Notes on the Geography of China: Beijing: Temple of Heaven : Photo 8

Sic transit gloria mundi: most visitors are here for a picture and couldn't care less about the importance once attributed to this place.

Having arrived with his immense entourage, the emperor fasted in the nearby, moated Hall of Abstinence. Two hours before sunrise, dressed in a purple silk robe and wearing a black cap and blue boots, he went to a yellow tent erected at the foot of the altar. Sacred tablets and a blue gem representing heaven were brought from the nearby Temple of the God of the Universe. The emperor mounted the altar and faced the tablets while a sacrificial ox was roasted. The emperor prostrated himself and offered gifts to heaven. Three times this was repeated, with the emperor climbing the altar again and again. The tablets and gem were put back in the temple, and the emperor returned to the Forbidden City.

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