By Yang Xiaowei

The Heavenly Worship Ceremony takes you back hundreds -- even thousands -- of years. The one that is particularly relevant to me is now conducted by actors in the 21st century to celebrate the Chinese New Year and pray for the prosperity of the whole nation. 

The ceremony takes place in Tiantan Park (Temple of Heaven). Hundred-year-old trees grow tall and thick, their branches black and sharp against the sky. You pass from them into a traditional Chinese cloister which extends as far as the eye can see, losing itself in the distant shadows. The beauty and variety of the stall-holders crying their wares, the bolang drums of the sellers of Spring Festival goods, and the loud laughter from the children, all clash and blend with each other in perfect harmony, like a Peking Opera.

Even before you arrive at the site of the parade, you will be overwhelmed by the atmosphere of excitement. Throngs of people are hustling and bustling along the road; children sitting on their fathers' shoulders are yelling delightedly as the emperor moves nearer; imperial music carries through the brisk winter air and is echoed by traditional clarions. You can't help but join in and follow the thronging crowd.

The emperor and his retinue are marching in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. This Heaven Worship Ceremony, a combination of natural religion and aristocratic political philosophy, can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty, some 4,000 years ago. In ancient China, the emperor was regarded as the son of heaven, who administered all earthly matters on behalf of the heavenly authority.

To be seen to be showing respect to the source of his authority in the form of sacrifices to heaven was of extreme importance. Customarily, twice a year the emperor and all his retinue would move from the Forbidden City to encamp within this temple complex, wearing special robes and abstaining from eating meat. The emperor would personally pray to Heaven for good harvests, and the high point of the ceremony at the winter solstice was performed by the emperor on the Earthly Mount.

No ordinary Chinese was allowed to view this procession or the ceremony. It had to be carried out to perfection, because it was widely held that the smallest of mistakes would give rise to a bad omen or even a disaster for the whole nation in the coming year. However, these divine services came to an end in 1911 with the dethronement of Emperor Puyi, the last emperor of China. The temple was placed in the charge of the ministry of domestic affairs, but still forbidden to ordinary people.

Now, however, hundreds of people are watching, including foreign friends. The ceremony is performed in three steps (originally there would have been nine of them), each of which has its own complexities. The worship would have begun with a sacrificial burnt offering while the official of the ceremony chanted, but this step is now omitted and only the core part remains. The emperor communicates to Heaven what has come to pass in the waning year and what he has achieved, confesses his misdeeds and begs for pardon, and beseeches Heaven to be pleased with his sacrifice and to give blessing and grace to this world in the year to come. The ceremony ends with ancient music and warm applause that jolts you out of your ancient reverie.

Not only the "emperor", but all the other participants offer their prayers in the course of the ceremony. One family, including an aged mother in a wheelchair, has come all the way down from Shenyang to celebrate the Spring Festival through such prayers. Many foreign friends also come along to experience traditional Chinese culture and welcome the New Year together with the Chinese. China is no longer a "Celestial Empire" exclusive of all other cultures in a feudalistic society, but a friendly nation embracing the world with hospitality, tolerance, and multiculturalism.

From the Xia Dynasty right up to the present day, the people of China have seen off the past year and welcomed a new one through Heaven Worship. The ceremony has endured across hundreds of generations of the inhabitants of this land – their prayers, their hopes, and their harvests.

Yang Xiaowei is a junior student majoring in English Anchoring and Broadcasting at Communication University of China.

(China.org.cn February 5, 2009)