Visiting the Temple of Heaven

On Feb. 1, 2022, the 2022 Beijing Media Center organized a press trip for both foreign and Chinese journalists to visit the Central Axis. The Central Axis in Beijing runs 7.8 km from north to south and has a history of more than 750 years. It is the longest and best preserved urban axis in China and even the world. It is all in all a masterpiece of urban planning. One of the signature architecture compounds located on the Central Axis is the Temple of Heaven, which also has more than 600 years of history. It is the world’s largest, most well-preserved, and most delicate ancient architecture compound for sacrifice rituals. On our trip, we visited the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, where we saw special new year's activities such as writing blessings for the new year; we went to the Echo Wall, which can transmit sounds over large distances; we also saw blue lines on the ground, which was used for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Marathon. We also saw decorations for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. Right before the opening of Beijing 2022, it was a pleasure to visit a signature spot on the Central Axis and explore the treasure that the city of Beijing, currently the only dual Olympic city in the world, has to offer.