Morning Stroll around Ritan Park

Ritan Park stands out from the numerous public parks in Beijing. “Ritan” literally means “Altar for the Sun” or “Temple of the Sun”, a place for ritual sacrifice to the Sun by the successive emperors in Ming and Qing dynasties. Besides “Temple of the Sun”, in Beijing we also have Temple of Heaven, Temple of the Earth and Temple of the Moon.

The original altar was built in 1530 during the late Ming Dynasty. The altar faces west and it is a square base made from white stone with its surface glazed red symbolising the sun. In Qing Dynasty it was rebuilt in bricks with nines steps in its four directions – east, south, west and north, which was surrounded by a red-coloured wall with glazed tiles.

The present altar was rebuilt in 1951 accordance with its original form in Qing Dynasty. For the same year, a public park was built with the Sun Altar in the centre.

Ritan Park is located in the heart of the embassy area in Beijing. Now Ritan Park is a peaceful and serene respite in the bustle of Beijing. If you are planning your Beijing tour, spending one or two hours in the park is a pleasant escape from so called classic attractions in Beijing for an appealing opportunity to feel and touch the daily life for the common people in Beijing.

A morning stroll around Ritan Park will reward you with a chance to mix with the locals. Ritan Park is like a family park where men and women do all sorts of exercises – practising Tai Chi, dancing and singing, playing music, playing badminton, jogging, walking, meditating…on and on. It is also a green park with many benches, an oasis in the city of Beijing. In a word, Ritan Park is a place where you just slow down and recharge.

Ritan Park has three major entrances, namely, south, north and west with its southern gate close to the Chang’an Avenue. Take subway line 1 and get off at the station of Yonganli, then walk for about 1.4km, you will reach the southern entrance to Ritan Park.

The park is free of charge and open 24 hours a day. Its address: 6 Ritan Beilu, Chaoyang District, Beijing ( tel: 85611389 ). This is the southern entrance to Ritan Park.

This is the southern entrance to Ritan Park.

Just follow me along the central axis towards the north entrance to the park. In the park here and you there you could see the wooden signboards pointing to the places in the park.

you could see the wooden signboards poining to the places in the park. — you could see the wooden signboards pointing to the places in the park.

There is a central road north of the southern gate where you will see plentiful people doing morning exercises, practicing Tai Chi and so on.

This is the mural on the ritual sacrifice to the Sun

Behind the mural or to the northeast of the mural is the circular mound altar. This is the north gate to the walled Sun Altar.

In an area to the east of the Sun Altar, the local Beijingers and foreigners as well do morning exercises, stretching their bodies…

Located in the east outside the north gate to the Sun Altar are the Divine Warehouse and Divine Kitchen within a square courtyard.

There are three rooms used for Divine Warehouse facing west where memorial tablets of Ming Dynasty is placed while three rooms facing south used for Divine Kitchen where offerings are stored and processed.