Zhongshan park chinese 中山公园中山公園

High Resolution JPEG Picture of The Zhongshan Park (Chinese: 中山公园/中山公園) was a former imperial altar and now a public park that lies just southwest of the Forbidden City in the Imperial City, Beijing. Of all the gardens and parks surrounding the Forbidden City, such as the Beihai and Jingshan, Zhongshan is arguably the most centrally located of them all. The Zhongshan Park houses numerous pavilions, gardens, and imperial temples such as the Altar of Earth and Harvests or Altar of Land and Grain in some translations (Shejitan, 社稷坛), which was built in 1421 by the Yongle Emperor and it symmetrically opposite the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and it's where the emperors of Ming and Qing dynasties made offerings to the gods of earth and agriculture. The altar consists of a square terrace in the centre of the park.