Holidays in the Temple of Heaven photo copyrighted by: Brian McMorrow The Temple of Heaven is the most holy of Beijing Imperial temples. The temple of Heaven was where the Emperor came every winter solstice to worship heaven
and to solemnly pray for a good harvest. Since his rule was legitimized by
a mandate from heaven, a bad harvest could be interpreted as his fall from heaven's favour and threaten the stability of his reign. So, it was not without
a measure of self-interest that the Emperor fervently prayed for a very good crop.
Find more Temple of Heaven images in the China gallery of Photorena.
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