Two workers remove tiles from a wall in the Temple of the Heaven in Beijing October 20, 2004. The temple, a World Cultural Heritage, is undergoing a huge maintenance and repair operation to restore its original appearance. The project, costing 20 million yuan, is expected to be completed by August 2006.[newsphoto]

Workers remove tiles from a wall in the Temple of the Heaven in the huge maintenance and repair operation October 20, 2004. [newsphoto]

Two tourists visit the Temple of the Heaven October 20. It is reported the the temple will open to visitors as usual when the repair and maintenance operation is underway. [newsphoto]

    BEIJING, Oct. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Repair has started with the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest and its adjacent complex with the Temple of Heaven, or Tian Tan, a famous landmark in southern Beijing.

    An official with Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau said that the repair project, which began Wednesday, was designed to restore the former glamor of the Temple of Heaven.

    The Temple of Heaven was built in 1417 in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The Emperor, called the "Son of Heaven," came twice a year to pray in hopes of averting floods and having a good harvest, which would serve to perpetuate imperial rule. It consists of five groups of architectural complexes, with the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest being the main part of the temple.

    A total of 22 emperors carried out 654 such ceremonies here before the temple was transformed into a park in 1918, seven yearsafter the 1911 revolution, the first Chinese democratic revolutionthat overthrew the Qing dynasty, the last of China's feudal imperial dynasties.

    According to Wen Shiren, during this repair, workers will replace some 40,000 sq m of modern cement bricks which were laid in a previous facelift carried in 1970s inside the complex of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest with new bricks baked through traditional techniques, renew 30 to 40 percent of the fine grey bricks laid in the sidesteps of the hall, as well as repair 6,500 sq m of colored oil paintings and tiles with the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest and its other minor halls.

    The repairs are listed as part of Beijing's plan for protectionof cultural relics in a commitment to hold the Olympic Games in 2008. The project will be finished before September 1, 2006.

    Authority with the Temple of Heaven promised the symbolic hall of the temple would remain open to tourists during its repairs. Enditem