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社稷坛

社稷壇
Shèjìtán
proper noun

Meanings

  1. 1 Altar of Land and Grain, the Ming-Qing altar in Beijing, now in Zhongshan Park beside the Forbidden City
  2. 2 altar to the gods of soil and grain, kept by every dynasty

Examples

HSK 5
社稷坛就在天安门西边。
Shèjìtán jiù zài Tiān'ānmén xībiān.
The Altar of Land and Grain is just west of Tiananmen.
HSK 6
社稷坛上铺着五种颜色的土。
Shèjìtán shàng pū zhe wǔ zhǒng yánsè de tǔ.
The top of the Altar of Land and Grain is covered with earth of five colours.

Tips

culture
Palace planning set the ancestors on the left and the state altars on the right: the 太庙, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, lies east of the palace gate and the 社稷坛 west of it. Its square top holds earth of five colours: yellow in the middle, green in the east, red in the south, white in the west and black in the north.
history
The grounds opened as a public park in 1914 and were renamed 中山公园 after 孙中山 in 1928. Because losing these altars meant losing the state, 社稷 came to mean the country itself.

Stroke Order

社 shè
稷 jì
坛 tán