English: John Thomson: THREE miles to the south of the Imperial Palace, in the Chinese quarter of Peking, is an extensive park-like enclosure, containing the temple and the open altar of Heaven shown in Plates Nos. 41 and 42. In the enclosure here referred to are two altars, one to the north and the other to the south, protected by triple walls, of which the outermost is nearly three miles round. The northern altar, commonly designated the Temple of Heaven, is shown in No. 42, and is, as nearly as possible, a counterpart of the open or southern altar. Both are built of marble, and both have tr
English: John Thomson: THREE miles to the south of the Imperial Palace, in the Chinese quarter of Peking, is an extensive park-like enclosure, containing the temple and the open altar of Heaven shown in Plates Nos. 41 and 42. In the enclosure here referred to are two altars, one to the north and the other to the south, protected by triple walls, of which the outermost is nearly three miles round. The northern altar, commonly designated the Temple of Heaven, is shown in No. 42, and is, as nearly as possible, a counterpart of the open or southern altar. Both are built of marble, and both have triple terraces, surrounded by marble balustrading. The north altar, however, supports in its centre a building with triple roofs, covered with light blue tiles, and symbolical of heaven (the altar in its original form had no such superstructure), while the south altar presents on its top a plain round marble platform open to heaven, where the Emperor offers sacrifice to Shanti, the Supreme Lord of Heaven and Earth, at the winter solstice, on December 218t. Such altars as these seem to be relics of an extremely ancient and primitive form of worship in China, when monotheism was probably the prevailing faith. Here, as Le Comte asserts, we possibly see the purer form of patriarchal worship practised by the Chinese before the advent of Confucius, and before the Buddhist missionaries had appeared. The ceremonials connected with this state worship, when the Emperor officiates as high-priest, are still followed out with the strictest minuteness of detail. Le Comte says, ' Fohi, the first Emperor of China, carefully bred up seven sorts of creatures, which he used to sacrifice to the Supreme Spirit of Heaven and Earth, and at the present time special breeds of animals sacred to the temple are reared in the adjoining parks, and subjected to the scrutiny of the Emperor before they are offered in sacrifice. The bullocks arc black, and are chosen with the greatest care, so as to be fr 351 So
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