Dazhong Temple

Dazhong Temple

Dazhong temple was formerly known as juesheng temple. Located in the north of Lenovo bridge on the Third Ring Road in Haidian District, it was built in 1733.

Originally a royal Buddhist temple, Dazhong temple was set up as an Ancient Bell Museum in 1985, displaying more than 400 ancient bells both at home and abroad.

Dazhong temple was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council of the people's Republic of China in 1996, and officially became a national protected historic site.

Historical evolution

Juesheng temple was built in the 11th year of Yongzheng reign (1733) of the Qing Dynasty. It was built by Emperor Yongzheng and officially named juesheng temple in the winter of the 12th year of Yongzheng reign (1734). At present, the plaque of "Chijian juesheng Temple" on the Mountain Gate of juesheng temple is written by Emperor Yongzheng. According to the inscription on Chijian juesheng Temple written by Emperor Yongzheng in the 12th year of Yongzheng (1734), Emperor Yongzheng chose zengjiazhuang (now in Haidian District) outside Xizhimenwai to build the temple, because it is tall, dry, woody, and "separated from the hustle and bustle of the city on the right, surrounded by mountains and rivers on the left", which is suitable for "quiet and pure cultivation". It is also recorded in the inscription that Emperor Yongzheng said that "the so-called juesheng temple is based on unconsciousness and unconsciousness", which is why Emperor Yongzheng named the temple juesheng temple, hoping to use the Buddhist temple as a reference to "invigorate his great juesheng and achieve the purpose of Zhengjue".

Juesheng temple was originally a royal Buddhist temple. In 1743, Emperor Qianlong moved the Yongle bell in Wanshou temple to juesheng temple. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, he went to juesheng Temple many times to pray for rain. In 1787, Emperor Qianlong ordered that juesheng temple should be set up as one of the places to pray for rain. Since then, the activities of praying for rain continued to the end of the Qing Dynasty.

On October 28, 1957, Dazhong temple was announced by Beijing as the first batch of municipal cultural relics protection units. Later, after the end of the cultural revolution, the buildings in Dazhong temple were desolate and in great need of maintenance. Therefore, the Beijing Municipal Government approved the establishment of Dazhong temple cultural relics depository in February 1980, and then approved the establishment of Dazhong Temple Ancient Bell Museum in November 1984. The renovation project of the whole Temple began, and finally officially opened in October 1985, and the museum building ceremony was held.

In 1996, juesheng temple was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council of the people's Republic of China.

Although the temple has been transformed into a museum, the temple fair of the past will be held every year in the first month of the lunar calendar.

Temple layout

The temple faces south, covering an area of 3.8 hectares. From south to north, there are Zhaobi (destroyed), Shanmen, bell and Drum Tower, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, houdian, sutra library, bell tower and east-west wing tower. There are six verandas on both sides. The most distinctive core building in the temple is the big bell tower, which stands on the huge bluestone platform. It has two floors. The top of the upper layer is round, and the bottom is square, which symbolizes "round heaven and place". There are stairs on both sides of the building, and windows on each side of the upper layer, which can make the top of the bell button and the bell body very clear. The frame of the hanging bell is made of thick wooden beams, and the top of eight main columns inclines inward, The three crossbeams on the main column skillfully transfer the force to the main column and distribute it to more sections. On the base of the bluestone platform under the bell, there is an octagonal sound pool, which is 70cm deep, 4m in diameter and 1m away from the bell mouth. It can not only reduce the height of the bell stand, but also have a good resonance effect.

Landscape introduction

Yongle Bell

Yongle great bell is known as the "king of bells". It has a history of more than 500 years. The bell has a height of 6.94 meters, a bell mouth diameter of 3.3 meters, a bell lip thickness of 220 mm, and weighs about 42 tons. The inside and outside of the bell are full of Buddhist scriptures. It has a total of more than 227000 characters. The calligraphy style is regular script. It is said that it was written by Shen Du, a famous calligrapher at that time. Encyclopedia Britannica ranks Yongle bell in the forefront of world famous clocks. The big bell is mainly made of copper, which is cast in one time by dieless casting method, and there is no trace of grinding.

Zhong Lin

There are more than 40 ancient clocks on display in the courtyard to the east of the bell tower. The earliest one was cast in the Xining year of the Song Dynasty, more than 900 years ago. There are ancient clocks in song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties respectively. On the first floor of the Sutra library is the exhibition hall of ancient clocks. The smallest pottery clock in the exhibit, the size of a cigarette case, is the oldest five or six thousand years ago. Among the exhibits are Shang Dynasty bronze bells, three piece Bianzhong, Western Zhou Bianzhong, spring and autumn Bianzhong, early Shang bronze bells, Western Zhou Hewa Bianzhong and Zeng Hougong Bianzhong.

Tourism information

Opening Hours

From 9:00 a.m. to 16:30 a.m. from Tuesdays to Sundays (ticket sales stop at 16:00 a.m.). It's closed every Monday.

transport line

Special 8 outer ring, special 8 inner ring, Yuntong 101, Yuntong 201, 300 express, 388 outer ring, 87 361 422 425 604 614 88 658 695 718 617, Metro Line 13, get off at Dazhongsi station

Address: No.31, North Third Ring Road West, Haidian District, Beijing

Longitude: 116.337887

Latitude: 39.969125

Tel: 010-82132630; 010-625

Ticket information: market price: 10.0 yuan

Chinese PinYin : Da Zhong Si