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北京英文介绍：
Beijing is an
ancient city with a long history. Back in 3000
years ago in Zhou
dynasty, Beijing,
which was called Ji at the moment, had been named
capital of
Yan. Thereafter, Liao, Jin,
Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasty all made Beijing their
capital. Therefore, Beijing was famous
for
The long history leaves Beijing
precious cultural treasure. Winding for several
kilometers in Beijing area, the Great
Wall is the only man-made structure that
could been seen in the space. The
Summer Palace is a classic composition of
ancient royal gardens, and the
Forbidden City is the largest royal palaces in the
world. Tiantan is where the emperor
used to fete their ancestors, and also the
soul of Chinese ancient constructions.
The four sites above has been confirmed
world cultural heritage by UNESCO.
However, the best representatives for
Beijing are the vanishing Hutongs and
square courtyards. Through hundreds of
years, they have become symbol of
Beijing's life. Tian'anmen square being still
brilliant today with cloverleaf
junctions and skyscrapers everywhere, the
old-
timey scene and modern culture are
combined to present a brand new visage of
Beijing.
As
Beijing has been confirmed home city of Olympics
2008, the spirit of
Olympics,
scientific Olympics and humanized
Olympic
more changes to Beijing, promote
the development of sports and Olympics in
China as well as in the world, and
strengthen the friendly communications
between Chinese and foreign people.
The Temple of
Heaven was initially built in Yongle year 18 of
the Ming Dynasty
(in 1420). Situated in
the southern part of the city, it covers the total
area of 273
hectares. With the
additions and rebuild during the Ming, Qing and
other
Dynasties, this grand set of
structures look magnificent and glorious, the
dignified
environment appears solemn
and respectful, it is the place for both Ming and
Qing Dynasty's Emperors to worship
Heaven and pray for good harvest. The
northern part of the Temple is circular
while the southern part is square, implies
whole compound is enclosed
by two walls, dividing the whole Temple into inner
and outer areas, with the main
structures enclosed in the inner area. The most
important constructions are the Hall of
Prayer for Good Harvest, the Circular
Mound Altar, Imperial Heaven, The
Imperial Vault of Heaven, Heaven Kitchen,
Long Corridor and so on, as well as the
Echo Wall, the Triple-Sound Stone, the
Seven-Star Stone and others of historic
interest and scenic beauty. The Temple
of Heaven is a comprehensive expression
of the unique construction techniques
from Ming and Qing Dynasties, it is
China's most treasured ancient architecture,
it is also the world's largest
architectural complex for worship heaven. In 1998,
it
was included in the
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization.
Do you know?
There are four wonderful sounds in the Temple of
Heaven! It's
worth your time to study
the four wonderful sounds.
1. The echo from the Echo Wall - There
is a circular wall around The Imperial
Vault of Heaven, this is the famous
Echo Wall. One person's mere whisper at any
point close to the wall can be heard
clearly on the other side if you draw your ear
close to the wall, it is so clear that
it is like talking on the phone. Do you want to
know why? This is possible because the
wall is round and hermetically
constructed with smooth, solid bricks,
so the sound wave can transmit to the
other side via the extremely smooth
inner circle.
2. The sound
of the Dialogue Stone - If you speak while
standing on the 18th
stone in front of
The Imperial Vault of Heaven, the sound can
clearly pass to the
northeast corner of
the north side hall and the northwest of the west
side hall that
are both 36 meters away.
The sound can be heard just as well on the stone
when speaking from the corners of these
two side halls, this is what we call the
3. Repeating
sounds of the Triple-Sound Stone - In front of the
steps leading
away from the hall is the
Triple-Sound Stone. If you stand on the first
stone and
call out or clap your hands,
the sound will echo once; on the second stone, the
sound will be heard twice; and on the
third stone, the sound will repeat three
times. Hence it inherited the name.
This is because the distances that the sound
wave reflected from the round wall to
the stone are different, the number of echo
is also different. Take a guess which
flagstone is at the center of the Echo Wall's?
The third one. The echo actually gets
repeated more than 3 times, it's just the
sound is too weak to be heard after the
4th echo.
4. The hollow of
the Heaven's Center Stone - There is a stone plate
in the center
of the Circular Mound
Altar called the Heaven's Center Stone. Shouting
aloud
standing above, you will hear the
reverberation of the echo. This is due to the
refraction of the sound.
Beijing Municipality
As the
capital of the People's Republic of China, Beijing
is the nation's political,