Cameron Highlands Tea Plantation, Malaysia

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Wordless /Wordful Wednesday - Temple of Heaven, Beijing

The Temple of Heaven was surely one of my favorite sights that I visited in Beijing. It is a fantastic structure, symmetrical beauty in proportion and and as such has been listed as a World Heritage site. The temple itself is quite a huge park, which is split into several parts.

The main attraction here is the 'Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest', the main building in the complex. The Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties would come here each winter solstice to make sacrifices to Heaven and to pray for good harvest.

The detail is just splendid in every sense of the word

My tour guide told me that the circular wooden structure is wholly made of wood without the use of single nail or cement and it has been standing for centuries. How cool is that!

Several interesting features of the temple complex symbolize the connection between Heaven and Earth, of circle and square structures. It reflects on the ancient Chinese belief of "The heaven is round and the earth is square".

a bronze urn at the Temple of Heaven




First Commenter - Liza
Moms... Check Nyo

53 comments:

  1. It's a beautiful structure and I admire how each part was detailed. Happy WW!

    My entries:
    Moms... Check Nyo
    Yummy-as-can-be

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  2. That's a beautiful temple. Great shots.

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  3. Wonderful amazing structure :)
    So colorful
    and the temple is a BEAUTY ...

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  4. Really nice pictures.

    Have a nice day.

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  5. Wow wouldn't I love to visit there! it is beautiful and your pictures are just wonderful!!

    Of course they always are. I love looking at your work.:-)))

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  6. Speaking of wonderful I 2 wonderful awards sitting over at my blog with your name on them!!

    http://shinade.blogspot.com/2009/08/fench-award-ooo-lala-i-love-lucy-too.html

    They are really cool awards and I simply couldn't pass them along and not include you!!

    Happy day,
    Jackie:-))))

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  7. I agree. A lot of details in the structures.

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  8. Good morning LR! How u're feeling today? Brought u flowers to cheer u up! And I hope u feel better soon. :)

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  9. I've yet to visit Beijing LR. The temple looks magnificent! :)

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  10. i love your photos and your personal "wiki" about the temple. I haven't been to Beijing and if I happen to go there I definitely want to see this temple too.

    I hope you're getting better now!

    TAKE CARE!

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  11. Hi Jackie,

    I appreciate your nice compliments and thanks a lot for the awards. I'll get them in a short while.

    Have a wonderful week. :)

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  12. Mariuca,

    thanks a lot for your virtual flowers and well wishes, much appreciated.

    Happy day to you. :)

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  13. Ayie,

    thanks for your hopes and thoughts. I'm getting better now and I'm resting comfortably at home.

    Happy Wednesday.

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  14. happy wednesday to you LR! Nice to know that!

    I'm still thinking what to post for my ww tomorrow =)

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  15. Hiya Ayie,

    You can post practically anything for WW except offensive materials, of course. I'll look forward to your WW post.

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  16. Thanks for the tips...just that I have so much photos in my HD, so hard to choose which one to post. lol!

    good morning to you!

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  17. wow, the building is so flashy! the details are just awesome. :D

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  18. Good afternoon Ayie,

    i'm sure you'll come up with something cool for WW. i enjoy looking at your pics. you've some amazing pics. :)

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  19. Good morning levian,

    i love the architecture of the building. it's truly awesome.

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  20. wow, thanks LR! I'll look for something lovely for tomorrow for you =)

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  21. it is definitely one grand architecture. :D i just read, how are you feeling now? hopefully better? don't push yourself too hard in the meanwhile n take lotsa rest! :)

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  22. Your post makes me realize how long it's been since I've been at a Buddhist temple. These photos are wonderful, like a tonic.

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  23. The urn looks a bit like the SG blog awards trophy. ;)

    http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/about/prize.html

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  24. Fuuuuyooooh! Temple of Heaven? I have never seen it in pictures. The last I saw it was in computer games. Age of Empires. LOL :D Indeed it is majestic.

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  25. It is listed as a World Heritage Site? Is it one of the 7 wonders? It looks like a huge imperial hat huh! :p

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  26. Hall of prayer for good harvest? Then...a lot of farmers and businessmen will be here I guess. :) No wonder China's economy is booming right now. Must be because of this temple! We should build it in Malaysia too? :D

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  27. It was built without any nail or cement? Everything is made of wood? That goes to show the quality of the building. Awesome! :)

    And we have building collapse here and there in Malysia...what a shame!

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  28. *Amazed* How oculd a building be standing still up to today witout nail or cement? Wow!

    Love the carvings! Great pictures!

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  29. How stunningly beautiful is that...

    Mine is up as well at AussiePomm, have a great WW!!

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  30. You have shared lovely shots of his World Heritage site. Thanks!!
    In the race for technology we have lost the secrets to these precious treasures.

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  31. Fabulous post...well composed with great photographs and informative lines... I have heard about the no nail woden structure of Beijjing but never had seen before. During my engineering I was told about different joints like Dove Tail joints etc which were used to buit several such structure in China.
    Thanks for sharing!

    Regards,
    CLICK!

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  32. Thanks for my snipet of culture today!! Love the pictures and story.

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  33. It's colorful :)

    Would love to visit China someday...

    Happy WW!

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  34. Absolutely spectacular. Amazing that it is all wood construction and in such fantastic construction. says something about the climate and commitment to upkeep.

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  35. i hope u're feeling better now LR! *hugs*

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  36. I was there in year 1983. I didn't take many pictures then. I have to bring my son there one day.

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  37. What gorgeous pictures of such a holy place. We do not have that type of beauty around here.
    Happy WW

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  38. Impressive.

    Such intricate and detailed structure.

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  39. Wow, what an artwork and architecture !

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  40. i love posts like this.. it is a form of education for benghui, my kid.

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  41. I always fancy chinese temple, they're eye-catching and its marvelous architecture is typical chinese, uncomparable.

    It's a nice capture of the details of the temple.

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  42. The kids and I enjoyed reading about this, wow! Great post.

    My Photo Hunters is up! I hope you can come visit my Surprise! New York Traveler.net

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  43. Nice structure! I would love to visit the Temple Of Heaven!

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  44. Those intricate details are really amazing! Built without using a single nail? Yes, I saw such buildings all built without cement or nails during my China trip. It's so amazing right?

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  45. The Chinese believes the heaven is round and the earth is square? But they got it wrong, didn't they? : )

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  46. That bronze urn looks very nice too! : )

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