China Knowledge

Yonghe Temple: From a Prince's Mansion to Beijing's Largest Tibetan Buddhist Temple

Yonghe Temple began as the mansion where Yongzheng lived as a prince, and was turned into a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in 1744 by his son Qianlong. Red walls and yellow tiles, seven courtyards, and an eighteen-metre Maitreya carved from a single sandalwood trunk make it one of Beijing's busiest places of worship.