The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a masterpiece of wood frame construction. Inside the hall there is no beam, but 28 Phoebe columns and 36 pieces of interconnected squared rafters. These large columns have different symbolic meanings: The four posts along the inner circle represent the four seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter; the 12 posts along the middle circle represent the 12 months; and the 12 along the outer circle represent 12 Shichen (an ancient Chinese timing unit equaling two hours). The ceiling and the columns are decorated with fine colorful paintings. In the central hall, there is a flat circular marble with naturally formed dragon and phoenix patterns, and the name "dragon and phoenix stone" was thus given. According to legend, originally the stone only had a phoenix pattern, while there was a dragon pattern on the ceiling. As time went by, the dragon and the phoenix fell in love with each other. The dragon always flew down to date with the phoenix. Unexpectedly, one day, Emperor Jiajing (1507－1567) of the Ming Dynasty held a worship ceremony in the hall, and knelt down on the stone. It was too late for the dragon to fly back and it was pressed into the stone forever. Today you can see the dragon and the phoenix together on the stone. Standing in the middle of the hall, the Sacred Altar is the most sacred part, on which the Heaven Great Tablet is placed. On the eastern and western sides of the Sacred Altar stand four ancestral tablets of Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) respectively.

  
Hall of Prayer for Good HarvestThe Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a circular building which is 32 meters (105 feet) in diameter and 38 meters (125 feet) high, sitting on a huge round white marble platform named Altar for Grain Prayers. Covering over 5,900 square meters (64,000 square feet), the altar has a height of six meters, consisting of three floors; each of which is surrounded by carved white marble railings. The stairs connecting each floor are decorated with huge relief.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests has three layers of eaves; each layer is covered with blue colored glaze symbolizing the heaven. The layer-by-layer eave creates an atmosphere of getting closer to heaven.

The Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests is located in the northern part of the Temple of Heaven Park, where in ancient times the emperors held worship ceremonies to pray for good weather and abundant harvests. Built in 1420, the 18th year of the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), the Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests is the earliest building complex of the Temple of Heaven. It consists of two main buildings, namely the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the Imperial Hall of Heaven; and several subsidiary buildings including the Long Corridor, the Dressing Terrace, the Danbi Bridge, the Divine Kitchen, the Butcher Pavilion, the Seven Star Stone, et

Three Echo Stone
Three Echo Stones refers to the three stones from north to south on the stone road outside the gate of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you speak facing the vault while standing on the first stone, you will hear one echo; standing on the second and then the third stone, you will hear two and three echoes respectively.

Dialogue Stone
Counting from the platform, the 18th stone is called the Dialogue Stone. Standing on the Dialogue Stone, you can have a dialogue with someone at the northeast corner of the East Annex Halls or the northwest corner of the West Annex Halls, which is about 36 meters (118 feet) away. Magically, these three points compose an equilateral triangle with side length is 36 meters (118 feet). If you leave these three points, there is no such effect.

Echo Wall
 
Echo WallThe Echo Wall encloses the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Its perimeter is 193 meters (633 feet). The wall is flat and smooth, which allows sound waves passing smoothly. If you and your friend stand by the wall behind the East Annex Hall and the West Annex Hall respectively and you whisper a word, then your friend will hear clearly what you said. The phenomenon utilizes the theory of sound waves, resulting in a "mysterious atmosphere".

The Imperial Vault of Heaven is a round pavilion with a double-eave roof sitting on a two-meter-tall white marble platform. If you look at it from far away, you will find that the vault is like a blue umbrella with gold head. Stone fences enclose the platform. 19 meters (62 feet) in height and 16 meters (52 feet) in diameter, the hall is a finely interlaced wooden structure with a blue tile roof crowned with a gilded sphere. It has a coffered ceiling with a bluish green design of a gilded coiling dragon playing with a pearl at the center, and another 360 small dragons around. In the middle of the hall stands a circular stone seat carved with patterns, on which the Heavenly Great Tablet is placed. Many imperial ancestral tablets sit on both sides.

Firewood Stove

Architectural Art of 9
In ancient China, odd numbers were called positive numbers, and even numbers were called negative numbers. 9 is the biggest positive number, so 9 was used to show the imperial authority. The number of fences and steps of Circular Mound Altar is either 9 or a multiple of 9. The Circular Mound Altar has three layers. The upper layer consists of fan-shaped stones, a total of 9 circles. The innermost circle has 9 stones. 9 pieces of stone were added progressively for every circle to the outside. The sum of the diameter of the three layers is 45 (9X5) Zhang (135 meters or 443 feet), symbolizing the so-called ‘Nine-Five Dignity’ of the emperor.

Daoism, also spelled Taoism, indigenous religio-philosophical tradition that has shaped Chinese life for more than 2,000 years. In the broadest sense, a Daoist attitude toward life can be seen in the accepting and yielding, the joyful and carefree sides of the Chinese character, an attitude that offsets and complements the moral and duty-conscious, austere and purposeful character ascribed to Confucianism. Daoism is also characterized by a positive, active attitude toward the occult and the metaphysical (theories on the nature of reality), whereas the agnostic, pragmatic Confucian tradition considers these issues of only marginal importance