Danbi Bridge

Danbi runs through the northern part of the Temple of Heaven as a broad stone embankment, rising toward the north. Three longitudinal lanes can be distinguished in its paving: the middle was left free, the eastern served the sovereign, and the western served princes and high officials. The road stretches for three hundred sixty meters, and its northern edge is approximately three meters higher than its southern one. A transverse arched passage has been preserved beneath the stone, which is why this road is called a bridge.

Before the spring prayer for the harvest, ceremony organizers routed two movements through this place, and they were forbidden to meet. One went along the broad road above, the other across it underground.

Ten days before the rite, three high officials inspected the bulls, sheep, and pigs intended for sacrifice. The emperor himself then inspected the animals. After that, attendants led them from the western pen to the Animal Killing Pavilion on the eastern side. The direct route crossed the road reserved for Heaven and the sovereign. Leading animals intended for sacrifice along it would have meant violating the order before the ceremony even began. So the stonemasons left a transverse arched passage inside the high embankment. The animals were driven below and delivered to the place of slaughter. The passage acquired a popular nickname: the Ghost Gate. Livestock taken inside there were never led out again.

Above, the imperial procession moved. Both the food supply and grain revenues for the treasury depended on the harvest, and only the emperor could ask for it on behalf of the country. At the northern part of the road, attendants set up a yellow silk tent on a separate platform. In it, the sovereign changed into sacrificial robes and then took the eastern of the three longitudinal lanes.

The middle lane was intended for Huangtian Shangdi; during the rite, not even the emperor stepped onto it. The western one was left for princes and high officials. Thus each participant was assigned a path of his own in advance. The road rises from south to north: at its southern end, it stands approximately one meter high; at its northern end, four. As he made his way to the prayer for the harvest, the sovereign walked uphill, because before Heaven he himself occupied a subordinate position.

The name Danbi consists of the words “scarlet” and “palace steps.” Seen from above, it is a broad paved road three hundred sixty meters long. It is literally called a bridge: beneath its three ceremonial lanes, the very transverse vault along which attendants led the sacrificial animals still runs today.