The Altar of Land and Grain shows the transformation of Beijing's central axis into a public one
2024-08-08
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Original title: Gai Jianzhong, Director of the Zhongshan Park Heritage Office, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from the Beijing News, talking about the significance and value of the Sheji Altar to the central axis of Beijing
The Altar of Land and Grain shows the transformation of Beijing's central axis into a public one
Gai Jianzhong, director of the Zhongshan Park Heritage Office.
Photo by Beijing News reporter Xue Jun
Tourists visit the Altar of Heaven and Earth on July 16. Photo by Pu Feng, a reporter from the Beijing News
Recently, "Beijing Central Axis - A Masterpiece of China's Ideal Capital Order" was included in the World Heritage List. Sheji Altar is one of the 15 heritage elements of "Beijing Central Axis". What is the importance and value of Sheji Altar to Beijing's Central Axis? How did the five-colored soil left in 1909 survive to this day? In this regard, the Beijing News reporter interviewed Gai Jianzhong, director of the Zhongshan Park Heritage Office.
He said that Sheji Altar is an important part of the national ritual tradition of Ming and Qing dynasties. As the first royal building in Beijing to be transformed into an urban park, it shows the transformation process of Beijing's central axis into a public one, and its historical levels and cultural connotations are extremely rich.
Talk about function
Sheji Altar is a place for worshipping the gods of land and grains.
Beijing News: When was Sheji Altar built? What is its shape and function?
Gai Jianzhong: The original site of Sheji Altar was Xingguo Temple in Liao Dynasty and Wanshou Xingguo Temple in Yuan Dynasty. It was rebuilt into Sheji Altar in Ming Dynasty and was the place for emperors to worship gods of land and grains. It was still used in Qing Dynasty.
China's traditional economic form is planting agriculture. "She" in a narrow sense means land, and "ji" means grains. The worship of She and Ji originally came from people's primitive worship of land and grains. As She and Ji gradually merged, they were endowed with the concept of state power and formed strict sacrificial ritual norms, representing the importance of national territory.
The Sheji Altar was first built in 1420. When Emperor Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing, he built the palace and the Sheji Altar at the same time. Together with the Ancestral Temple (now the Cultural Palace of the Working People), which was used to worship ancestors, it formed a ritual pattern of "left ancestor and right community". Like the Ancestral Temple, its plane is also a rectangular shape that is slightly longer from north to south. The overall pattern is divided into two layers, inner and outer, and the main sacrificial buildings are distributed on the axis of the inner altar.
In terms of traditional functions, this is the most complete existing ancient royal architectural complex in China for worshiping Taishe and Taiji.
Beijing News: How big is the area of Sheji Altar? What ancient buildings does it include?
Gai Jianzhong: The entire 23.8 hectares of Zhongshan Park is called Sheji Altar. The outer wall, inner wall and inner wall of Sheji Altar together create a sacred sacrificial atmosphere with rich layers of changes.
The Sheji Altar is the core area of the Sheji Altar, including the altar, four-color glazed walls and four diamond-shaped doors.
In addition to the altar, the Sheji Altar also preserves buildings from the Ming Dynasty. Among them, the current Zhongshan Hall was historically the worship hall of the Sheji Altar. The altar was mostly open-air, and in windy and rainy days, the ceremony would be performed in the worship hall. After 1925, it became a place to commemorate Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
Another hall is the Jimen Gate. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, its shape and function were similar to the Jimen Gate of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. It was a ceremonial building. After the Sheji Altar was opened as the Central Park, the Jimen Gate was also converted into a library. At present, the main wooden components of this hall are still relics from the early Ming Dynasty. The God's Kitchen, God's Storehouse and the Slaughtering Pavilion are supporting facilities of the Sheji Altar.
The sacrificial buildings of Sheji Altar are located in the inner altar area, and a series of landscape buildings were built in the outer altar after 1914. In 1913, Zhu Qiqun, then Minister of Communications, visited Sheji Altar and had the idea of building a park. In 1914, Sheji Altar was opened to the public as Central Park. In 1915, the park built many new buildings such as Tanghuawu, Touhu Pavilion, Bishafang, Laijinyuxuan, and Maxim Pavilion.
Talking about soil
The "Five-color Soil Special Protection and Management System" is being compiled
Beijing News: Many tourists are very interested in the five-colored soils. What is their history?
Gai Jianzhong: The Altar of Land and Grain is located in the center of Zhongshan Park. It is a three-story square altar surrounded by white marble. The surface of the altar is covered with five colors of soil: east green, south red, west white, north black, and center yellow, commonly known as the five-color soil.
The stone pillar in the middle of the altar is the Shezhu Stone, which is 5 feet high and represents the eternal stability of the country. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Shezhu Stone was erected, but later it was buried for the purpose of cultural relic protection. Now only the tip is exposed.
In the Ming Dynasty, soil for the altar was offered regularly by people from all over the country, symbolizing that "the whole world belongs to the king", which is consistent with the connotation of the Sheji Altar. In the Qing Dynasty, it was simplified to be offered by counties under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture. Most of the soil for the altar seen now is a relic from 1909, which was laid when the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty offered sacrifices to the Sheji Altar for the last time. According to historical documents, the soil for the altar used to be sloping, but now it is flat.
Beijing News: How did the altar soil from 1909 survive to this day?
Gai Jianzhong: We have conducted a simple measurement of the altar soil, and the thickness of the soil currently preserved is at least 20 centimeters. In 2015, we tested the geological structure of the altar soil, and the results proved that the five-color soil had not been artificially dyed.
In order to ensure the inheritance of historical information, we renovate the altar every year. Usually once a quarter, and three additional times during the flood season from early June to late September. The five-colored soil is partitioned with partitions and weeds are removed, and then the soil is loosened and leveled. Because there is a one-centimeter distance between the soil and the altar, rainwater can overflow on rainy days, but the soil will not overflow.
We are currently formulating a "Special Protection and Management System for Five-Colored Soil" to further strengthen the protection of the five-colored soil.
Talk about significance
The Sheji Altar is an important part of the national ritual tradition on the central axis of Beijing.
Beijing News: How do you understand the significance and value of Sheji Altar to Beijing’s central axis?
Gai Jianzhong: The Altar of Land and Grain has contributed to the outstanding universal value of Beijing's central axis in three aspects. In terms of functional tradition, the Altar of Land and Grain is an important part of the national ritual tradition on Beijing's central axis. In terms of planning pattern, the Altar of Land and Grain and the Imperial Ancestral Temple together embody the ideal capital planning paradigm of "left ancestor and right community". In terms of transformation evidence, the Altar of Land and Grain, as the first royal building in Beijing to be transformed into an urban park, shows the transformation process of Beijing's central axis into a public one.
Beijing News: What was the process of Sheji Altar’s opening to the public?
Gai Jianzhong: Along with historical changes, Beijing has undergone a process of transformation from a closed imperial capital to a modern metropolis.
At that time, an organization called Kyoto Municipal Office began to renovate the once closed imperial buildings on Beijing's central axis, starting with the opening of Shejitan as Central Park in 1914.
The Kyoto Municipal Office is similar to today's capital planning and urban construction department, and its main function is to be responsible for the overall urban planning and infrastructure construction. The main transformation work of the Kyoto Municipal Office on the central axis of Beijing includes the opening of the Tiananmen Square area, the transformation of Zhengyangmen to improve internal and external traffic, and the promotion of the construction and opening of a series of citizen parks and museums.
At that time, Central Park, while preserving historical information as much as possible, also carried out partial landscaping transformation according to functional needs to enhance the visitor experience. In 1928, in memory of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, it was renamed the current Zhongshan Park.
Beijing News: What preparations did you make during the application process for Beijing’s Central Axis to be listed as a World Heritage Site?
Gai Jianzhong: In order to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the Altar of Land and Grain, we have made a lot of efforts in the process of promoting the application of the Central Axis for World Heritage status. In the past five years, we have completed a total of 18 cultural relic repair and environmental improvement projects, demolished nearly 5,100 square meters of non-cultural relic buildings that affected the authenticity and integrity of the Altar of Land and Grain, and restored more than 5,000 square meters of green space.
In terms of research, we have carried out 15 studies on the history, culture, and garden art of Zhongshan Park in the past five years, laying a solid foundation for its repair and protection.
Beijing News: After the successful application of Beijing's Central Axis for World Heritage status, how can the Sheji Altar, as one of the 15 elements of the heritage, be better utilized in the next step?
Gai Jianzhong: We will implement the overall protection strategy in a timely and dynamic manner based on the principle of minimum intervention and in accordance with the requirements of world cultural heritage protection. For example, in the repair of cultural relics, the worship hall is more than 600 years old, and the main wooden components are from the early Ming Dynasty. The most recent repair was in 2021. We carried out an overall inspection of the worship hall. The wooden structure is basically intact, and the tiles have been replaced in part. We have special personnel to conduct daily inspections and measurements every day. In the future, the Central Axis Monitoring Center will provide us with data through instruments to show its dynamic changes and prepare for repairs.
In the future, we will make good use of the policies and advanced technologies after the successful application of Beijing Central Axis for World Heritage status to improve the level of cultural relics protection. At the same time, we will continue to carry out research work and carry out preventive protection on this basis. This year, Beijing Municipal Park Management Center launched a comprehensive project to study the value of the garden heritage of the Central Axis, not only the entity, but also the atmosphere, environment, etc.
