Eight Outer Temples

Outside the surrounding wall of the Summer Resort of Chengde in Hebei Province, lies an orderly array of eight brilliant and golden temples. The temples stand in the north of the Great Wall and eight among them were governed directly by Lifan Court in Qing Dynasty and registered in Beijing Lama Print Office, hence the name of Eight Outer Temples.

Together with the Mountain Resort of Chengde, the temple has been as a World Heritage Site. The 12 temples were built in succession. Construction began in 1713 in the Qing Dynasty and completed in 1780. Six temples are now open to tourists - Putuo Zongchengzhi Temple, Puning Temple, Xumi Fushouzhi Temple, Pule Temple, Anyuan Temple, and Puyou Temple. Each one has its own particular features and special appeal.

The significance is that the Eight Outer Temples symbolize the various ethnic groups from all parts of China directing their loyalty toward the center of authority. In that historic situation, that comes to the purpose of "to defend frontier, to unit hearts of inner side and outer side and to make the country stable" and gets to the effect of "One temple in Qing Dynasty was more powerful than thousands of soldiers." The remaining inscriptions and cultural and cultural exchange among different nationalities at the beginning of Qing Dynasty and showed the historical process of unity, consolidation and development of the multinational country.

When visiting the Eight Outer Temples, it seems that you come to a Buddha’s’ country. You must be impressed by its grand appearance and delicate architectures. These temples were mainly used by the upper classes and dignitaries of the west and north minorities in China to have an audience with the emperor. The architecture mainly built in three manners: Tibetan style, Han style and the mixture of the two. These ornate majestic and resplendent temples are sharp contrasts to the palace complex of its primitive simplicity with green bricks and grey tiles.

The Eight Temples are ethereal examples of combination of the Han building style and Tibetan building art. Putuozongcheng Temple, largest one in scale, was a replica of the Potala Palace in Tibet and is nicknamed "the Little Potala".