and Nanjing. In Ming there were two capitals; thus there were two Guozijian, one in Nanjing and one in Beijing. The Guozijian, located in the Guozijian Street (or Chengxian street) in the Dongcheng District, Beijing, the imperial college during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties (although most of its buildings were built during the Ming Dynasty) was the last Guozijian in China and is an important national cultural asset.

“辟雍”：“辟，璧也，像璧圆以法天也。雍者，雍之以水，像教化流行也。”《白虎通》

Emperor Tongzhi’s Imperial edict on the final result of the Imperial Examination in the year of 1868, 270 past it in the first class.

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Beijing Guozijian was the highest seat of learning and education-supervising administrative organ in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties of the ancient China. It was first built in the 24th year of Zhiyuan Reign of the Yuan Dynasty, and was renovated on a large scale during Yongle and Zhengtong reigns of the Ming Dynasty.

During the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, it was added with Biyong (the hall where emperors gave lectures), the East and West Stele Pavilions, the Glazed Archway and so on. The whole complex of Guozijian faces south, and along its central axis are Jixian Gate (the front gate), Taixue Gate (the second gate), the Glazed Archway, Biyong, Yiluntang (Hall of Sacrifice of Ethics) and Jingyiting (Jingyi Pavilion).

On its east and west sides are the six halls in the traditional symmetrical layout. With a total building area of more than 10,000 square meters, Guozijian is now the only existing architecture of state-sponsored ancient highest academy.

The administrative officials of Guozijian were called Jijiu (the chief), Siye (Dean of Studies) and Jiancheng etc. Teachers were called Boshi (or called Jiaoshou in Chinese, professor in English), Zhujiao (professor assistant) and so on. Students who studied in Guozijian were called Jiansheng, and they mainly studied Confucian classics.

Besides Han, Man, Meng, Hui nationalities students, Guozijian also received foreign students from Korea, Japan, Russia, Vietnam and other countries.

In its northwestern corner a “Ryukyu College” was set up specially as the place where students from Ryukyu (today’s Okinawa in Japan) studied and lived. Outside Guozijian there were “Jiaozhi House” (the residence for students from Jiaozhi, today’s Vietnam) and “Russia College”. All these played an important role in fostering talents of various nationalities in China and in promoting the cultural exchange between China and in promoting the cultural exchange between China and foreign countries.

According to the original building concept, the Confucian Temple, in memory of the education advocator Confucius, was situated on the east of Guozijian; to the west was “Archery Range” for the practice of archery; to the south was “Southern College”. All the above formed the complex called Guozijian. This shows a traditional Chinese spirit: respecting teachers and stressing education, learning knowledge and practicing military arts. Hundreds of dormitories for Jiansheng (students in the imperial college) were distributed around Guozijian.

There were also the Memorial Temple for Han Yu (a famous poet and writer in ancient China), the Land God Temple and other additional buildings, and thus an integrated teaching area came into being. But today residential areas replace the then “Archery Range”?, “Southern College”, the Memorial Temple for Han Yu and The Land God Temple.

Whereas the main buildings of Guozijian are well preserved. In the compound of Guozijian three courtyards lie from south to north in perfect order. Dotted with green ancient trees, the whole scenery looks majestic with its magnificent halls. In summer, the dense shade of the trees protects the complex from the sun; in winter, a white quiet snow covering dress the compound up into a fairyland. Guozijian, with its quietness and elegance, long history and unique architectural style and with its profound cultural background, is an ideal spot for sightseeing and appreciating antiquity.

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In 1737, during the reign of Qing Emperor Qianlong, the major hall was renovated and was recovered with magnificent yellow glazed roof tiles. In 1860, when the worship of Confucius was further emphasized by the Qing Government, the temple under went extensive restoration which lasted until 1916.

It was the second largest Confucius Temple after the temple at Confucius hometown, Qufu, Shandong.

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Emperor Qianlong, his successor, upgraded Yonghegong to an imperial palace with its turquoise tiles replaced by yellow tiles (yellow was the imperial color in the Qing Dynasty). During the 9th year of Emperor Qian Long’s reign (1744), it was converted into a lamasery and became a residence for large numbers of monks from Mongolia and Tibet.This is a kind of friendly policy that the Qing dynasty deal with the relation with Mongolia and Tibet. That is the reason why the Great Wall was not massive constructed during the Qing dynasty.

The Yonghe Lamasery contains five main halls along a north-south axis and three memorial archways. In the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses rises the statue of Maitreya, 18 metres above ground and eight metres below ground. The statue, carved from a single trunk of white sandalwood, is the largest wooden statue of Buddha in China. In 1993, it was included in the Guinness Book of Records.

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