Symbolism

Symbolism is one of the things that I feel is very prominent in Chinese culture and architecture.  Both the writing and speaking systems are the epitome of symbolism.  Every word is a picture; and every stroke or dot in a character has a purpose.  If one detail is changed, the entire character can mean something different.  Similar to the characters, the speaking system contains symbolism.  Every word has a ‘tone,’ and a pronunciation that can change the meaning completely.  The Chinese have also produced homonyms and the entire attitude about a certain word has been changed.  The word nine in Mandarin Chinese is also is associated with heaven, and has become a lucky number to the people.  In the third section of the Temple of Heaven, there is a single circle, encircled in outside rings.  All rings are divided into nine or multiples of nine.  The architecture is designed as my friend says, “with intent.” Just like with the characters, everything has a purpose.  In all parts of the Temple of Heaven and the Summer palace, there is a theme that is extended to both places.

An overwhelming amount of red, and the theme of the earth reaching heaven symbolized by the colors.  The boxes represent earth, and the circle represents heaven.  The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the Circular Mound Altar circular, but interestingly, inside the buildings, there are square beams that form circles.  The earth—a square—can never become a circle.  Thus representing the mingling but complete difference between heaven and earth.  We didn’t get to see all of the Temple of Heaven, or the Summer Palace, because they’re huge.  It’s kind of like Temple Square, you can’t see it all in one day.  But it was still really cool to look around.  The paint has sustained wear and tear, but the PRC (People’s Republic of China) has repainted it every so often.  It still maintains its cultural significance and number symbolism.  If you ever go to the Temple of Heaven, there is a lot of things that have particular numbers that symbolize many things.  Not just with the homonyms, but also Christian religious significance.  Just keep an open mind. 

 (Here's the 9 of us all standing on the circular mound altar)