The imperial sacrifices to Heaven and Earth were performed at the winter and the summer solstices. The great altar to Heaven { 98} stands in a large park in the southern division of Peking, a vast marble structure in three stages, the lowest being 210 feet across. It is the largest altar in the world. Its white colour symbolises the light principle of the Yang. The upper stage, ninety feet in diameter, has for its centre a round blue jade stone, the symbol of the vault above. Here is placed the tablet to Heaven, inscribed "Throne of Sovereign Heaven," and associated with it are tablets to deceased emperors as well as to the Sun and Moon, the seven stars of the Great Bear, the five Planets, the twenty-eight Constellations, and the Stars. On the second stage, beneath the richly carved balustrade above, are the tablets to the Clouds and Rain, to Wind and Thunder. At the corresponding altar to the Earth on the north side of the city, square in shape, and dark-yellow in hue, the imperial worship at the summer solstice embraces also the five lofty Mountains, the three Hills of Perpetual Peace, the four Seas, the five celebrated Mountains, and the four great Rivers.[4]
[4] It is stated by the _North China Herald_ for July 13, that the present Chinese Government proposes to convert the Temple of Heaven into a model farm, and the Temple of Earth into a horse-breeding establishment.
Splendid processions of princes and dignitaries, musicians and singers, accompany the Emperor to the great ceremonial. The recent Manchu sovereigns employed the prayers of the Ming dynasty which preceded them: here { 99} are one or two stanzas of a psalm in which the Emperor Kia-tsing in the sixteenth century announced to Shang Tî that he would be addressed as "dwelling in the sovereign heavens":--
"O Tî, when thou hadst separated the Yin and the Yang (_i.e._ the earth and the sky), thy creative work proceeded.
"Thou didst produce the sun and moon and the five planets, and pure and beautiful was their light.
"The vault of heaven was spread out like a curtain, and the square earth supported all upon it, and all things were happy.
"I thy servant venture reverently to thank thee, and while I worship, present the notice to thee, calling thee Sovereign.