There is an alter, the Altar of the Earth and Harvests (or the Altar of Land and Grain). It was set up in the 19th year of the Ming emperor Yongle (1421 A.D.). The Altar is surrounded by a small square wall faced with orange tiles to the south, blue tiles to the east, black tiles to the north, and yellow tiles to the west. T he passageway through each wall passes under a p ailou (memorial arch). Inside the walls there are three tiers, square-shaped, leading to the top surface which is the altar. The altar is hard-packed earth divided into four areas, represented by earth of different colors: red to the south, yellow in the middle, black to the north, white to the west, and green to the east. This earth was originally carried to the Altar from the four corners of the empire and symbolixed the principle that the "Son of Heaven" owned everything on earth.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the emperor came here twice a year to make sacrifices to the gods so that sowing would be successful and the crop bountiful.

The park is noted for its old cypresses. About 1000 are several hundred years old. It is said that a few of them are over 1000 years old.