The main building on the grounds of the Temple of Heaven Park, a famed World Heritage Site like the Great Wall and the Imperial Palace, will receive a thorough facelift starting from March.

Visitors may be saddened because some parts of the building - the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, or Qiniandian in Chinese, will be closed down for renovation.

"But we have prepared a pleasant surprise for the tourists as a compensation,'' said Jiang Shibin, a staff member at the temple.

"The Conservatory of Sacred Music in the temple, which has been shut for an entire century, will open to the public for the first time in August,'' said Jiang.

Built in 1420, the conservatory was regarded as the foremost musical institution in the imperial era and had more than 3,000 students at its peak time during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Jiang said the framework of the conservatory has been under restoration since early 2002, and the project is expected to be finished in May.

"Since August, we have been planning to host performances of ancient music and a musical instrument exhibition at the conservatory,'' said Jiang.

In fact, the facelift of the Temple of Heaven is just a small part of the capital's efforts to restore its ancient appearance, which was once scarred by chaos of social turbulence and modern bulldozers.

The municipal government has pledged to plunge 120 million yuan (US$14.5 million) into the preservation of cultural relics every year until 2007.

This figure is close to the entire amount of the city's expenses on maintaining and repairing heritage sites for several decades before 2000.

A total of 30 sites involving cultural relics will see renovations starting this year. Besides the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, some other famous sites such as the Summer Palace and Beihai Park (former Imperial Winter Palace) have been included, according to the Beijing Cultural Relics Bureau.

At the same time, the Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), also known as the Forbidden City, will continue its massive renovation project that will run until 2020.

It is the most extensive renovation for the Forbidden City since the Qing Dynasty was toppled in 1911.

There are millions of tourists from home and abroad who visit the Forbidden City every year, but they visit only one-third of the total complex.

The other two-thirds have been locked down and covered by a thick layer of dust.

Jin Hongkui, vice-curator of the Palace Museum which is in charge of the renovation project, said his goal is to rehabilitate the glory of the palace when it was at its peak time in the imperial era.

He said around 70 percent of the palace will be open to the public after the renovations are finished in 2020.

Besides the preservation of royal architecture, the city will also pay more attention to protecting the old city as a whole rather than just scattered heritage sites, said Mei Ninghua, director of the municipal bureau of cultural relics.

"Our focus will turn to the protection of original cultural environment and landscapes, which are indispensable to the cultural and historical significance of heritage sites,'' said Mei.

"We have listed 40 areas as Historical and Cultural Protection Regions. No construction will be undertaken in a protection area unless it gets the nod from the cultural relics administrations.''

Relics watchdogs have appealed for some time to preserve the traditional fabric of the old city, instead of protecting isolated heritage that can be sandwiched between blocks of fancy high-rise buildings.

"This year, we will target the rehabilitation of the surrounding environment of the Baita Temple, Sichahai, and Qianmen as well as several other historical and cultural areas,'' said Mei.

Built in 1420 and restructured in 1530 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest was the site where emperors would pray for good harvests on the 15th day of the first lunar month of every year.

The majestic hall itself is 32 meters in height and 30 meters in diameter. It was built on a three-tiered marble terrace, which is 6-metre-high and occupies more than 5,900 square meters in area.

The circular wooden hall is popular with photographers, owing to its unique architectural style.

But the interior framework is far more distinctive.

Without beams, cross beams or even nails, the vault is solely supported by 28 massive wooden pillars and a number of bars, lathes, joints and rafters, which are integrated into a reinforced frame to prop up the bulk of the hall.

(China Daily January 5, 2004)