Eight Outer Temples or Eight Temples Beyond the Great Wall 外八庙

Outside the walls of the Chengde Imperial Travelling Palace, temples in the Tibetan, Han and Mongolian styles are found scattered among the nearby hills. Built on a larger scale than any of the temples in Beijing, they are collectively known as the Waibamiao外八庙 (Eight Outer Temples or Eight Temples Beyond the Great Wall), because they were administered by eight different departments and located outside Chengde City, In fact, there were 12 large-scale groups of temples, seven of these had been destroyed or damaged, only left 5 still standing. The temples reflect artistic characteristics of the Han, Tibetan and Mongolian nationalities.

Construction of these temples began in 1713 by the second Qing emperor Kangxi and was completed in 1780 by the fourth Qing emperor Qianlong lasting 67 years. To consolidate the unity of China’s multi-national state, the Qing government adopted the policy of “ruling according to their customs” towards the Mongolian, Tibetan and other minority nationalities and constructed a number of temples with distinctive styles in line with their religious beliefs. Imposing, elegant and exquisite, these temples combine the essence of the architectural art of Many nationalities. The Eight Outer Temples and the Mountain Hamlet to Flee the Heat are a foil to each other. The Eight Outer Temples are the crystallization of the blood and sweat of the Chinese labouring people. They not only shine with the radiance of the brilliant Chinese culture but also bear witness to the unity and development of China’s multi-national state.

Those five remaining temples are as follows:

Temple of Universal Tranquillity 普宁寺

Situated to the north of the Mountain Hamlet to Flee the Heat, the Temple of Universal Tranquillity was built in 1755 by Qing emperor Qianlong in pursuance of Emperor Kangxi, his grandfather’s policy of “control through conciliation怀柔” and in commemoration of his victory in suppressing the rebellion of the upper strata of the Junggar people in Xinjiang. The temple consists of many magnificent halls and laid out in apple-pie order, covering an area of 23,000 square meters. Its front half follows the layout of the Buddhist monasteries of the Han people. The Grand Hall of the Buddha is characteristic of the ancient architecture of the Han people. Its rear half is based on the Buddhist concept of the world as manifested in the sacred place of Tibetan Lamaism, the Sameye Monastery. The 36.75-meter-high Hall of Mahayana and its surrounding terraces, halls and Lamaist pagodas with their peculiar layouts bespeaks the unique style of the Tibetan plastic arts. The huge wooden image of the Buddha in the Hall of Mahayana is a rare image of its kind (tree wood such as pine, cypress, elm, fir and linden are used for carving the giant Buddha). With an exact height of 23.511 meters towering up through the building’s five storeys, known as the Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin) with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes, the wooden Buddhist figure with golden paint measures nearly 10 meters around the waist and weighs about 110 tons. Well-proportioned and magnificent, this Buddha is one of the largest wood sculptured Buddhas still existing in China. Each of the Buddha’s fingers on its 42 arms is thicker than an average person’s leg. On the head of the statue stands a smaller image, 1.2 meters tall, which according to tradition represents Guanyin’s teacher Amitabha. His position on top of Guanyin’s head denotes the high esteem in which he was held. In the first half of 1999, the Buddha was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest statue of its kind in the world. The figure, which was carved in 1755, is made of 120 cubic meters of wood, enough to build a four-storey house. The Central Research Institute for Relics Protection and the Prospecting and Designing Institute under the Ministry of Construction measured its exact height, 27.21 meters.

The Hall of the Great Vehicle is surrounded by a number of smaller halls and white terraces, which are arranged in a mandala pattern, representing the structure of the universe. The hall itself symbolizes Mount Sumeru, the center of the Buddhist universe, and surrounding it are the “four greater continents” and the “eight lesser continents.

Renovation of the famous wooden statue of Avalokitesvara in the Temple of Universal Tranquillity was started in late 1998. The project’s implementation was divided into two stages. During the first stage, high-tech methods were used to steam-clean the Buddha, which towers 22 meters and has 42 arms with an eye on each palm. Modelled on a Tibetan temple, the Temple of Universal Tranquillity is a key relics site under State protection. In 1994, it was evaluated worthy of the World Cultural Heritage List together with the other historical interests in Chengde, where the famous Imperial Summer Resort is located.

Putuozongsheng (The Potarak Doctrine) Temple 普陀宗乘之庙（亦称小布达拉宫）

The Temple is also known as the Lesser Potala Palace. Built within more than 4 years from 1767 to 1771, the temple is situated north of the Mountain Resort. Putuozongsheng is modeled on the Potala Palace in Tibet, and therefore it is also named “Lesser Potala Palace .” The entire temple encompasses 220,000 square meters. It was built by Qing emperor Qinglong to celevrate his 60th anniversary, empress’s 80th anniversary and to host the upper strata personages of the minority peoples from Mongolia, Qinghai,and Xinjiang who came to join in his birthday celebrations. The temple has a special architecture, the temple is made up of 50 Buddhist halls, scripture-reciting halls, monks’ living quarters, red terraces, white terraces topped with one or five pagodas and glazed ceremonial arches which rise and fall with the mountain slopes in a variable rectangular disposition. The red terrace is 42.5 meters high and 59.7 meters in width. It is the main structure within the temple and imposing. The temple compound is tranquil and peaceful where stand tall pines, cypresses and rockeries, adding solemnity to the ambient atmosphere.

The Xumifushoumiao (Temple of Sumeru Happiness and Longevity) 须弥福寿之庙

Encompassing 37.900 square meters, the temple was constructed in 1780 after the model of the Tibetan Tashihunpo (or Tashilunbu) Monastery at Xigaze (Shigatse) and its name is a direct translation of the Tibetan name “Temple of Complete Happiness and Longevity.” The year 1780 was the 70th birthday of Emperor Qianlong, therefore the celebrations were held on a larger scale than usual. This temple was specially built in Tibetan style as a temporary residence (or travelling palace) and scripture-teaching place for the Sixth Panchen Lama in 1780 when the latter traveled all the way from Xigaze to Chengde to offer birthday celebrations to Emperor Qianlong. The temple contains both the layout of Tibetan palace buildings and the special features of ancient Han people’s architecture, making it a rare specimen of the combination of the styles of ancient Han and Tibetan architecture. It takes on added elegance and splendour with its imposing halls, red walls, glittering gilded roofs, gold dragons poised as if ready to spring, glazed pagodas, luxuriant woods and unique rockeries. “Xumifushou” is the Chinese translation of Trashi Lhümpo: trashi means fushou (auspicious longevity), and lhümpo and xumi are both transcriptions of the Sanskrit sumeru, which literally means “mountain of marvelous heigjt.”

The Temple of Pacifying the Outlying Areas /The Temple of Consolation for People from Afar 安远庙

Constructed in 1764, Anyuan Temple, an imitation of Ili Temple in Xinjiang is situate due east of the Mountain Hamlet to Flee the Heat. Previously in 1759, more than 6,000 people of the Dashidawa clan达什达瓦部of the Junggar tribe 准珂尔部in Xinjiang migrated to the former Rehe Province (Chengde being its capital before its abolition as a province after 1949). Because their Gu’erzha Temple on the northern bank of the Ili River in Xinjiang had been destroyed during a war, Qing emperor Qianlong had a similar temple built in Chengde for their worship, naming it Anyuansi. The temple roofs are covered with black glazed tiles. Serving as a foil to green mountains, blue sky and white clouds在青天，蓝天和白云的衬托下，the temple looks more magnificent and solemn with religious atmosphere. It is said that in the concept of Buddhism, black colour represents the Buddhist Nirvana Mountain (Nirvana涅 means『of Buddhist monks or nuns』pass away圆寂).Buddhists believe that they will achieve charitable and pious deeds功德圆满 after death and will not suffer re-birth and re-death nor they will get suffering of samsara (transmigration轮回). At the same time, in Buddhism black colour is emblematic of a strong wind, which can help the sailing boat to accelerate its speed and get to the shore of the Land of UItimate BIiss 极乐世界as soon as possible. Another saying goes: black colour stands for water. The Ili Temple was destroyed by fire and the Anyuan Temple is topped with black colour, which is symbolic of water covering the roofs of the temple象征有水压顶.

The Temple of Universal Happiness 普乐寺

Encompassing 24,000 square meters, the Temple of Universal Happiness (also known as Round Pavilion圆亭子) was erected in 1766 when the upper strata personages from the Mongolian and the northwestern tribes came to pay respects to Qing emperor Qianlong for the stability and peace in northwestern region of China. The main building, the Pavilion of the Brilliance of the Rising Sun (旭光阁), is noted for its caisson ceiling and unique wooden mandala, the only one of its kind in China outside Tibet. The temple’s outer walls were once topped by eight colourfully glazed-tile pagodas built on lotus flower pedestals, but nowadays only one of them still stands. Legend has it that they are said to symbolize the lotus flowers that appeared at every step taken by Sakyamuni, founder of Buddhism, when he was very young.

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