Puning Temple

The Puning Temple, or Temple of Universal Peace of Chengde, Hebei province is a Qing Dynasty era Buddhist temple complex built in 1755, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735-1796 AD) to show the Qing's respect to the ethnic minorities.

The entire complex is huge, covering an area of 23,000 square meters, As part of the Eight Outer Temples, along with the Imperial Summer Resort the Puning Temple was selected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.

Also known as the Temple of Universal Peace or the Big Buddha Temple, the complex was built in 1755 during Emperor Qianlong's (1735-1796) long period of power in China. The Puning Temple is one of the famed Eight Outer Temples located near the Imperial Summer Resort that was used as a summer mountain retreat for Qing Dynasty emperors, located next to the Putuo Zongcheng Temple. Just as that temple was modeled on a famous temple in Tibet (the Potala Palace), the Puning Temple was built on the design of the Samye Monastery, a sacred Lamaist site in Tibet. 

The main structure in the temple is the Hall of Great Buddha. The hall is 36.75 meters high, and has six storeys and multiple eaves. A Bodhisattva statue with thousands of hands and eyes is enshrined in the hall. The statue, 2185 meters in height and 110 tons in weight, is carve out of wood and plated with gold, is one of the famous large-scale wood carved Buddha statues in China.

All around the hall there are other Tibetan constructions, such as pagodas and terraces. Besides the Hall of Great Buddha, there are the Miaoyan Room and the Hall of Scripture Preaching, where Qing emperors listened to the preaching and had a rest.

During the Qing Dynasty, Puning Temple would hold temple affairs regularly during the time from lunar December 25th to December 27th and from lunar January 8th to January 15th each year. The Lamas of the Eight Temples gathered to give performances of Buddhist dances, which attracted endless stream of villagers around the area.