In 1545, the Hall of Great Sacrifice was remodeled to be a circular, wooden hall, standing on a square yard, which represented the philosophy of ancient China’s key elements: roundness representing Heaven, and squareness representing Earth. The Hall of Great Sacrifice was rectangular initially, when the early emperors of the Ming Dynasty worshiped Heaven and Earth there. Its original name was ‘The Hall of Great Sacrifice’. It is one of the world’s largest medieval wooden structures: 38 meters (125 ft) tall and 36 meters (118 ft) wide, built completely without nails. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿 Qínián Diàn ‘Pray-Year Hall’) was built in 1420, which makes it the earliest building of the Temple of Heaven complex. In 1918, the temple complex area was turned into a park and opened to the public. Parts of the buildings were destroyed, and the temple fell into neglect.

In 1900, the temple complex was used as a temporary command post by foreign allies to defeat the Boxer Rebellion. Some of the main buildings’ glazed tiles were replaced, the size of the Circular Mound Altar was expanded, etc. The Heaven-worship part of the temple complex was officially renamed the Temple of Heaven in 1534.ĭuring the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (the sixth emperor of the Qing Dynasty’s reign was 1711–99), the Temple of Heaven underwent large-scale renovation. He ordered the Circle Mound Altar built south of the Hall of Prayer, and the Altar of Earth built outside the Gate of Andingmen in the north of Beijing city. Worship Heaven at a circular altar and Earth at a square altar.” In 1530, according to China's traditional idea that the Earth is square and Heaven round, the Jiajing Emperor (eleventh emperor of the Ming dynasty) took his minister’s advice: “ Heaven and Earth should be worshiped separately. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests was the main building at that time, where the Yongle Emperor held sacrificial ceremonies to worship both Heaven and Earth. The temple complex was initially built in 1420, during the Yongle Emperor’s (third emperor of the Ming Dynasty’s) re-establishment of Beijing as China’s capital (Europe was also having its own Renaissance at the time). The Temple of Heaven was the outcome of the combination of the dynastic regime and Confucian theocracy. So, emperors in each dynasty regarded offering sacrifices to Heaven and Earth as very important political activities. They also claimed that Heaven authorized them to govern the Earth (China). To better earn the respect of the people that was needed to govern and regulate them, Chinese emperors call themselves the “sons of Heaven”. They believed that these phenomena were governed by 'Heaven', so they worshiped the 'Emperor of Heaven'. In ancient times, people could not scientifically understand and explain a variety of natural phenomena, such as the movement of the sun and the moon, the cycle of the four seasons, thunder, wind, rain, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

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