Yuetan Park

The moon altar is the place where the emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties offered sacrifices to the moon god. It is one of the famous five altars and Eight Temples in Beijing. Every year at the autumnal equinox, the emperor will sacrifice the night God (the moon) in this place, with the sacrifice of twenty-eight nights, wood fire, Jinshui five stars and the stars around.

Yuetan was first built in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty. Now it is divided into two parts: South Garden and North Garden. There are a large number of ornamental tree species, such as pine and cypress, Borneo, pomegranate, osmanthus, etc. in the garden, there are bell tower, Tianmen, Fudian, Shenchu, shenku and other ancient buildings, as well as Yuetan toad palace, Shuanghuan yingyue pool, Guanghan bridge, Chang'e moon sculpture, Tianxiang courtyard, Langyue Pavilion, Shuangyue Pavilion, Yuegui Pavilion and other scenic spots The theme of "month" is firmly held and the artistic conception of "month" is highlighted. The surface of the moon altar is paved with white glass, symbolizing the white moon.

Yuetan Park

Yuetan park is located in the west of nanlishi road and the south of Yuetan North Street, Xicheng District, Beijing. The moon altar, formerly known as Xiyue altar, is one of the five altars in Beijing. It was built in 1530, the ninth year of Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty. It is the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties sacrificed the night God (Moon) and the gods of stars in the sky on the autumnal equinox. The bell tower, Tianmen, shenku and other ancient buildings are well preserved. It is a cultural relic protection unit in Beijing. Yuetan was established as Yuetan Park in 1955.

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Historical evolution

Yuetan, formerly known as xiyuetan, was built in the ninth year of Jiajing reign of Ming Dynasty (1530). At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the activities of sacrificing Yeming God were abandoned, and the moon altar became a garrison place. During the Japanese invasion of China, the trees inside and outside the moon altar were basically cut down.

After the founding of the people's Republic of China, it was repaired several times

In 1955, when it was established as a park, it had only 60 mu of land. In that year, it acquired 60 mu of land from a private orchard on the south side of the moon altar, built garden roads, installed electric lights, planted trees, flowers and grass, set up toilets, built square pavilions, installed road chairs, and the surrounding people entered the park free of charge. It forms a regional park

.

In 1969, the TV Tower was built in the park

. During the "Cultural Revolution", the ancient buildings of the moon altar were seriously damaged, the "beast kiss" and "beast hanging on the top of two Tianmen and several halls were smashed, the copper pots, iron vats and large stone screens were smashed, the large bronze bells cast in the ninth year of Jiajing (1530) of the Ming Dynasty were sent to the smelter, and most of the altar walls were demolished for private buildings. Therefore, the ancient buildings in Tannan were garrisoned with security forces, which enabled the ancient buildings to be preserved, but they were in disrepair for a long time.

After the end of the "Cultural Revolution" in 1978, Yuetan Park rebuilt the Garden Road, set up the water supply and drainage pipe network, and opened up the rose garden. During the earthquake, the damaged green space and trees were restored and replenished. In 1980, it painted the hall of concrete clothes, and in 1982, it renovated the clock tower and re installed the squatting beast on the roof

.

In 1983, Yuetan Park was expanded. The original orchard on the south side of Yuetan Park was transformed into a new one. Tianxiangting, shuangxinting, Langyue Pavilion, Jiyue scenery Pavilion, Xiyue Pavilion, Chang'e flying to the moon and other scenic spots were newly built. More than 20 varieties of pomegranate trees with nearly 2000 plants were planted. In addition, a large stele corridor with the theme of chanting the moon was built on the 146 meter wall between the South and north gardens. The stone inscriptions on the stele gallery are selected from the poems of the famous poets chanting the moon, which are written by contemporary calligraphers and carved by stone workers in Quyang, Hebei Province.

It was designated as a key cultural relic protection unit in 1984.

In 1987, the temple for the old man under the moon was built in the southwest corner. There are statues of the old man under the moon and large murals depicting the myths and legends of the old man under the moon.

After 1988, the park also added electronic recreation hall, bumper car and electric toys, playground, aiyuequan dance hall, Paradise Restaurant, marriage and celebration series service department and other services, and set up a stamp market in the northeast corner.

In February 1991, Yuetan Park was officially managed.

At the end of 2003, Xicheng District government began to plan the overall renovation of Yuetan park.

On February 19, 2004, the environmental improvement project around Yuetan Park was officially included in the project of "doing things for the people" of Beijing Municipal Government in 2004. The main renovation tasks are to restore the style of ancient buildings in the park, carry out comprehensive renovation inside and outside the park, remove some residents and units within the scope of renovation, improve cultural and public facilities, and carry out road renovation and expansion. Among them, the North Garden restores the charm of the ancient altar, reflecting the characteristics of traditional culture; the South Garden, on the basis of maintaining the temple style, takes the moon culture as the theme, transforms into a park with Chinese classical landscape style, and adds modern leisure function

.

On May 25, 2006, as an ancient building from Ming Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, Yuetan was approved by the State Council to be listed in the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Main attractions

Yuetan Park covers an area of 8.12 hectares, which is divided into two parts: South Park and North Park. The North Garden is mainly characterized by ancient buildings with red bricks and green tiles and regular roads, while the South Garden is a natural landscape garden with mountains, stones, pools and winding roads.

Beiyuan with ancient architectural style:

① Yuetan: Yuetan is a one story, 1.50 meters high, 14 meters square, with an area of 196 square meters. In the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the surface of the altar was made of white glazed tiles. In the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the surface of the altar was made of gold bricks. There are six stone steps in the southeast, northwest and four sides of xiyuetan. The Xuan wall around the Xiyue altar is square, with a circumference of 94 Zhang 7 feet, a height of 8 feet and a thickness of 2 feet 2 inches. The square wall is covered with black glazed tiles. In the east of the square wall, there is a Lingxing gate with three doors and six columns. In the southwest and north of the square wall, there is a Lingxing gate with one door and two columns. The lintel, threshold and pillar of Lingxing gate are made of white marble with red Lingxing gate

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② North gate and West Gate: 3 rooms each, green glass tube tile top, brick gate, 22 meters in width and 4.5 meters in depth

. Vermilion walls, painted under the eaves, spiral painted, wooden doors decorated with nine horizontal and nine vertical studs

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③ West Hall: three rooms, suspended mountain, green glazed tile top, with a width of 15 meters and a depth of 11.5 meters. (4) south hall; three rooms, suspended mountain, green glazed tile top, with a width of 15 meters and a depth of 12.5 meters. (5) four corner Pavilion: yellow glazed tile top, 5 meters square on each side. (6) the East Hall of the West courtyard: three rooms, hanging mountains, 11 meters square on each side. (7) the South Hall of the West courtyard; 6 rooms, with suspended hills and tile roofs, 25.5 meters wide and 8.25 meters deep. (8) bell tower: one valve, 17 meters wide and 14 meters deep

. There are two floors of the bell tower, green glazed tube and tile top. Under the eaves, there are painted spiral paintings. You can climb to the second floor through the internal ticket door. On the second floor, there is a bronze bell cast in the Ming Dynasty, which is 3 meters high and weighs more than 2 tons. Later, it was moved to the Big Bell Temple for preservation. Now the big clock in the bell tower is copied according to the shape of the original big clock

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⑨ Fufu Hall: the main hall has three rooms, facing south, with a single eaves, resting on the top of the mountain, covered with green glass; the left and right auxiliary halls have three rooms, hanging on the top of the mountain, covered with green glass; the fufu hall has three palace walls, with three Palace doors in the south, the middle door of which is of brick and stone structure, and the small roof lintel style wooden square door, covered with green glass

.

South Garden with the theme of "Moon"

South Garden is also known as "inviting Moon Garden" or "toad palace garden". A new group of small gardens in the central part is composed of a five bay painted north room, a veranda and a flower wall. Osmanthus fragrans are planted in the garden, which is named "tianxiangyuan" with the meaning of "Osmanthus fragrans falling in the middle of the moon and tianxiangyun floating outside". There is an open-air music teahouse, playing "Moonlight song", "spring river flower night" and other famous songs, carrying out the "Moonlight party", and there is a colorful music voice controlled fountain at night, bringing people into the realm of "dissolving thousands of flowers on the moon night, and a round of brilliant flowers before the moon". In addition, there are 76 200 meter long wall inscriptions in the garden, which are poems written by modern calligraphers to chant the moon. In the northeast corner of the South Garden, there is a hill full of green pines and cypresses. On the top of the hill, there is an open hall for people to climb high in summer. There are also hills in the northwest corner and the south, on which there are two ancient pavilions with color paintings, namely, the pavilion of the sun and the pavilion of the moon. You can overlook the whole garden by raising your eyes. There is an exquisite small bridge at the north foot of Nanshan Mountain. On the side of the bridge, there is a waterfall pouring into the pool. A statue is carved in the pool, which is called "Chang'e rushes to the moon". There is an open grass altar on the south side of Tianxiang courtyard, on which there are several jade rabbits, which share the same meaning with Tianxiang courtyard

.

Sacrifice

In the early Ming Dynasty, the sun moon altar was built in Nanjing. After the capital was moved, the "Sun altar" was built outside Chaoyang Gate in Beijing, and the "moon altar" was built outside Fucheng gate. The altar system distinguishes the sun and the moon. The temple of the sun has 100 mu of land to protect it, while the temple of the moon has no place to worship the sun. The moon of the night has five stars, twenty-eight constellations and the stars of the sky. Spring equinox memorial day, in the spring equinox Yinshi (about 3:00 to 5:00 in the morning, ancient called "Pingdan") to welcome the sunrise. Autumn equinox festival on the Equinox Day of the Hai (about 21:00 to 23:00, known as "people set") welcome the moon. In the morning, he worshiped God four times, drank blessing, received two worships, and sent God four times; in the evening, he worshiped God again. In the eastern suburbs, the year of Jia, C, e, Geng and Ren was adopted, while in the western suburbs, the year of Chou, Chen, Wei and Xu was adopted. In other years, Minister Wen was sent to take pictures of the altar of the sun and Minister Wu to take pictures of the altar of the moon. If the festival is in the wind and rain, then set a small second in front of the altar, the son of heaven on the small second salute

.

On the evening of September 21, 2010, when the Mid Autumn Festival and the National Day are approaching, Beijing Yuetan Park held a display of the Royal mid autumn festival rituals on the antique "Yuetan sacrificial platform", and used the way of ringing the bell in the Yuetan bell tower to show blessing, representing the ancient royal sacrificial ceremony

. This is the ancient tradition of offering sacrifices to the moon after the 32nd year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1906)

Chinese PinYin : Yue Tan Gong Yuan