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addPhoto('images/heaven.jpg',"The entrance to the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven, is situated in south eastern urban Beijing, in Xuanwu District.");
addPhoto('images/heaven16.jpg',"The map of the temple complex.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_desc.jpg',"All about the temple. Construction of the Temple began in 1420, and was thereafter visited by all subsequent Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is a temple of Taoism.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_door.jpg',"The large doors that lead to the walkway.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_jkdoor.jpg',"Us in front of the large doors that lead to the walkway.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_walkway.jpg',"The walkway to the temple is filled with locals, playing music, singing, kicking the feather Chinese version of the hacky sack. It's like a popular city park here, with people of all ages.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_band.jpg',"Musicians playing along the walkway.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_jeffkimpink.jpg',"Us in the park area.");
addPhoto('images/heaven1.jpg',"The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low and the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought of The heaven is round and the earth is square. ");
addPhoto('images/heaven2.jpg',"The entrance to The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_temple7.jpg',"From wikipedia.org: The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a magnificent triple-gabled circular building, built on three levels of marble stone base, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests..");
addPhoto('images/heaven_temple1.jpg',"In ancient China, the emperor was regarded as the Son of Heaven, who administered earthly matters on behalf of, and representing, heavenly authority. To be seen to be showing respect to the source of his authority, in the form of sacrifices to heaven, was extremely important. The temple was built for these ceremonies, mostly comprised of prayers for good harvests.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_temple2.jpg',"Each winter solstice the Emperor and all his retinue would move through the city to encamp within the complex, wearing special robes and abstaining from eating meat; there the Emperor would personally pray to Heaven for good harvests.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_temple3.jpg',"The ceremony had to be perfectly completed, it was widely held that the smallest of mistakes would constitute a bad omen for the whole nation in the coming year.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_temple4.jpg',"The Hall of  Prayer for Good Harvests is 32 metres in diameter and 38 metres tall. It has four inner, twelve middle and twelve outer pillars, representing the four seasons, twelve months and twelve traditional Chinese hours respectively.");
addPhoto('images/heaven7.jpg',"Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and plaque.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_temple6.jpg',"View looking to bridge entrace from the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_temple5.jpg',"View of the courtyard from the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_temple8.jpg',"Inside the Hall are 28 huge posts. The four posts along the inner circle represent four seasons-spring, summer, autumn and winter; the 12 posts along the middle circle represent the 12 months; and 12 posts along the outer circle represent 12 Shichen. Shichen is a means of counting time in ancient China. One Shichen in the past equaled two hours and a whole day was divided into 12 Shichens. The roof is covered with black, yellow and green colored glaze representing the heavens, the earth and everything on earth. The Hall has a base named Altar for Grain Prayers which is made of three layers of white marble and has a height of six meters.");
addPhoto('images/heaven3.jpg',"Marble dragon head fountains along the base of The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.");
addPhoto('images/heaven4.jpg',"Another shot of the dragon head ountains.");
addPhoto('images/heaven15.jpg',"Close up of the marble dragon head fountains along the 3 base levels in the courtyard of The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.");
addPhoto('images/heaven5.jpg',"View of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests from the other side of the entry/exit gate.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_altar.jpg',"The firewood stove is a huge round green glazed brick stove. Before the ceremony of praying for grains began, a clearly washed and shaved calf was put on the stove and burned with pine twigs and reeds in order to welcome the god of heaven - a ritual of giving a warm welcome to the imperial god by burning firewood. After the ceremony was completed, all the offerings and ceremonial placards and silk scrolls were respectfully transferred to the stove and put inside to be burnt while the emperor stood by watching it - a ritual called Watching the Burning.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_bowls.jpg',"Iron bowls used to cook the sacrifices. There were many sacrifices and offerings made during the ceremony.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_bowls2.jpg',"Iron sacrifical cooking bowl with plaque. The day before the ceremony, the Emperor would come here to inspect the sacrifices for the ceremony.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_bridge.jpg',"The long bridge, called the Sacred Way, or Vermilion Steps Bridge (Danbiqiao),  which connects the areas of The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests with the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The middle white section was used by the Emperor only. The south end of the Bridge is lower than its north end. The emperors in the past believed that they could go to heaven through this Bridge, which is why this bridge is also called Sacred Way. A Yu Route and a Wang Route are on two sides of the Sacred Way. The former one is only for the emperors to walk on and the later one is for the princes and the high officials to pass.");
addPhoto('images/heaven11.jpg',"Tree-lined walkway off the main bridge. The whole complex, gorgeously painted and set off by thousands of pine and cypress trees, provides a harmonious atmosphere for sacrificial ceremony as if heaven and earth are integrated into one.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_jeffemp4.jpg',"The only jewish emporer of China, Jeff Tu Fat.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_jeffemp5.jpg',"Emperor Jeff Tu Fat, again, seated on his throne.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_jeffemp1.jpg',"Long shot of Emperor Jeff Tu Phat.");
addPhoto('images/heaven6.jpg',"Entrance to the Imperial Vault of Heaven and Echo Wall areas.");
addPhoto('images/heaven8.jpg',"Imperial Vault of Heaven.  If you look at it from far away, you will find that the Vault is like a blue umbrella with gold head. The structure of it is like that of Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, but smaller in size. The structure was made of bricks and timber. The Vault was used to place memorial tablets of Gods. White marble railings surround the vault.");
addPhoto('images/heaven9.jpg',"Interior roof of the Vault of Heaven. The building does not have any horizontal beams as support. The entire building is supported by 8 pillars and a span-work of bars, laths and brackets, which is in complete conformity with the principles of dynamics.");
addPhoto('images/heaven10.jpg',"From the Vault, looking back at the entrance gate.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_tablets4.jpg',"In the center of the Imperial Vault of Heaven stands the shrine where the tablet of God of Heaven was placed.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_tablets.jpg',"Two chambers located at the front of the Imperial Vault of Heaven contained different tablets used for worship. The left chamber contained tablets of the gods of basic elements including gold, wood, water, fire and earth.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_tablets3.jpg',"The right chamber contained tablets of gods of natural phonemena including wind, rain, thunder, lightning and so on.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_tablets2.jpg',"There are four stone platforms one each side of the Vault where the tablets of the emperor s eight ancestors were kept. During each winter solstice, these tablets were placed in a small pavilion-like cage and removed to the Circular Mound for the Worshipping Heaven ceremony. After the ceremony, the tablets were returned to the stone platforms.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_echowall1.jpg',"The Echo Wall. It's a large circular wall, and you can stand at opposite ends, face the wall, and talk to someone on the far side.");
addPhoto('images/heaven_echowallkim.jpg',"Kim trying out the Echo Wall.");
addPhoto('images/heaven12.jpg',"View from the Circular Mound Altar, which was built in 1530 and enlarged in 1740. There are two walls encircle the altar. Both walls are painted red and surrounded by blue tiles, however, each wall represents something different. The round inner wall represents heaven while the square outer wall represents earth.");
addPhoto('images/heaven13.jpg',"Another view from the Round Altar. The Temple of Heaven is three times the area of the Forbidden City.");
addPhoto('images/heaven14.jpg',"The Circular Mount Altar, south to the Imperial Vault of Heaven, is where the emperor prayed to heaven. At the center lies a round stone called the Center of Heaven Stone that echoes when a visitor speaks loudly when standing on the stone. You can see the city of Beijing outside the walls. The bottom marble terrace represents Hell, the middle terrace represents the Mortal World and the top terrace represents Heaven.");