Outer Eight Temples

On the east and north of Imperial Summer Resort there are twelve colorful, attractive, magnificent and glorious grand Lamaism temples that are encircled by waving mountains just as the moon was surrounded by plenty of stars. These temples are models of the Hans, Mongols, Tibetan temples. From them we can see and feel the grandness of Potala Palace in Tibet, the magnificence of Tashilhunbu Monastery, the elegance of Shuxiang Temple on Wutai Mountain, the beauty of Guerzha Temple of Yili in Xinjiang and the world wonder-the largest Bodhisattva made of wood in the world which has thousands of hands and thousands of eyes. At that time eight temples of them were managed by the government of the Qing Dynasty and registered in Beijing Lama Publishing and Registration Council.

There is also "Lama Office" in Beijing situated out of old north gate, therefore generally called "Outer Eight Temples" (means eight temples out of the gate entrance). Afterwards the name "Outer Eight Temples" refers to these twelve temples. In December 1994, Outer Eight Temples together with the Imperial Summer Resort were listed as the World Cultural Heritage.
Among the Outer Eight Temples, Temple of Universal Love (Puren Temple) and Temple of Universal Kindness (Pushan Temple) were built during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the other ten temples were built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, Emperors built so many temples in order to follow the customs of Mongolia and Tibet minorities believing Lamaism.

"Don't change its customs, just because of its religion", they controlled people by building deep feeling in the mass so as to reach the political goal of joining up all forces inside and outside the country and then achieve the consolidation of nations. It reflected the history of the Qing Dynasty that defeated the splitting forces inside the country, improved the nation unity and resisted the foreign invasion.

The Imperial Summer Resort is quite different from the Outer Eight Temples in the outside design. Either grand imperial palace or entertainment house, building, pavilion and tower are built with gray bricks and plain tiles which strikes you with a feeling of nature and simplicity, However Outer Eight Temples were built with attractive, fresh and beautiful color such as colored glaze tiles and gold-plating scale roof, they look really spectacular and marvelous.

The construction styles of twelve temples are Han style, Tibet style and the combination of Han and Tibet. The building, the garden, the inscription, the sculpture, the mural, the sacrifice and other cultural relics are ancient treasure to study the history of the Qing Dynasty, culture, religion, art and to understand the wisdom of working people. Twelve temples have experienced hardships for more than two hundred years, seven of them are in good condition and open to public.