Yunju Temple

Yunju Temple

Yunju Temple is a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level and also serves as a patriotic education base.

Yunju Temple is located in Fangshan District, southwest of Beijing, approximately 70 kilometers from the city center. Covering an area of over 70,000 square meters, it consists of Yunju Temple, the Scripture Cave on Shijing Mountain, and a cluster of pagodas from the Tang and Liao dynasties, forming a major treasure trove of Chinese Buddhist culture. On March 4, 1961, it was among the first group of sites designated as Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level by the State Council. In 1992, as the temple with the world’s largest collection of stone-carved sutra tablets, it was included in the “Beijing Tourism World Records.” In the same year, Yunju Temple’s pagodas and stone scriptures were added to the Tentative List of World Cultural Heritage. From 1997 onwards, it was ranked as a “Civilized Tourist Attraction of Beijing” for four consecutive years and was also named a “Beijing Patriotic Education Base” in the same year. In 1999, it received honors as a “Demonstration Scenic Area for Environmental Construction in Suburban Beijing” and a “Beijing Garden-Style Unit.” In 2001, it was listed as a National AAAA-level Tourist Attraction and obtained dual certification for both the ISO9001 Quality Management System and the ISO14001 Environmental Management System in the same year. On November 15, 2004, it was approved by the Beijing Municipal People’s Government as a Municipal Scenic Area.

Yunju Temple was initially built during the late Sui and early Tang dynasties. Through renovations across various dynasties, it developed into five main courtyards with six halls. The temple complex includes side halls, imperial lodging palaces, monks' quarters, and two pagodas standing opposite each other to the north and south. The temple faces east with its back to the mountains and front to water, featuring a grand layout and earning the reputation as the “Great Northern Temple.” In 1942, Yunju Temple was reduced to ruins by Japanese artillery fire. In 1985, the Yunju Temple Restoration and Afforestation Committee was established to carry out the first phase of restoration and surrounding greening efforts. After 1998, the scripture reburial project and the second phase of restoration were carried out. Currently, Yunju Temple has been restored to its former majesty.

Yunju Temple is a repository of Buddhist scriptures, housing stone sutras, paper sutras, and woodblock sutras, known as the “Three Treasures.” The “Stone-carved Buddhist Canon” began during the Daye era of the Sui Dynasty (605 AD), when monks such as Jingwan carved sutras into stone to preserve the true dharma. This massive scripture carving project spanned six dynasties — Sui, Tang, Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Ming — lasting 1,039 years, and resulted in 1,122 volumes, 3,572 scrolls, and 14,278 stone tablets. Such a large-scale, long-term carving endeavor is a rare feat in world cultural history, comparable to global wonders like the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. It is a precious and unique cultural heritage. Known as the “Dunhuang of Beijing” and one of the “World’s Greatest,” the “Fangshan Stone Sutras” represent a thousand-year continuum of Buddhist scriptures since the Sui and Tang periods. They hold immense historical value for research in Buddhism, political history, socioeconomics, culture, and art. Additionally, they possess significant cultural and artistic worth in terms of calligraphy.

Address: Southwest Foot of Bai Dai Shan (also known as Shijing Mountain), Fangshan District, Beijing

Type: Ancient Temple

Rating: AAAA

Recommended Visiting Time: Approximately 2 hours

Phone: 010-61389101

Official Website: http://www.bjyjs.org/

Opening Hours:

Peak Season: 8:30–17:00; Off-Peak Season: 8:30–16:30

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level