Ritan Park 日坛公园

About Ritan Park

The historic altar recalls the imperial ceremonies once held here, while the surrounding public garden now sits among central Beijing’s offices and neighborhoods. A small hilltop pavilion provides a way to compare the enclosed park with the business-district skyline beyond it. Combine the altar setting with that viewpoint and the intervening garden paths; the contrast between ritual ground and present-day city is more distinctive than simply treating Ritan as another neighborhood green space.

The Sun Altar was established in 1530, during the Jiajing era, when it was separated from the Temple of Heaven and Earth and built outside Chaoyangmen, facing west; it was known as the 'Sun-Worship Altar' (朝日坛). Sacrifices to the sun were held each spring equinox, and every second year the emperor made the offering in person, with a civil official deputized to officiate in other years. Many of the altar's buildings were destroyed after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911.

The altar itself is square, facing west, five zhang (五丈) wide and five chi nine cun (五尺九寸) high, with nine white stone steps on each side. It is enclosed by a circular surrounding wall (壝墙) set with four latticed spirit gates, the western one with three doors and six pillars and the other three each with one door and two pillars.

The site was renamed Ritan Park in 1949 and reopened in 1951. In 1956, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry requisitioned surrounding land, expanding the park to 20.6 hectares and opening it to the public. Ritan is now designated a national 3A tourist attraction (国家3A级旅游景区) and a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位).

What to look for

• Temple of the Sun altar setting: look at the ceremonial space that gives the park its name.
• Hilltop pavilion: compare the garden’s foreground with the surrounding business-district skyline.

Location & getting there

Getting to Ritan Park

The matched listing gives No. 6 Ritan North Road and places the park northeast of Jianguomen station.

• Use the Ritan North Road address or a named gate for the final approach rather than an unspecified point in the surrounding business district.