题一：天坛概况及祈谷坛建筑群(历史沿革;天坛布局的特点;丹陛桥;祈谷坛建筑群;七星石) 　　讲解祈谷坛建筑群时，重点一是放在天坛概况的内容上，应把天坛的历史、布局、用途讲明白;二是在这个基础上重点讲解祈年殿的历史、用途、建筑特点及其附属建筑。 　　The temple of heaven is located in the southern part of Beijing and covers an area of 273 hectares. It was first built in 1420 in the Ming dynasty. Originally, the temple of heaven was called the temple of heaven and earth. In 1530, another structure the temple of earth was built in the northern part of Beijing and then heaven and earth were worshipped separately. So it was renamed the temple of heaven. 　　During the Ming and qing dynasties, the temple of heaven was the place where the emperors came to worship the god of heaven and prayed for a good harvest. The emperor came here twice a year, but if there happened to be a drought that year; the emperor would come here on summer solstice to hold a ceremony praying for rain. So sometimes the emperor came here three times a year. The first time was on the 15th day of the first lunar month. The emperor would come to the hall of prayer for good harvest to hold a big ceremony for praying good harvest. The second time was on winter solstice, and a sacrificial ceremony would be held at the circular mount alter.......详细信息

　　题一：天坛概况及祈谷坛建筑群(历史沿革;天坛布局的特点;丹陛桥;祈谷坛建筑群;七星石)

　　讲解祈谷坛建筑群时，重点一是放在天坛概况的内容上，应把天坛的历史、布局、用途讲明白;二是在这个基础上重点讲解祈年殿的历史、用途、建筑特点及其附属建筑。

　　The temple of heaven is located in the southern part of Beijing and covers an area of 273 hectares. It was first built in 1420 in the Ming dynasty. Originally, the temple of heaven was called the temple of heaven and earth. In 1530, another structure the temple of earth was built in the northern part of Beijing and then heaven and earth were worshipped separately. So it was renamed the temple of heaven.

　　During the Ming and qing dynasties, the temple of heaven was the place where the emperors came to worship the god of heaven and prayed for a good harvest. The emperor came here twice a year, but if there happened to be a drought that year; the emperor would come here on summer solstice to hold a ceremony praying for rain. So sometimes the emperor came here three times a year. The first time was on the 15th day of the first lunar month. The emperor would come to the hall of prayer for good harvest to hold a big ceremony for praying good harvest. The second time was on winter solstice, and a sacrificial ceremony would be held at the circular mount alter.

　　As a site for worshipping heaven, the temple of heaven is different from any other imperial structures. The temple of heaven has two themes: heaven and earth. The surrounding walls of the temple of heaven are high with a semicircle wall to the north and a square wall to the south. This represents heaven is round and earth is square.

　　The characteristics of the temple of heaven can be described by numbers: one three five seven and nine. They are: one north-south central axis, three temple walls, five major architectural complexes, seven star stones and nine temple gates.

　　Now we are going to visit the architectural complex of the altar of prayer for grain. The hall of prayer for good harvest is located on the north end of the central axis. It is the main building of the temple of heaven. The hall of prayer for good harvests was built based on a model of the temple of heaven and earth in nanjing. So at that time, it was rectangular in shape and the name was the hall of great sacrifice. In 1539, the hall of great sacrifice was rebuilt into a circular hall with triple eaves and renamed the hall of great enjoyment. At that time, the three–layered eaves were in different colors, showing three different ranks. The top layer was blue symbolizing the heaven, the middle one was yellow symbolizing the emperor, and the bottom layer was green signifying the common people. Later during the reign of emperor qianlong, the hall was rebuilt and the color of the three layers of the roof were changed to dark blue just to symbolize the color the sky. And then the hall was given its present name: the hall of prayer for good harvest.

　　The entire structure is supported by 28 wooden pillars, and all the pillars have special significance. They are arranged in 3 rings. The 4 pillars in the center make the first ring called “dragon well pillars”. The space between each of the four pillars symbolizes the four seasons of the year. Encircling the 4 dragon-well pillars is the second ring; it consists of 12 pillars called “golden pillars”. Each space between the 12 pillars represents 12 months of the year. The third ring has another 12 pillars called eave-pillars. The 12spaces between these pillars symbolize the 12 divisions of day and night .The 12 golden pillars plus the 12 eave pillars are total 24 pillars , symbolizing 24 solar terms in Chinese lunar calendar.

　　There are two annex halls on both sides of the hall of prayer for good harvests. These two were the places for keeping the tablets of the gods of the sun, the moon, the stars and the tablets of wind, clouds, rain, thunder and lightning

　　The building behind the hall of prayer for good harvest is the hall of imperial zenith. Inside the hall, the tablet of the god of heaven and tablets of the emperor’s ancestors were kept, so it was called “heavenly storehouse” in the old days.

　　Now we are on the Red Stairway Bridge. The Red Stairway Bridge starts from the imperial vault of heaven to the hall of prayer for good harvests. We can see three passages on the bridge. The central passage was called the divine road, it was for the god of heaven, the east one was called the imperial road for the emperor, and the west one was called the road of king for the ministers and royal family members.

　　The square platform near the northern end of the east of the red stairway bridge is the dressing platform. Before the worshipping ceremony, a temporary tent was set up for the emperor to change his clothes. There two dressing platform in the temple of heaven: the dressing platform of the altar of prayer for grain and the dressing platform of the circular mound altar.

　　Just outside the eastern gate of the hall of prayer for good harvests there is a long corridor. Because it contains 72 sections, it’s called the seventy-two section connected houses. This long corridor was the place to transport the sacrificial offerings during worshipping ceremonies, because the long corridor could keep the sacrificial offerings from being stained by rain, snow, wind or sand dust when they were sending to the altar of prayer for grain.

　　Now we are going to visit the seven star stones. The seven star stones are located on the southeast side of the long corridor. There is a story about the stones in the ming dynasty. During emperor jiajing’s reign, when the hall of great sacrifice was reconstructed, a Taoist priest said that the eastern part of the hall was too spacious and open. Based on the theory of five elements, the eastern part belonged to the future. So it was not good for the stability of the Ming dynasty and the longevity of the emperor. Emperor jiajing believed it very much, then the seven stones were put here as a sigh of auspiciousness in the shape of the big dipper.

　　After the Manchu established the qing dynasty, a smaller one was set up in the northeast corner of the seven star stones, and then the seven star stones represented the seven peaks of mount tai. This was to commemorate the merits and virtue of the qing emperor’s ancestors and to show that they could not forget the origin, Because their ancestors came from northeast of china.