Page:Peking the Beautiful.pdf/78

 The Worship of Heaven J T ORE than forty centuries have come and gone since the "Perfect MAA R Emperors" worshiped the Lord of Heaven and offered sacrifices on VD VR the heights of old Tai Shan; and down through all the ages since, until the time when, in our own century, the Son of Heaven was forced to s tep down from his Imperial throne, there has been no cessation of the wonderful service to the Great Spirit who rules the universe. To the reverent Chinese mind none but the Emperor himself was deemed worthy to lay an offering on the Altar of Heaven or to worship at the shrine of Shang Ti. "la conformity with this sentiment, the Emperor, as the High Priest and mediator of his people," has, with the most impressive rites and ceremonies, celebrated for ages this remarkable worship. la the earliest times, as we have already noted, the worship of Heaven was conducted by the Imperial fathers upon the summits of China's four holy mountains. The Emperor Shun, the second of the three virtuous rulers, in his effort to render homage to the divine power, kindled a great fire on the heights of T'ai Shan, the sacred mountain of the East, that "its ascending smoke should put him into connection with the Lord of Heaven." On the famous mountains of the other three quarters he performed the same ceremony. Ever after, other great rulers followed his example, but the difficulty of doing this as regularly and as frequently as its importance required led to the worship of Heaven being permanently fixed in much closer proximity to the Imperial residence." The Mound of Heaven, erected in 1100 B.C. by the Duke of Chou in the southern suburb of Lo Yang, his capital, is the first recorded example of the Temple of Heaven. "It probably was a very much rougher construction than its last descendant, the Temple of Heaven in Peking." says E. A. Grantham "Thatch took the place of brilliant tiles, hardened clay that of polished marble, but the general plan was the same, a plan so adequate to its high purpose, achieving beauty with such unerring suteness, that the need for a change never arose." The exquisite little building shown in the plate opposite is the second or central shrine of this marvelous group. It stands within an arrow's flight of the massive altar, facing the south. It is known as the Huang Chiung Yü, or "Dome of August Space." Within these hallowed walls, behind huge doors that are eternally barred from the careless throng, are kept the sacred tablets erected to the Imperial Fathers and the "Supreme Lord of Sublime Heaven." This rotunda, with its shining marble balustrades, delicate tracery of openwork and wooden screens surmounted by colorful eaves of highly wrought design, is crowned by a deep roof of sparkling glaze so rich in the depth of its brilliant blue tiles that it has ever been regarded as the most omate of the beautiful Temple of Heaven group. For further descriptions, see paqes 80, 78, 88, 120, 120, and 146.