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Ancient Architecture

Explore the beauty and wisdom of Chinese traditional architecture, from imperial palaces to ancient temples and vernacular dwellings.

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001 Gaocheng Observatory Later texts traced ancient Yangcheng’s tradition of measuring solar shadows back to the Duke of Zhou in the Western Zhou. A stone gnomon was erected here in the Tang, and the Yuan added a forty-chi-high observatory in the form of a monumental gnomon. Liu Dunzhen’s 1930s survey for the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture preserved measured drawings and photographs taken before the site was shelled; the restoration plan entrusted to the Society was never carried out because war intervened. Japanese artillery destroyed the eastern chamber atop the terrace during the 1944 Central Henan Campaign. After the 1975 restoration, two shell holes were retained in the east wall. Western Zhou Gaocheng Town, Dengfeng, Henan Province
002 Taishi Que The Taishi Que (pillar-gates) stand some hundred paces south of the Zhongyue Temple in Dengfeng, Henan, serving as the spirit-road gates before the temple of Mount Taishi of the Central Peak. They were first built in the fifth year of Yuanchu under Emperor An of Han (118 CE) by Lü Chang, magistrate of Yangcheng. The lintel bears a raised-seal inscription reading “Central Peak Taishi Yangcheng.” The front inscription praises the mountain spirit: “the mound earth…, the purest qi of Dai, spring gives birth to all things, clouds rise from an inch of skin.” A rear inscription was added in the fourth year of Yanguang. Together with the Shaoshi Que and the Qimu Que, they are known as the Three Han-Dynasty Que of Mount Song. Eastern Han Dengfeng City, Henan Province
003 Shaoshi Que The Shaoshi Que stand west of Xingjipu at the eastern foot of Mount Shaoshi in Dengfeng, Henan, serving as the spirit-road gates before the temple of Mount Shaoshi, with east and west pillars facing each other. The north face bears the six-character inscription “Spirit-Road Que of Shaoshi.” The pillar bodies are carved with images of cuju (football), hounds chasing hares, and unicorns. The Song Shu comments that their style is “especially archaic and unadorned.” The temple itself vanished long ago; the Jinshi Tu notes: “The Shaoshi temple can no longer be seen; only these que remain.” Eastern Han Dengfeng City, Henan Province
004 Qimu Que The Qimu Que stand due south of the Qimu Stone beneath Mount Taishi on Mount Song in Dengfeng, Henan. They are spirit-road gates built in the second year of Yanguang under Emperor An of Han (123 CE) by Zhu Chong, Grand Administrator of Yingchuan. The Qimu Stone is said to be the transformation of Tushanshi, wife of the Great Yu—Yu turned into a bear while taming the floods; Tushanshi fled in shame and at the foot of Mount Songgao turned to stone, which cracked open on its north side and gave birth to Qi. The left side of the pillar body bears a large-seal inscription narrating Yu’s flood-control deeds. Eastern Han Dengfeng City, Henan Province
005 White Horse Temple White Horse Temple (Baima Si) stands in Luoyang, Henan. Later texts call it the first Buddhist monastery in China, founded by Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han; its name derives from the white horse on which Kāśyapa Mātaṅga and Dharmaratna are said to have carried the scriptures into Luoyang. After the wartime fires of the Jingkang era, the eastern pagoda cloister was rebuilt under the Jin; the main temple was restored under the Yuan; and it was repaired again in the Hongwu and Jiajing eras of the Ming and the Kangxi era of the Qing. Eastern Han Dynasty Luoyang, Henan Province
006 Feng Huan Que The Feng Huan Que stand at Zhaojiaping beside Tuxi Field in Quxian. Their owner, Feng Huan, was a native of Dangqu who rose to Inspector of Youzhou under Emperor An of the Eastern Han. In Jian'guang 1, a forged imperial edict led to his imprisonment; after he appealed and died in custody, the court still granted burial compensation. Local gazetteers say he was returned to his home district. Song and Qing epigraphic works use the que inscription, imperial edict, broken stele, and stele reverse to recover his unrecorded tenure as Inspector of Yuzhou and explain “Yanwang Tomb” as a local misnomer. Eastern Han Quxian, Dazhou, Sichuan Province
007 Wuhou Shrine In the third year of the Zhangwu reign of Shu Han (223), Liu Bei was buried in the Huiling Mausoleum in Chengdu; the Temple of the Former Sovereign founded under the Southern Qi and the Wuhou Shrine that appeared during the Northern and Southern Dynasties thereafter stood separately beside the tomb. In the twenty-fourth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming (1391), Zhu Chun, Prince Xian of Shu, abolished the separate shrine to Marquis Wu and moved Zhuge Liang into the Temple of Emperor Zhaolie of Han; after the rebuilding in the Kangxi reign of the Qing, Liu Bei came to occupy the front and Zhuge Liang the rear. The main gate still bears the plaque “Temple of Emperor Zhaolie of Han,” while the whole joint mausoleum-temple of sovereign and minister is popularly known as the “Wuhou Shrine.” Shu Han Wuhou District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province
008 Haibao Pagoda, Yinchuan Haibao Pagoda stands north of Yinchuan city, Ningxia, formerly known as Heibao Pagoda or Hebao Pagoda. Local gazetteers attribute its reconstruction to Helian Bobo of the Hu-Xia kingdom during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. A Qing-dynasty stele by Zhao Hongxie records the pagoda as nine stories, eleven stories counting the finial platform, and eleven zhang tall. Archaeological probing of the foundation in 2006, based on seated-Buddha patterned bricks and other finds, preliminarily dates the pagoda’s initial construction to the late Northern Dynasties through the Sui–Tang period. Sixteen Kingdoms-Hu Xia Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
009 Songyue Pagoda The Songyue Temple Pagoda stands at the southern foot of Mount Taishi in Dengfeng, Henan. With fifteen closely spaced eaves and a dodecagonal plan, it is the oldest surviving brick pagoda in China. Originally the detached palace of Emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei, it was converted into a Buddhist temple in the first year of Zhengguang (520). During the Later Zhou suppression of Buddhism, it was proposed to “turn the temple into a Daoist abbey and the ancient pagoda into an altar,” but the pagoda was ultimately spared because of “the protection of the Eight Divisions.” Li Yong’s stele describes the pagoda as “rising from the ground on four tiers and rounding into the sky in eight aspects.” Northern Wei-Northern and Southern Dynasties Dengfeng, Henan Province
010 Lingyan Temple In the Zhengguang era of the Northern Wei, the Chan master Fading came to Mount Fang and founded a place of Buddhist practice; in the Tang, a monastery was re-established beside the damaged images left by the Huichang suppression of Buddhism. In the Northern Song a complex of more than five hundred bays drew crowds of pilgrims, only to fall quickly into decline amid famine; in the Jin the monks defended the temple's mountain forest on the strength of old steles; in the Yuan more than five thousand volumes of scripture waited forty-five years for the Dragon Treasury Hall; in the Ming the Hall of the Thousand Buddhas was rebuilt; and in the Qing the treasury hall was destroyed by fire. Through its many cycles of rise and decline, the temple has left behind stele inscriptions, rubbings, and photographs from successive ages. Northern Wei Dynasty Changqing District, Jinan, Shandong Province
011 Xiuding Temple A Tang-dynasty biography records how Zhang Sengmeng gave up hunting after wounding a deer, and how he hid a tiger to save its life during a hunt by Emperor Xiaowen of the Wei—from which Tiancheng Temple arose. The temple bore in turn the names Chengshan Temple, Heshui Temple, and Xiuding Temple; at the Northern Zhou persecution of Buddhism it left the record that “this pagoda alone survived”; the Sui and Tang restored the temple, and Song and Yuan inscriptions still show the pagoda standing and the temple flourishing. These materials trace the name, ruin and revival, and repairs of Xiuding Temple in Anyang, Henan, and provide documentary clues for studying the extant Tang-dynasty square relief-brick pagoda. Northern Wei Dynasty Anyang County, Henan Province
012 Guangsheng Temple Today's Guangsheng Temple is split between the heights and foot of Mount Huo, yet the Tang documents record only one ancient foundation of an Aśoka pagoda. Thereafter buildings arose beside the Huo Spring, a Buddha hall stood at the southern foot of the mountain, and a glazed pagoda was rebuilt on the summit. In the thirteenth year of the Jiajing era, Wang Shilong, leading troops on a relief expedition, took his meal at the foot of the pagoda, and after the revolt was pacified had his poem carved on the pagoda wall; not until the Kangxi era did the names “Upper Temple” and “Lower Temple” appear explicitly in a stele. The extant Feihong Pagoda was built under the monk Dalian between the Zhengde and Jiajing eras. Northern Zhou Dynasty Hongtong County, Linfen, Shanxi Province
013 Yunju Temple, Fangshan Yunju Temple stands at the foot of Shijing Mountain in Fangshan, Beijing. In the Daye era of the Sui dynasty, the monk Jingwan carved Buddhist scriptures onto stone to preserve them against Dharma decline. Over the following millennium, Tang Princess Jinxian donated sutras and land, and the Liao court funded four major scriptural canons — altogether 1,122 texts on 14,278 stone slabs. After Japanese artillery destroyed all halls in 1942, the stone scriptures in caves and underground vaults survived intact. Sui dynasty Fangshan District, Beijing
014 Longxing Temple In the sixth year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui, the regional inspector of Hengzhou, acting on imperial command, exhorted and rewarded ten thousand people of the prefecture to jointly build the Longzang Temple; the 藏 in the temple's name is read “zàng,” referring in Buddhism to the Mahāyāna canon or the scripture-treasury of the dragon palace. The temple plaque was later changed to Longxing Temple (龙兴寺, “Dragon Rising”); in the Ming, Du Mu recognized from a half-buried Sui stele before the hall that the two were originally one temple. In the forty-ninth year of the Kangxi era it was again granted the plaque “Longxing Temple” (隆兴寺, written with different characters). Three closely related names, linked together by a single Sui stele that still stands within the temple. Sui Dynasty Zhengding County, Hebei Province
015 Yuquan Temple During the Kaihuang era of the Sui, Yang Guang, Prince of Jin, built a monastic center on Mount Yuquan in Dangyang for the Tiantai master Zhiyi. In the sixth year of the Jiayou era of the Northern Song, Hao Yan and his maternal aunt of the Han family donated iron, and craftsmen of the Two Zhe circuits cast it into a thirteen-story pagoda for the Buddha's tooth relic. After the wars at the end of the Song, the temple fell for a time into “daily deepening decay,” and under the Yuan the monk Guangzhu rebuilt its halls and pavilions. In the thirtieth year of the Wanli era, the monk Zhenghui vowed to rebuild the main hall, and the layman Ren Chengzhou joined in aiding the work; the extant main hall still retains a Yuan-dynasty lower sill and Ming-dynasty bracket sets. Sui Dynasty Dangyang, Hubei Province
016 Giant Wild Goose Pagoda The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda stands within the Da Ci'en Temple in Xi'an. According to the *You Chengnan Ji* (A Record of Travels South of the City), the monk Xuanzang began building the pagoda in the third year of Yonghui (652). It originally had only five stories, with a brick exterior and earthen core, modeled after the Indian stupa. During the Chang'an era it collapsed; Empress Wu and members of the nobility funded its reconstruction to ten stories. After subsequent wars, only seven stories survived. The east and west niches at the base of the pagoda preserve the Preface to the Holy Teachings of the Great Tang Tripitaka and the Record of the Holy Teachings, both inscribed by Chu Suiliang. Tang Dynasty Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
017 Small Wild Goose Pagoda The Small Wild Goose Pagoda stands within the Jianfu Temple in Xi'an. Built during the Jinglong era of the Tang dynasty with funds contributed by palace women, it originally had fifteen stories. According to the Shaanxi Tongzhi (Shaanxi Provincial Gazetteer), the Yimao earthquake of the Jiajing era split the pagoda in two, and the Guihai earthquake reunited it. During Wang Fuchen's rebellion the pagoda split again, and after the rebellion was quelled it returned to its former state. The temple buildings were completely destroyed during the Jurchen-era migration, leaving only the brick pagoda standing. Tang Dynasty Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
018 Baoguo Temple Baoguo Temple (Baoguo Si) stands in the Jiangbei District of Ningbo, Zhejiang. First named Lingshan Temple in the Tang, its surviving main hall is a timber structure rebuilt in the sixth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era of the Northern Song (1013). This article traces the temple's architectural history and the changes to its name, gathers original passages from the Baoqing Siming Zhi, the Ningbo Fu Zhi, the Cixi Xian Zhi, the Baoguo Si Zhi, and other historical sources, and includes 1954 survey photographs of the main hall's bracket sets, timber frame, and caisson ceilings. Tang Dynasty Ningbo, Zhejiang Province
019 Foguang Temple Foguang Temple lies in Wutai County, Shanxi, and takes its name from an auspicious response of "Buddha's light." In the fifth year of the Dali era of the Tang, the monk Facao saw several beams of white light to the temple's south; during the Yuanhe era there was a memorial reporting that "auspicious clouds appeared beside Foguang Temple." The Dunhuang Record of a Journey to Mount Wutai describes its seven-bay great Buddha hall and its three-story, seven-bay Maitreya pavilion; after the Huichang persecution the monk Yuancheng "sought out Foguang Temple anew" and rebuilt it step by step. The East Hall that survives today is a relic of that reconstruction. Tang Dynasty Wutai County, Shanxi Province
020 Hua Pagoda at Guanghui Temple, Zhengding The Hua Pagoda at Guanghui Temple stands inside the south gate of Zhengding, also called Huata Temple or Duobao Pagoda. The temple's history traces back to the Sui and Tang, while the date of the pagoda itself drifts between the Jin Dading rebuilding and the Northern Song inscriptions discovered during 1990s restoration. The Qianlong Emperor climbed the pagoda and inscribed a poem; Liang Sicheng called it 'perhaps a sole surviving example within the seas'; in 1947 Zhao Shengming gave his life to protect the pagoda in battle. Tang / Song-Jin Zhengding County, Hebei
022 Nanchan Temple The main hall of Nanchan Temple is located in Lijia Village, Wutai County, Shanxi. An ink inscription under the beam reads “restored in the third year of Jianzhong of the Great Tang,” making it one of the earliest surviving Tang-dynasty timber structures with a definite date. Pre-restoration survey photos from 1953 show that the front-eave doors and windows, the eave bracket projections, and structural details still preserve original Tang construction. Tang Dynasty Wutai County, Shanxi Province
024 Xingjiao Temple Pagodas The Xingjiao Temple Pagodas stand within Xingjiao Temple on the Shaoling Plateau in Xi'an. They are the collective designation for the three relic-burial pagodas of Xuanzang, Kuiji, and Woncheuk. The Xuanzang Pagoda occupies the center and is somewhat larger, erected when the temple was founded in the 2nd year of Zongzhang (669 CE); the Kuiji and Woncheuk pagodas flank it on either side and are somewhat smaller. The pagoda inscriptions of Xuanzang and Kuiji are Tang originals carved in the 4th year of Kaicheng; the Woncheuk inscription stone was broken and what is now embedded on the pagoda is a later re-carving. Tang Dynasty Chang'an District, Xi'an, Shaanxi
025 Xuanmiao Temple The state Taoist system of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang gave the city of Suzhou its Kaiyuan Palace; in the Song it was retitled Tianqing Temple, and after repeated destruction by war it was rebuilt by the court. In the Yuan, a woman donated her hairpins and earrings to repair the Three Gates; in the Ming, the timber rafts for rebuilding the Miluo Treasure Pavilion were scattered by wind upon the river, yet the stele record says the drifting timbers afterward all gathered back together. The temple front also became the place where hundreds of weavers waited each day for work. In the Qing it was renamed Yuanmiao Temple and became an altar of birthday prayers for the southern tours; in 1912 the Miluo Treasure Pavilion burned down, while the Southern Song Hall of the Three Pure Ones has survived to this day. Tang Dynasty Gusu District, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province
026 Tradruk Temple Changzhu Temple (Tradrug) is located in Naidong District, Shannan, Tibet, and is traditionally attributed to the Tubo king Songtsen Gampo. The Weizang Tongzhi records it under “Chamuzhu Temple,” relating the legend of subduing a five-headed serpent demon in the Yarlung Valley and building the temple with sacred images. Photographs taken by Hugh E. Richardson in 1949 preserve the full view of the monastery before the fields, the compound walls with golden roofs, the ancient bell in the portico, and the stupa banners in front of the courtyard. Tubo Nedong District, Shannan, Tibet Autonomous Region
027 Dazhao Temple (Jokhang) Dazhao Temple (the Jokhang) stands in Lhasa, Tibet. Chinese gazetteers write its name variously as Dazhao, Dazhao, Dazhao, and Dazhao (大昭/大招/大召/大诏); its Tibetan name is “Laomu.” The Weizang Tongzhi records that the temple rises four stories with five golden halls on top, the central hall enshrining Shakyamuni Buddha. Outside the gate stands the Tang–Tubo Alliance Stele, 1.5 zhang tall, a relic of the Changqing Treaty of 821 under Emperor Muzong; beside it grows an old willow said to date from the Tang dynasty. Tubo Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region
028 The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in Dali The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple stand below the Cang Mountains northwest of Dali Old Town, Yunnan. The main tower, the Qianxun Pagoda, is a square, closely-eaved pagoda of sixteen tiers. According to the Yunnan Tongzhi, an inscription atop the pagoda dates it to the first year of Kaiyuan of the Tang (713 CE), built by the Tang artisans Gong Tao and Hui Yi at the Nanzhao kingdom’s invitation. Two smaller pagodas flank it to the north and south, “each topped with a cast-gold finial bearing a golden roc.” Tradition holds that “dragons revere pagodas but fear the roc; Dali was once a dragon marsh, hence these were built to subdue it.” Nanzhao Dali, Yunnan
029 Guangxiao Temple From the Yu Garden of Yu Fan in the Sun Wu, to Faxing Temple of the Tang, to the Qianming Chan Cloister of the Song, and on to being occupied as the Guangdong Judges' School in the Republican era, Guangxiao Temple changed its name and its masters again and again over more than a thousand years. Yet the two iron pagodas of the Southern Han standing east and west, the Sixth Patriarch's Hair-Burial Pagoda, and the Xianping-era bell never left their original sites: the claim of a name change is refuted by the bell's inscription, the pagodas' dating is settled by reading the inscriptions on their bodies, and one old Republican-era photograph shows the school's gate plaque and a Southern Han iron pagoda together in the same frame. Ten Kingdoms – Southern Han Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
030 Liuhe Pagoda Liuhe Pagoda was first built in the third year of Kaibao (970) of the Wuyue Kingdom to subdue the tidal bore of the Qiantang River. It was destroyed by fire during the Xuanhe era and rebuilt in seven stories by the monk Zhitan through monastic fundraising during the Southern Song. After completion it also served as a lighthouse for night navigation. Though repeatedly damaged and restored over the centuries, its brick core endures. Ten Kingdoms-Wuyue Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province
031 Dule Temple Dule Temple once belonged to Jizhou; old gazetteers place it southwest of the prefectural seat. The Liao-dynasty rebuilding of its Guanyin Pavilion survives mainly through the Liu Cheng stele: in the second year of Tonghe, Master Tanzhen entered the temple to rebuild the pavilion of two stories, five bays east to west and eight frames north to south. The Jingji Jinshi Kao still records the stele; Qing gazetteers note a 1753 imperial-funded restoration, and early modern albums preserve views of the mountain gate, the Guanyin Pavilion, the guardian kings, and the Guanyin image. Liao dynasty Jizhou District, Tianjin (formerly Ji County, Hebei)
032 Fengguo Temple At the turn of the Liao and Jin, the flames of war spread through the northeast, and the Liao monasteries of the region were reduced to ash in a single blaze — only Fengguo Temple in Yizhou stood alone and intact. The stele of the seventh year of Dade traces the reason: Wang Xun, Grand Master of Splendid Happiness with Golden Seal and Purple Ribbon, ordered his men to keep constant watch, and the abbot Master Yang exhausted his resources on repairs, so the seven Buddhas within the hall and the nine-bay Great Hall passed through that war whole. Liao dynasty Yi County, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province
033 Huayan Temple The chronology of Huayan Temple does not begin with a single record: a construction inscription of 1038 survives on a beam of the Hall of the Bhagavat Sutra Repository, while the History of the Liao dates the temple's founding to 1062. Thereafter, wartime fires, the Jin-dynasty rebuilding, the Yuan-dynasty revival, modern photographic surveys, and twenty-first-century expansion each left layers of text and image behind. The temple today thus faces both its old Liao and Jin structures and a newly spread-out courtyard complex, linking nearly a millennium of rise and decline. Liao Dynasty Datong, Shanxi Province
034 Wanbu Huayanjing Pagoda The Wanbu Huayanjing Pagoda, popularly called the White Pagoda, is a Liao-dynasty octagonal seven-storey pavilion-style brick pagoda at the northwest corner of the old city of Fengzhou in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. In Yuan-dynasty poems the temple pagoda, gate towers, and traffic of horses and carts were still there; when Qian Liangze of the Qing arrived, he saw only an empty city with ruined foundations and a pagoda “towering halfway to the sky.” After the city walls and the monastery vanished, the White Pagoda still stood alone in the fields, and the Jin, Yuan, and Ming inscriptions inside it preserve the names and journeys of those who passed through Fengzhou. Liao Dynasty Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
035 Yunyan Temple Pagoda The Yunyan Temple Pagoda sits atop Tiger Hill in Suzhou, commonly known as the Tiger Hill Pagoda. The temple was founded in the second year of Xianhe of the Eastern Jin (334 CE) when the brothers Wang Xun and Wang Min donated their residence, yet the surviving pagoda dates from between the sixth year of Xiande of the Later Zhou (959) and the second year of Jianlong of the Northern Song (961)—temple and pagoda are separated by over six hundred years and share no common origin. An octagonal, seven-story brick pagoda in the timber-imitation pavilion style, its brickwork simulates columns, lintels, bracket sets, and diamond-tooth eaves projections; the tower leans toward the northeast. Later Zhou Suzhou, Jiangsu Province
036 Liaodi Pagoda at Kaiyuan Temple, Dingxian (Dingzhou) The Liaodi Pagoda at Kaiyuan Temple stands in Dingzhou, Hebei. Ming-dynasty poets who climbed the pagoda wrote of gazing down over the prefectural city and far toward the frontier; the Yanshan Conglu states that from the summit one can see a hundred li, and links the pagoda's name to watching for the Khitan. Old photographs from 1902 to 1932 record the pagoda amid tree groves, fields, and alleyways. Northern Song Dynasty Dingzhou, Hebei
037 Qingjing Mosque In 1009 CE, Muslim merchants sojourning in Quanzhou raised the Ashab Mosque outside the city walls. Worshippers purified themselves at an ancient well, climbed the moon-watching platform to observe the crescent of Ramadan, and then prayed toward Mecca; over the next three hundred years the city of Quanzhou expanded southward, drawing the mosque into its streets, and a man from Shiraz came to rebuild it. Arabic inscriptions, a Ming imperial edict, and Chinese stele records chronicle the later centuries of this seafaring merchants' mosque. Northern Song Dynasty Tumen Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou, Fujian Province
038 Sakya Monastery Sakya Monastery, in Sakya County, Shigatse, is the ancestral monastery of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its North Monastery was founded in 1073. In the 13th century, Phagspa entered the Yuan court, created a new Mongol script by imperial command, and transmitted an ordination ritual that was translated into Chinese; in 1268 he commissioned the South Monastery. The Yuan Shi, Kangyou Jixing, and Qinding Kuo'erka Jilüe trace centuries of contact between the monastery, Tibet, and successive central governments. Northern Song Sakya County, Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region
039 Youguo Temple Pagoda The Youguo Temple Pagoda stands in Kaifeng, Henan Province, commonly known as the Iron Pagoda. It is a Northern Song dynasty octagonal thirteen-story pagoda built with iron-colored glazed bricks. In the fourth year of Qingli (1044), the wooden Linggan Pagoda of Kaibao Temple was destroyed by fire. Emperor Renzong initially heeded his advisors and halted reconstruction; yet five years later he issued a decree to 'rebuild the Linggan Pagoda and enshrine the relics.' The rebuilt pagoda did not replicate the old one but was relocated to Shangfang Courtyard in the eastern precinct of Kaibao Temple and raised anew in glazed brick. Northern Song Dynasty Kaifeng, Henan Province
040 Yongle Palace Yongle Palace in Ruicheng, Shanxi began as a small shrine to Lü Dongbin in the town of Yongle. After the old shrine burned down, the Mongol court resolved to raise it to the rank of Chunyang Wanshou Palace and bestowed a plaque, and the Quanzhen order put Pan Dechong in charge of the construction. In the late Ming the halls still held murals of three hundred and sixty celestial deities and more than four hundred spirit tablets in ranked rows, and Qing restorations left Qing-style roof frames inside the Yuan-dynasty halls. During the twentieth-century relocation project, the timber structures were dismantled piece by piece and the murals were detached for protection. Yuan dynasty Ruicheng County, Yuncheng, Shanxi Province
042 Ta'er Monastery (Kumbum Monastery) Ta'er Monastery (Kumbum Monastery), in Huangzhong District of Xining, Qinghai, was founded in the Ming dynasty. A Gelug-school monastery of Tibetan Buddhism and the birthplace of Tsongkhapa, it was formerly known as Ta'er Si and the Silver Stupa Monastery. Drawing on Ming and Qing sources such as the Manuscripts of the Forest Lodge, the Sacred Military Records, the Draft History of Qing, and the Memorials on Qinghai, this article traces the monastery's founding and development, its relations with the Ming and Qing central governments, the Lobsang Danjin incident, and its restoration and rebuilding after the Shaanxi–Gansu Hui revolt, and also presents historical photographs of Ta'er Monastery taken between 1900 and 1937. Ming dynasty Huangzhong District, Xining, Qinghai
043 Tashilhunpo Monastery Tashilhunpo Monastery, also written Zhaxilunbu Monastery, is located in Samzhubzê District, Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region. Founded in the Ming dynasty, it is a Gelug monastery of Tibetan Buddhism and has served as the seat of successive Panchen Lamas. Drawing on sources including the General Gazetteer of Ü-Tsang, Illustrated Study of Tibet, Travel Notes from Kham, and Imperially Commissioned Brief Account of the Gurkha Campaign, this article traces the monastery’s founding history, layout, Panchen Lama stupas, damage and repairs during the Gurkha war, and includes twentieth-century historical photographs. Ming dynasty Samzhubzê District, Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region
044 Vajrasana Pagoda at Zhenjue Temple During the Yongle era, the Tibetan monk Pandita came to pay tribute and presented five golden Buddha figures together with the regulations for a Vajrasana pagoda; Emperor Chengzu built a temple to house him and named it Zhenjue. In the ninth year of Chenghua, following the Central Indian model, a stone platform fifty chi high was raised, with stairways hidden within its walls spiraling up left and right; on its top stood five pagodas each twenty chi tall, already celebrated by Ming poets who climbed them. Ming Haidian District, Beijing
045 Zhihua Temple Zhihua Temple, in Lumicang Hutong in Beijing's Dongcheng District, was completed in the ninth year of the Zhengtong reign of the Ming (1444). After his restoration, Emperor Yingzong erected a shrine to Wang Zhen inside the temple; the Qianlong emperor later approved Shen Tingfang's petition to destroy the statue and the stele, after which the temple lost its patronage and gradually declined. By the Republican era, Abbot Puyuan could only keep the monastery going by renting out rooms and felling and selling its ancient cypresses. In 1930 the two caisson ceilings of Zhihua Hall and Wanfo Pavilion were dismantled and sold: the former entered the Philadelphia Museum of Art the same year, while the latter was purchased the following year by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art from a Beijing antiquities dealer. Ming dynasty Dongcheng District, Beijing
046 Humble Administrator's Garden The Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuozheng Yuan) stands in Gusu District, Suzhou, Jiangsu, and was founded in the Zhengde era of the Ming. Wang Xianchen built a garden of ponds, pavilions, and bamboo and trees in the northeast of Suzhou city; afterward the site passed through division and refashioning as the Xu family private garden, the Return-to-the-Fields Garden, the Su-Song-Chang Circuit offices, the Restored Garden, the Eight Banners Fengzhi Guild Hall, and the Supplementary Garden. This entry gathers Wen Zhengming's garden record, inscriptions preserved within the garden, and historical photographs, tracing the Humble Administrator's Garden from a Ming private garden to a Qing guild hall. Ming Dynasty Gusu District, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province
047 Pule Temple Pule Temple, northeast of the Chengde Mountain Resort in Hebei, was built by imperial decree in the thirty-first year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing (1766) and completed the following year—an imperial Tibetan Buddhist temple laid out facing east. Drawing on the Imperially Commissioned Gazetteer of Rehe, the Stele Inscription of Pule Temple, the surveys of the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture, and old photographs by Hedda Morrison, this article traces Zongyin Hall, Xuguang Pavilion, the layout of the mandala-city, the frontier audience rites of the Qing, and the temple's appearance in the 1930s and 1940s. Qing dynasty Shuangqiao District, Chengde, Hebei
048 Puning Temple In the twentieth year of the Qianlong reign, the chiefs of the four Oirat tribes received investiture and rewards at the Mountain Resort and raised wine in wishes for the emperor's long life at the banquet; it was against this background that Puning Temple was built. The temple was laid out in imitation of Samye Monastery in Tibet, its rear precinct rising tier upon tier through the Mahayana Pavilion, the four continents, and the group of stupas; by the Jiaqing reign, the Hall of Mahavira was already leaking and rotting. Visiting the temple, Bojun wrote that even craning his head he could not see up to the great Buddha's belly, and had to “climb one more story” before its countenance came into view. Qing dynasty Chengde, Hebei
049 Putuo Zongcheng Temple From his study of archival records and Qing-period images, Yang Xu concluded that under the Qianlong reign the Great Red Terrace of the Putuo Zongcheng Temple originally had four full stories, and the gilded roof of the Wanfa Guiyi Hall was not exposed. Later the Red Terrace lost a story, and shelter pavilions were added over the two red sandalwood pagodas whose tops emerged above the roofline; soon after von Mumm photographed them, both pavilions collapsed one after the other in 1904. The silhouette familiar today has passed through the loss of a story, the addition of pavilions, collapse, and modern restoration. Qing Dynasty Shuangqiao District, Chengde, Hebei Province
050 Xumi Fushou Temple In the forty-fifth year of the Qianlong reign, Qianlong built the Xumi Fushou Temple in imitation of Tashilhunpo Monastery to welcome the Sixth Panchen Lama, who had journeyed from distant Tsang. The Panchen stayed at Rehe for only about two months, yet for this pilgrimage the mountain gate, stele pavilion, Great Red Terrace, gilded-roof hall towers, and living quarters together formed a complete monastic residence. In the Jiaqing years, the leaking enclosing rooms of the Jixiang Faxi Tower's courtyard and the terrace roof before the hall were surveyed and repaired in turn; old photographs from the 1930s further preserve the form of the Red Terrace, the gilded roof, and the glazed pagoda joining one behind another. Qing Dynasty Shuangqiao District, Chengde, Hebei Province