NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Travel

China: Heavenly music at Beijing's Temple of Heaven Park

NZ Herald
8 Feb, 2019 03:00 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A choir practices in the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing. Photo / Getty Images

A choir practices in the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing. Photo / Getty Images

At Beijing's Temple of Heaven Park, Jim Eagles is captivated by the music and decides to stay, just for the joy of it.

For 600 years, Chinese emperors went to Temple of Heaven Park to pray and offer sacrifices for a good harvest. Today it's where the people of Beijing go to practise their music.

I went there for a quick look at the Altar of Heaven and the attendant temple buildings. But I stayed for hours to watch the locals at play.

I'd only just got inside the North Celestial Gate when I heard music and went to investigate. In an alcove of the gate a choir was singing lustily to the accompaniment of a collection of traditional instruments. And so it continued.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a popular tourist attraction at Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Photo / Getty Images
The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a popular tourist attraction at Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Photo / Getty Images
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On the broad pathway leading to the spectacular round Hall of Prayer for a Good Harvest dozens of groups of young people — and some not so young — were busy keeping brightly coloured shuttlecocks in the air with their feet.

In a corner beside the marble staircase leading up to the west entrance of the hall a man was playing the saxophone. He wasn't busking, there was no hat in front of him to collect money, just playing away for the joy of it.

As I wandered around the hall, admiring the remarkable structure and the beautiful decorations, more music was wafting in on all sides. Some of it was traditional Chinese music from the loudspeakers dotted through the grounds, but most was of a different kind.

Just below the great ceremonial way, which leads from the hall to the next temple, the Imperial Vault of Heaven, young people were gathered around a young man with a great bush of black hair singing pop songs with the aid of some electronic backing music. On the other side, a bouncy young woman was doing the same, ending each song with a leap and a shriek of ecstasy, to the delight of her mostly male audience.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The special attraction of the vault is the surrounding wall, which is so perfectly built that it is said a whisper at one end will immediately travel to a friend at the other end. Even if I had someone to whisper to I doubt it would have been heard above the delighted shouts of the locals.

Further down the ceremonial way, in the direction of the giant three-tiered marble altar, there were more intriguing sounds.

Verandahs at Temple of Heaven, Beijing. Photo / Getty Images
Verandahs at Temple of Heaven, Beijing. Photo / Getty Images

No one was performing on the altar, built, apparently, to a complicated geometric formula based on the imperial lucky number nine, but music seemed to be coming from just outside its high wall. And, sure enough, sitting on a bench in the shade of the trees which cover this huge park were two very old men playing flutes. Their music was beautiful so I found another shady bench and sat to listen.

When they took a break I wandered to the Long Pavilion, a delightfully decorated covered way, from which snatches of very un-Chinese music were drifting. Sure enough, in one section of the pavilion where the imperial family once walked undercover, Turkish music was blasting forth and several dozen locals in elaborate costumes were enjoying themselves dancing. One beaming man had entered so enthusiastically into the Turkish theme that as well as wearing a colourful outfit he was sporting an obviously fake moustache.

Discover more

Lifestyle

The best dishes to eat in Singapore

20 Jan 07:00 PM
Lifestyle

How to find South Korea's secret food alleys

17 Feb 05:00 PM
Entertainment

This weekend we want to go to...

06 Feb 04:00 PM
Travel

World's best beach clubs

09 Feb 07:00 PM

In another section of the pavilion a smaller group was prancing around to some piano accordion music. And further along I could hear what seemed to be Scottish music.

It was too much. I went off to explore the beautiful grounds. At the eastern edge of the park I came across the Animal Killing Pavilion and the Divine Kitchen whose names spoke for themselves. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't much music there but several kite-flyers had fish, birds and planes soaring from a base amid the nearby flower beds.

On the western edge was the impressively named Double-ring Longevity Pavilion, consisting of two circular pavilions joined together, which I thought I should visit in the hope of ensuring a long life.

A man plays a traditional Chinese fiddle while a woman sings in the Temple of Heaven Park. Photo / Getty Images
A man plays a traditional Chinese fiddle while a woman sings in the Temple of Heaven Park. Photo / Getty Images

When I got there all attention was focused on an adjacent gazebo where a man with a piano accordion was putting an opera singer through her paces. Goodness. What next?

What next turned out to be several men playing traditional Chinese fiddles. Three of them were sitting, scraping away near the base of the marvellously gnarled Nine Dragon Cypress.

Further off, at the foot of the park wall, was a lone player who, to my untutored ear, sounded very good.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I had been in the park much longer than planned so started to head off to explore a hutong area of traditional housing I had come across on my way there.

But when I got back to the north gate what seemed like a full Chinese orchestra was in action.

The audience was so thick I could barely see the players — the instruments looked traditional apart from a viola being played by a tiny woman — but the music was delightful so I gave up on the hutong and sat down to listen. It was heavenly.

The Temple of Heaven Park is surrounded by beautiful grounds. Photo / Getty Images
The Temple of Heaven Park is surrounded by beautiful grounds. Photo / Getty Images

Checklist

GETTING THERE
Singapore Airlines flies from Auckland to Beijing, via Changi, with return Economy Class seats starting at $1556. singaporeair.com
GETTING AROUND
World Expeditions' 27-day SilkRoad to Samarkand viaKashgartour starts at $8490pp.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Travel

Premium
Travel

Kiwi self-made millionaire Simran Kaur on dreams and 'failing upwards'

Travel

The top five treats to taste on your Disneyland holiday

Travel

Why spending a night at the Rydges Gold Coast is a big mistake


Sponsored

Your Fiordland experience, levelled up

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Travel

Premium
Premium
Kiwi self-made millionaire Simran Kaur on dreams and 'failing upwards'
Travel

Kiwi self-made millionaire Simran Kaur on dreams and 'failing upwards'

What does it take to achieve a dream? The Air NZ Dream Seats ambassador explains.

17 Jul 02:00 AM
The top five treats to taste on your Disneyland holiday
Travel

The top five treats to taste on your Disneyland holiday

16 Jul 03:29 AM
Why spending a night at the Rydges Gold Coast is a big mistake
Travel

Why spending a night at the Rydges Gold Coast is a big mistake

16 Jul 12:53 AM


Your Fiordland experience, levelled up
Sponsored

Your Fiordland experience, levelled up

25 May 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP