Passages to old Beijing
Narrow hutongs transport to tucked-away places where the locals live and work
STUFFING that last piece of toast into my mouth, I walk downstairs to the lobby of Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel in Dongcheng district at downtown Beijing, eager to start my day of exploring. It is still dark outside as I push through the doors at the lobby and into the cold wintry Beijing air. The sun is not out yet but I already have a long list of places to visit in the Chinese capital, one of the most populous in the world.
I stand beside two lion stone guardians placed strategically outside the hotel. In Chinese culture, the lions are believed to bring good fortune.
I stamp my feet on the ground to get the blood circulating in the cold weather, as I open Google Maps. the grounds of the former residence of a once-powerful palace eunuch of the Ming dynasty. When the Qing came into power, Prince Yong, who later became Yongzheng emperor, converted part of the residence into a monastery that devotes itself to Tibetan Buddhism.
It wasn’t until Qianlong emperor, who succeeded Yongzheng years later, that the former bestowed the temple its imperial status. In subsequent years, many monks from Tibet and Mongolia settled in the temple.
Fast forward to 1929, seven years after the collapse of the Qing empire, the site became the site for the Beijing Revolt against the Chinese Nationalist government. When the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Nationalist government retreating to the tiny island of Formosa and later Taiwan, the temple was declared a “guo bao” or national treasure and remained sealed for 32 years until it was reopened to the public in 1981.
Since then, the temple, which bears a resemblance to the Forbidden City to its south, is both a place of worship and a popular tourist destination.
Huge censers are placed in front of each hall named in three languages — Manchu, Tibetan and Chinese. Devotees place burning incenses into the censers.
While exploring the temple grounds, I read the names of each hall: Yonghemendian (Hall of Harmony and Peace), Yongyoudian (Hall of Everlasting Protection) and Wanfuge (Pavilion of 10,000 Happiness) to name a few.
In the centre of the temple, the largest and perhaps the most beautiful hall — Hall of Harmony and Peace — is devoted to Maitreya Buddha. On its four corners of the walls are the Four Heavenly Kings, who watch the four corners of the world Snacks sold from these tiny windows of people’s home.