page_title: Temple of Earth
section_title: Ditan Park Today
hierarchical_section_title: Temple of Earth / History / Ditan Park Today
caption_attribution_description: English: Colorful hanging fans at the festival during the Chinese New Year at the Temple of Earth in Beijing, China
context_page_description: The Temple of the Earth in Beijing, China, is located in the northern part of central Beijing, around the Andingmen area and just outside Beijing's second ring road. It is also located just a few hundred yards north of Yonghe Temple. At 42.7 hectares, it is the second largest of the four Temples of Beijing behind only the Temple of Heaven.
  It was built in 1530 during the Ming dynasty. Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties would attend the annual summer solstice ritual of offerings to the heaven.
  Directly opposite it, at the other side of the city, is the Temple of Heaven in Chongwenmen, southern urban Beijing.
context_section_description: It is common to see foreigners and Chinese tourists in the actual Temple of Earth in the park.  The Temple itself is actually a very small (and underwhelming - when comparing with the Temple of Heaven) portion of the park.  Aside from the Temple, the park offers a children's play arcade, water calligraphy (where tourists can purchase oversized brushes and  "paint" with water on the cement.), food, and other attractions.  The park is frequented by joggers and runners, and is a very popular place to do Tai Chi.  Since the 1980s, traditional temple fairs have been held regularly during the Chinese lunar new year.
caption: Colorful hanging fans at the temple's Chinese New Year festival
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 40D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Photo Professional", "Image DateTime": "2009:01:30 14:55:57", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "136", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "776", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "17989", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "9", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:01:29 13:59:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:01:29 13:59:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1040241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "126797/20000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "70", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1333", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1710", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "324000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2592000/583", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}