Tag: chengde

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Chengde (Rehe)

Rehe (熱河, Jehol), Chengde (承德)

Rehe Province is located in today’s Hebei (河北)Province. The name Jehol has been used since the 1930s, for the Chinese province north of the Great Wall, west of Manchuria, and east of Mongolia. The capital of Rehe Province is Chengde. Rehe (Jehol) is a formal name for Chengde.

Chengde was the summer capital of Qing dynasty. It was selected as a summer capital both for practical and symbolic reasons. It is located north of the Great Wall, between Northern China and Mongolian steppe. Phillipe Forêt argues that “Khans of the Manchu-Mongolian populations and bodhisattva for Lamaist believers led to the elaboration of a system of three capitals, one in Manchuria (Mukden), one in China proper (Beijing), and one in Inner Mongolia (Chengde),” with Chengde also serving as “religious capital of Tibet.”

Even though Chengde did not get an official designation, as such it functioned as a third capital of the Qing empire. According to Evelyn Rawski’s The Last Emperors, “the region surrounding the imperial villa was administratively designated as a subprefecture (Rehe ting) during the 1720s, then in 1733 made into a department, Chengde zhou,” and “symbolically it was the outer capital, where Mongols, Uighurs, and Tibetan performed court rituals under the jurisdiction of the Lifanyuan.”

In Chengde, there were a lot of lavish spectacles during the Qianlong reign, such as more than forty celebrations of the emperor’s birthday. According to Rawski, it was at “Bishu shanzang” that the emperor celebrated the submission of the Dorbot Mongols (1754) and received the Sixth Panchen Lama (1780) and Lord Macartney’s embassy(1793).

Sources:

Evelyn Rawski, “The Last Emperor.” (California, 1998)
Philippe Forêt, “Making an Imperial Landscape in Chengde, Jehol: The Manchu Landscape Enterprise.” (Ph. D. diss., University of Chicago, 1992)
See also: Lipton & Ragnubs 1996. “Appendix A: The Chinese Lama Temple: The Golden Pavilon of Jehol.” Treasures of Tibetan Art. 261-267.

Entry by Seul kyi Park

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Chengde Pule Si

Pule Si

Pule si, built by the Qianlong emperor between 1766–67, was the 6th of 12 outer temples built at Chengde. Although called the Eight Outer Temples in Chinese (Wai ba miao) the twelve were built in the following order (the first two by Kangxi, and the rest by Qianlong): Puren si, Pushan si, Puning si, Puyou si, Anyuan miao, Pule si, Putuozongcheng miao, Guang’an si, Shuxiang si, Luohan tang, Xumifushou miao, and Anguo si. These outer temples flanked the eastern and northern edges of the imperial summer resort, the Bishu shanzhuang. The innovative and deliberate reinterpretations of architectural styles and landscapes from Chinese and Inner Asian sources at Chengde have been likened to a rational political tool used to further modern conceptions of state formation. Pule Si was part of a larger scenic landscape, with 36 landscape vistas, that illustrated a series of perspectives that the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors deliberately displayed to their Chinese bureaucrats and Inner Asian nobles. Each layer of the landscape was created to resonate with only select audiences of the emperor’s empire, with the emperor as the unifying center able to mediate all the landscape layers. These scenes were displayed to show the dynamism of landscape as an aesthetic medium that was then circulated through the empire via multilingual publications such as the imperially-sponsored Album of Imperial Poems.

Pule si, resembling Beijing’s Temple of Heaven (and possibly suggesting a link to the altar of Heaven in the old Manchu capital, Mukden) and described as a stupa and mandala, was built for the western Mongols coming for the yearly tribute. Its name links it to two other outer temples. Together, Pule si, Anyuan miao, and Puning si contain the three characters, le, an, ning, that signify the three ways to nirvana. Unlike other outer temples that face south according to Qing imperial tradition, Pule si (and like Anyuan miao) is oriented toward the west, recalling the orientation of older Tibetan temples such as the Jokhang in Lhasa and Samye.

Pule si is situated south of Anyuan miao and aligned with the Bangchui rock formation to the east, which connects it in a straight line, through the center of the temple, to the imperial residence. The main temple of Pule si is a triple terrace. The lowest level, no longer extant, was a surrounding gallery. The upper terrace is a wooden, Indian-style mandala containing a statue of Samvara and covered by a circular golden ceiling decorated with an imperial dragon. The link between Pule si and the Qianlong emperor is further clarified by the imperial inscription that mentions the role of Lcang skya Rol pa’i rdo rje in constructing the temple. Lcang skya had given the Qianlong emperor the Samvara initiation. Thus the construction of Pule si with its Samvara mandala has been said to symbolize the lama-patron relationship between Lcang skya and the Qianlong emperor, while its construction on the eve of the western Mongols’ tributary visit can possibly be interpreted as a symbol of their new link with the empire.

Readings of Pule si must take into account its context within the larger imperial landscape production at Chengde. As such, it was part of an aesthetic, consumerist, and thus modern, instrument of unification for the producer, the emperor, as well as an instrument of alienation for the consumer, the imperial subjects.

Sources:
Philippe Forêt. 2000. Mapping Chengde: The Qing landscape enterprise. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i. pp. 49-53, 116-138.
Anne Chayet. 2004. Architectural Wonderland: An Empire of Fictions. In James Millward, et al. eds. New Qing Imperial History: The Making of Inner Asian Empire at Qing Chengde. pp. 33-52.

Entry by Eveline S. Yang 4/17/07

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Puning Si

Puning Si

One of the Eight Outer Temples at Qianlong’s Jehol complex, was built in 1755, in conjunction with the anticipated defeat of the Dzunghar Mongols. It was modeled on Samye (or on painted representations of Samye) the 8th Century Central Tibetan monastic site famed as the first Buddhist monastery built in Tibet. Puning si is one of three Jehol temples modeled on pre-existing Tibetan structures – Putuozongcheng miao is modeled on the Potala and Xumifushou is modeled on Tashilhunpo. The degree to which the temples in Jehol actually resembled the originals is subject to debate. It seems that the effort was not to exactly duplicate the Tibetan buildings, but rather to evoke an impression of these important and distinctive Tibetan Buddhist sites. Samye’s architecture incorporates Tibetan, Chinese, and Indian influences; each floor of the main temple is based on one of these distinct styles. The overall complex is said to be modeled after an eariler Indian Buddhist temple. The complex is made up of three concentric structures, housing various chapels with a statue of Shakyamuni occupying the central-most position. Samye is generally regarded as a mandala. Likewise, Puning si brings together various architectural and aesthetic styles, and its designers under Qianlong claimed that it too was a mandala-like structure based on the Indian original. Puning si’s main hall or Dasheng ge, houses a large statue of Avalokiteshvara in Shakyamuni’s stead and the overall structure of the buildings does not follow Samye’s model. The doors of Puning si display scroll motifs evocative of the Yuanming yuan style.

Link to 360 view of main image:
view from the first floor: link
view from the second floor: link

Sources:
Chayet, Anne. “Architectural Wonderland: An Empire of Fictions.” In James Millward, et al. eds. New Qing Imperial History: The Making of Inner Asian Empire at Qing Chengde. pp. 33-52. 20pp.

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Chengde Shuxiang Si

Chengde Shuxiang Si

Shuxiang si 殊像寺 built by Qianlong Emperor in the valley north of his Bishu shanzhuang 避暑山莊is one of the eight temples on the outskirts of Chengde of the Heibei province. According to the records, after Qianlong accompanied his mother to Wutai shan 五台山, he decided to build a temple dedicated to Manjusri. Its architecture is based on a temple with the same name on Wutai shan.

The Shuxiang si in Chengde, just like the model it is based on in Wutai shan, has a classical architectural appearance. Echoing Qianlong emperor’s proclamation that he was the reincarnation of Manjusri, the bodhisattva’s statue in the Shuxiang si seemed to be a portrait of the emperor himself.

Something that set Shuxiang si apart from other monasteries was the fact that it was renowned for the scholarly work that was done there. It was truly a working monastery under the imperial patronage.

Sources:
Anne Chayet. 2004. “Architectural Wonderland: An Empire of Fictions.” In James Millward, et al. eds. New Qing Imperial History: The Making of Inner Asian Empire at Qing Chengde. pp. 33-52.
Philippe Forêt. 2000. Mapping Chengde: The Qing landscape enterprise. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i. 49-53, 116-138.

Entry by Agnes Lin

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Xumifushou Temple

Xumifushou 须弥福寿庙 (Blessings and Longevity of Sumeru)

In 1780, the 6th Panchen Lama, Blo bzangs dpal ldan ye shes (1738–80) arrived at Chengde (承德), the summer retreat complex of the Manchus, to participate in the seventieth birthday celebrations of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736–95). As part of the celebrations, the emperor had ordered the construction of the Xumifushou Temple, which replicated Bkra shis lhun po (Tashi Lhunpo), the seat of the Panchen Lama in Central Tibet. The birthday celebrations, and the elaborate preparations and ritualized activities that accompanied it, were based on historical precedents (as well as creative innovations) and served as displays of the emperor’s righteous rule over his Inner Asian subjects.

The practice of constructing Buddhist sites honoring political victories harked back to the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662–1723) who built the Huizong Monastery in Dolonnor for the Khalka Mongols after their surrender to the Manchus in 1691. The Qianlong emperor adopted this practice and built two more temples commemorating the conclusion of political victories: the Puning Temple (普宁寺), which was modeled after Bsam yas Monastery, in 1755 at Chengde to honor the Manchu defeat of the Dzungar Mongols, and the Putuozongchengmiao (普陀宗乘庙), modeled after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, in 1771 at Chengde for the combined occasions of the Empress Dowager’s eightieth birthday, Qianlong’s sixtieth birthday, and the return of the Kalmuk (or Torghut) Mongols to the Qing empire. Thus the construction of replicated Buddhist sites was instilled as an appropriate commemoration of political expansion. The act of replication, which was utilized in many different ways during the Qianlong reign, has been discussed as ritual acts where semiotic reinterpretation and alterations produced effects in experienced reality as well as permanent alterations of the significance of the original form.

The Shunzhi emperor (1644–61) established the precedent of constructing elaborate residences for visiting Tibetan prelates. In 1652, he ordered the construction of Xihuang Monastery (西黄寺) in Beijing for the visit of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngag dbang blo bzangs rgya mtsho (1617–82).

Thus, since the Qianlong emperor viewed his seventieth birthday as an occasion to impress upon his Inner Asian subjects the legitimacy of his rule, he drew upon these precedents to create spectacular settings for such ritual enactments. In 1778, the Qianlong emperor was overjoyed at the news that the Sixth Panchen Lama wished to be present at his birthday celebrations (likely influenced by Rol pa’i rdo rje, the senior-most lama in the imperial court and guru to Qianlong), as he was then the highest ranking prelate in Tibet and his visit would mark the second most important state visit from Tibet since the visit of the Fifth Dalai Lama. The order to construct the Xumifushou was issued on 26 January 1779, just three days after the emperor issued the official invitation to the Panchen Lama. In another letter to the Panchen Lama, dated to 18 February 1779, the emperor mentions that the Xumifushou was being built following the precedent of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s visit to Beijing.
The emperor decreed that construction was to be completed before the fourth month in 1780 to allow time for accommodating the monks and massive amounts of luggage that would arrive ahead of the Panchen Lama’s entourage. Indeed, construction was finished in the spring of 1780. The Xumifushou was built, under the close supervision of Rol pa’i rdo rje, to the east of the Putuozongcheng (Potala replica) on a mountain slope. While the façade of the complex is in the Tibetan style, the actual layout was designed like a Chinese monastic complex, on a central north-south axis. The complex consists of a main hall, called the Miaogao zhuang yan (妙高庄严), Lofty and Solemn Hall, which was designed for the Panchen Lama to give teachings and use for meditation and devotions. The roof of the Panchen Lama’s residential building, the Jixiang Faxi (吉祥法喜), Auspicious Omen and Joy in the Law, as well as the roof of the main hall were gilded in copper twice by imperial command. Two smaller pavilions were located to the right and left of the main hall. The pavilion on the left was that of the Panchen Lama’s, while the pavilion on the right, the Yuzuo, or Royal Throne, was that of the Qianlong emperor, and where his throne was installed. To the rear of the complex is the Wanfa zongyuan (万法宗源), Source of Ten Thousand Dharmas, which was the dormitory of the Panchen Lama’s entourage.

Documents record that massive amounts of objects were tranferred to Xumifushou from the temples of the Forbidden City and imperial workshops of the Zaobanchu in Beijing. An inventory submitted in 1800 records that there were 21 thangkas of Buddhist images in the main hall, 84 thangkas in the Yuzuo (Qianlong’s pavilion), 5 thangkas of Amitayus and 5 thangkas of Shakyamuni on the north side of this same pavilion, 12 bronze images and two sets of glass wugong sets (an incense burner, two candlesticks, and two vases) on the alter of this pavilion, and embroidered thangkas of Lhamo and eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara that were hung in the Jixiang Faxi, where the Panchen Lama resided.

While the replica of Bkra shis lhun po at Chengde only superficially followed its original, the actual purpose of its construction was communicated by the emperor himself in the four-language stele located at the entrance to the complex. In Chinese, Manchu, Tibetan, and Mongolian, the emperor observed that the two greatest disciples of Tsong kha pa, the founder of the dGe lugs pa school, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama occupied separate monastic seats located at great distances from each other. Under the auspices of Qing imperial birthdays, these two seats of Tibetan Buddhism were brought together side by side, in replication, at Chengde. The construction of the Xumifushou folowed the precedent set by the building of Xihuang Monastery for the Fifth Dalai Lama’s visit. Qianlong goes on to declare that beyond following precedents, all the temples at Chengde served political functions by uniting China and its frontiers into “a single family.” By using visual similiarity, analogy, and proximity, Qianlong could extol his own “nonaction” as the key to his successful rule and to radiate his merit outward for the benefit of others. Thus the replication of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries at Chengde served as a means for the emperor to re-order his empire in panoptic form in a way that legitimized his rule as a benevolent and meritorious monarch and in the language of his Inner Asian subjects.

Sources:
Patricia Berger. 2003. Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China. U Hawaii Press
Terese Tse Bartholomew. 2001. Thangkas for the Qianlong Emperor’s seventieth birthday. In Cultural intersections in later Chinese Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i.

Entry by Eveline S. Yang 4/3/07