Beijing Zhengjue Temple

Beijing Zhengjue Temple

Beijing Zhengjue Temple is a protected cultural heritage site of Beijing Municipality.

Zhengjue Temple is located on the west side of Qichunyuan in Beijing's Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan). Built in the 38th year of the Qianlong reign (1773), it was a Buddhist temple affiliated with Yuanmingyuan. While Zhengjue Temple had a back gate connecting it to Qichunyuan, it also maintained an independent layout with its own southern-facing mountain gate. Being situated outside the wall of Qichunyuan, it is the only ancient structure from Yuanmingyuan that has survived and remains to this day. The temple also preserves the only ancient grove of trees among the three gardens of Yuanmingyuan.

The ancient temple covers an area of 12,660 square meters and consists of main structures such as the mountain gate, the Hall of Heavenly Kings, the Hall of Three Saints, the Wenshu Pavilion, the Zuishang Tower, and auxiliary halls, along with eight monk’s quarters totaling 22 rooms. The exterior eaves of its mountain gate are inscribed with the three characters “Zhengjue Temple,” written by Emperor Qianlong in a combination of four scripts: Chinese, Manchu, Tibetan, and Mongolian.

Today, after restoration, Zhengjue Temple has been completely revitalized, and its overall layout is largely similar to that of a typical Buddhist temple. Its most distinctive feature is the octagonal double-eaved pavilion in the center of the courtyard behind the Hall of Three Saints, known as the Wenshu Pavilion. It was originally used to enshrine the Bodhisattva Manjushri, though the statue is no longer present.

After reopening, Zhengjue Temple no longer houses Buddhist statues but serves as an exhibition hall, displaying over 100 cultural relics from Yuanmingyuan, including a bronze gilt twelve-armed Chakrasamvara statue, a famille rose enamel “Peaceful Seas and Prosperous Rivers” vase with swallows as handles, a celadon “Old Man Mountain” sculpture, and a translucent Hetian white jade signet ring known as “Hua Jia Lian Fang.”

Address: East side of Exit A, Yuanmingyuan Subway Station, Haidian District, Beijing

Opening Hours:

Open according to the schedule of Yuanmingyuan

Further Reading:

· One of the first batch of municipal-level protected cultural heritage sites in Beijing