Across the avenue upon which is situated this great inclosure of the _Tien Tan_, is the _Sien Nung Tan_, or ‘Altar dedicated to Shinnung,’ the supposed inventor of agriculture. These precincts are about two miles in circumference, and contain four separate altars: to the gods of the heavens, of the earth, of the planet Jupiter, and to Shinnung. The worship here is performed at the vernal equinox, at which time the ceremony of ploughing a part of the inclosed park is performed by the Emperor, assisted by various officials and members of the Board of Rites. The district magistrates and prefect also plough their plats; but no one touches the imperial portion save the monarch himself. The first two altars are rectangular; that to the gods of heaven, on the east, is 50 feet long and 4-1/2 feet high: four marble tablets on it contain the names of the gods of the clouds, rain, wind, and thunder. That to the gods of earth is 100 feet long by 60 wide; here the five marble tablets contain the names of celebrated mountains, seas, and lakes in China. Sacrifices are offered to these divinities at various times, and, with the prayers presented, are burned in the furnaces, thus to come before them in the unseen world; the idea which runs through them partakes of the nature of homage, not of atonement.
Nearly one-half of the Chinese City is empty of dwellings, much of the open land being cultivated; a large pond for rearing gold-fish near the _Tien Tan_ is an attractive place. West of this city wall is an old and conspicuous dagoba in the _Tien-ning sz’_, nearly 200 feet high, and a landmark for the city gate. This part of Peking was much the best built when the Liao and Kin dynasties occupied it. West of the main city is the Temple of the Moon, and on the east side, directly opposite, stands the Temple to the Sun; the _Tí Tan_, or ‘Altar to Earth,’ is on the north over against the Altar to Heaven, just described. At all these the Emperor performs religious rites during the twelve months.
The inclosure of the Altar to Earth is smaller, and everything connected with the sacrifices is on an inferior scale to those conducted in the Altar to Heaven. The main altar has two terraces, each 6 feet high, and respectively 106 feet and 60 feet square; the tablet to Imperial Earth is placed on the upper with those to the Imperial Ancestors, and all are adored at the summer solstice. The bullock for sacrifice is afterwards buried and not burned. Adjoining the terraced altar on the south is a small tank for water.