Putuo Zongcheng Temple

The Little Potala Palace in Chengde refers to the Putuo Zongcheng Temple, located on the north side of Shizi Gou, North Ring Road in Chengde City, Hebei Province, China. It is a Buddhist temple in Chengde and is part of the national AAAAA-level tourist attractions. Putuo Zongcheng is the transliteration of the Tibetan word 'Potala', meaning 'Avalokitesvara's Holy Land'. It is the most splendid and largest temple among the Outer Eight Temples, serving as a venue for major religious ceremonies and political activities of the Qing government. The construction of Putuo Zongcheng Temple began in March of the 32nd year of Qianlong's reign (1767) and was completed in August of the 36th year of Qianlong's reign (1771), taking four and a half years. The temple was built by Emperor Qianlong to celebrate his 60th birthday in the 35th year of his reign (1770), the 80th birthday of Empress Dowager Niohuru in the 36th year (1771), and to win over the upper echelons of the ethnic minorities. The temple's architecture is grand and majestic, with its main structure, the Dahongtai, situated on the mountain peak, and more than 60 (currently over 40) flat-topped Tibetan-style white terraces and stupa terraces freely arranged in a deep layout along the mountain. As an important part of the Chengde Mountain Resort and its surrounding temples, the Putuo Zongcheng Temple was announced by the State Council as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units in 1961, listed as one of the forty-four famous scenic spots in China in 1982, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994, and became one of the first national AAAAA-level tourist attractions in 2007.

⬇️ 'Putuo Zongcheng' is the Chinese translation of the Tibetan 'Potala', which is the place where Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva preaches, just like the Potala Palace, they are built according to the mountain, with an asymmetrical structure. The upper part is a large red platform structure, and the lower part is supported by a white platform, which is a characteristic of Tibetan Buddhist temples. ⭐️ The overall color of the temple is generally white, red, and black. White is pure, red is solemn, and black wards off evil, with different meanings. 🌟 The walls of the temple have many windows, some of which are decorative fake windows. The Buddha Hall of the temple usually adopts the 'Du Gang style' plan ('Du Gang' is the Tibetan sutra hall), based on the 'Hui' shaped plan, the main hall in the center, surrounded by the second floor or single floor corridor. 🔥 Scenic features: It is usually a closed space with a mysterious sense of darkness. The dazzling golden dome at the highest point was made with more than 10,000 taels of gold. Scenic address: West of Shizi Gou Bridge, Shuangqiao District, Chengde City 🚃 Scenic traffic: Beijing-Chengde high-speed rail 1h, take the 69 bus from Chengde South High-speed Railway Station to Huoshen Temple and then transfer to the 12, 118, etc. to Putuo Zongcheng Temple Station. It takes about 3 hours to drive from Beijing. 🎫 Scenic ticket: Adult 80/person; Student 40/person; The ticket includes another scenic spot ticket , there is a free shuttle bus between the two scenic spots, walk 600 meters, you can visit by the way. ⏱️ Scenic opening hours: 8:00 am-17:30 pm (stop admission at 16:40) ➡️ About Tibetan costume photo: The main building of the scenic spot, the big red platform has Tibetan costumes for rent Single costume rental 98/person/set Costume + makeup 198/person Costume + makeup + photographer 298/person ➕ Scenic surroundings: The Little Potala Palace is 3km away from Chengde Summer Resort, 1.5km away from Chengde Museum, and 19km away from Shuangta Mountain 📷 Best panoramic photo location: If you want to take a majestic panoramic photo of the temple, you need to go to the mountain inside the Summer Resort (take a photo from the opposite Great Wall)

Standing on the city wall on the small hill of Chengde Summer Resort, you can overlook a group of buildings similar to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet - this is the Putuo Zongcheng Temple ("Putuo Zongcheng" is the Chinese translation of "Potala" in Tibetan), which is one of the famous "Eight Outer Temples" in Chengde, and also an important part of the World Cultural Heritage "Chengde Summer Resort and its surrounding temples". The Putuo Zongcheng Temple was built during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty to celebrate the 60th birthday of Emperor Qianlong and the 80th birthday of Empress Dowager Chongqing. The blueprint for the construction was the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, so it is aptly called the "Little Potala Palace". The temple is built on the mountain, facing south, and covers a large area. The front part includes the mountain gate, the stele pavilion, and the Five Pagoda Gate; the middle part includes the glazed archway, the white platform, the monks' rooms, etc.; the rear part includes the main building, the Big Red Platform, and other buildings around it, totaling more than 60 places. The Tibetan-style red and white buildings are scattered among them, with the highest being the 43-meter-high main building, the Big Red Platform. When you come to the Putuo Zongcheng Temple in late autumn, the sun is shining and the autumn wind is refreshing. You can see a series of flat-roofed white buildings with a strong Tibetan style, hidden among the colorful red leaves, and you really feel like you are in Tibet. As you climb up the steps, you can see the majestic Big Red Platform standing tall. Around the Red Platform are three layers of group buildings, and in the center of the skirt building is the "All Laws Return to One" hall with a double-eave spire and gilded copper tile items, and the big golden top is very dazzling. As you continue to climb, you reach the top platform of the Big Red Platform, and the view suddenly opens up - to the south is the winding city wall on the mountains of the Summer Resort, to the east you can see another temple of the "Eight Outer Temples" - the Xumi Fushou Temple, and further away is the big "Mallet Stone" on the Qingshui Mountain. In late autumn in Chengde, the green, yellow and red colors in the mountains complement each other, and the Red Platform and White Platform are scattered and orderly, which is very majestic and spectacular. In history, Emperor Qianlong visited the Putuo Zongcheng Temple many times. When the Tuerhute tribe returned to the east, Emperor Qianlong received the leader of the Tuerhute tribe, Wobaxi, and his entourage in the "All Laws Return to One" hall of the Putuo Zongcheng Temple. The two stone tablets in the temple, "Record of the Tuerhute Tribe's Return" and "Record of the Favorable Treatment of the Tuerhute Tribe", were erected to record this event. Tips: The joint ticket price for the Putuo Zongcheng Temple and the Xumi Fushou Temple is 80 yuan per person, and there is a free battery car shuttle between the two places, and it only takes a few minutes to walk.

The Putuo Zongcheng Temple was started in March of the 32nd year of Qianlong (1767) and completed in August of the 36th year of Qianlong (1771). It is a Buddhist temple built by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty in imitation of the Potala Palace in Tibet to celebrate his own 60th birthday and the 80th birthday of the Empress Dowager Chongqing. 'Putuo Zongcheng' (translated) and 'Potala' (transliterated) come from the same source, meaning 'the holy land of Guanyin', and it is the largest architectural complex among the Eight Outer Temples in Chengde. Tickets: 80 yuan for adults, 40 yuan for half-price tickets, including the Sumi Fushou Temple, also known as the 'Panchen Lama's Palace', with free shuttle buses back and forth. The Sumi Fushou Temple, also known as the 'Panchen Lama's Palace', was built in the 45th year of Qianlong (1780 AD), a few years later than the Little Potala Palace. It was built by Emperor Qianlong in imitation of the Tashilhunpo Monastery, the residence of the Panchen Lama in Shigatse, Tibet, to welcome the Sixth Panchen Lama to congratulate him on his seventieth birthday, located to the east of the Putuo Zongcheng Temple.

The temple of Sumifushou covers an area of 36,700 square meters. From the south to the north, there are major buildings such as Shanmen, Beiting, Liulizhen, Dahongtai, Jinhetang, Wandezongyuan, and Liuli Wanshou Tower. The axis adopts a substantially symmetrical arrangement of left and right. Generally speaking, it is a typical Tibetan temple, but from some architectural individual and detailed decoration, it is also a Han style, with a unique form. [Putuo Zongcheng Temple] covers an area of 220,000 square meters. It is the largest of the eight temples in Chengde. It was built in the thirty-sixth year of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1771) and is the Emperor Qianlong. In order to celebrate his 60th birthday and his mother's 80th birthday, he was dedicated to imitation of the Potala Palace in Tibet. The main building of the Putuo Zongcheng Temple is located in the foothills. There are more than 60 (existing more than 40 existing ones). The flat-top mortuary-style Baitai and the Vatican Baitai are laid out in a deep and free layout with no obvious axis. Putuo Zongcheng is the Chinese translation of the Tibetan Budala. The layout of the whole temple and the imposing manner resemble the Potala Palace in Lhasa, commonly known as the Little Potala Palace. The Emperor Qianlong met here with the leader of the Toul, the leader of the Terri, who returned to the country, and held a grand lecture, statement, birthday and other activities.

Looking from afar, this golden roof is the temple of Putuo Zongcheng. Putuo Zongcheng Temple belongs to one of Chengdewai Eight Temples. It is located in the hinterland of Yanshan Mountain, the transition zone between Inner Mongolia Plateau and North China Plain. It belongs to the transition zone from sub-temperate zone to sub-cold zone, semi-humid semi-arid and continental monsoon mountain climate. The four seasons are distinct, the light is sufficient, and the temperature difference between day and night is large. The annual average temperature is about 8.8 °C, and the average annual frost-free period is 160 days. Although the winter is cold, it is surrounded by mountains and blocks the cold current from the Mongolian plateau. Therefore, the temperature is higher than other areas in the same latitude. The summer is cool, the rainfall is concentrated, and there is basically no hot period. It is a tourist resort.