"Temple of Heaven" Temple of Heaven Tip by marielexoteria

The Temple of Heaven park is another lovely place to be at. We took a taxi from the Chaoyang district and when I saw the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests from the distance, I felt a surge and got all smiley. It's Beijing's biggest and most popular open space, at least judging by the people exercising that I saw. It's open between 6am and 9pm while the sights inside are open between 8am and 6pm. The main feature of the park is the beautiful Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, which was built in the 5th century.

They have 2 prices, one for entering the park and one that gives you access to the sights in the premises, so we took the first one (as of Nov 2009, 10 RMB). I wanted to see the Hall first but I started strolling the park first, and found several men and women flying kites. The day was lovely and cold but there was enough wind for the kites to be airborne. Upon our arrival 2 people were trying to fly a kite and I saw that the technique they use is different from the one the kids in my home town use: instead of running with the kite behind them, they had their kites tied to a circular thing that would release as much thread as needed, and they would spin around. One of the people we saw was getting successful at flying the kite but not too high hehe.

Address: Temple of Heaven park
Directions: Nearest metro station: Tiantandongmen (line 5).