Yonghe Gong, Temple of Confucius, Relaxing

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Today was our first group field trip. We went to Yonghe Gong (雍和宮) which was a palace that the Qianlong emperor then had converted into a monastery. A lot of Buddhists from Mongolia and Tibet met here. Qianlong had statues and stuff of his ancestors in the palace and then entrusted them to the monks which was a symbolic gesture that did a lot to incorporate people from Mongolia and Tibet into mainland China. So lots of religious and cultural exchange occurred in this place! Then we went to the Temple of Confucius which had many interesting trees and also some museum places with information about Confucianism. Then we went out for dinner and drinks.

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Photos

Lots of buildings that looked like this
With statues of various Buddhist gods inside that people were praying to.

Courtyard
People were burning incense and praying.

No stalls
Many of the awesome things like gigantic golden statues and a several story tall Buddha carved from a single piece of sandalwood.... you could not take pictures. So here, enjoy this awkward public restroom.

Temple of Confucius
A statue of Confucius greets you.

Trees! （树）
I loved the trees here, they had so many twists and turns. A girl was using this one as a swing.

A traditional musical instrument
A drum?

Food and drinks in Sanlitun
Melissa, Kay, Alex and my gigantic long island iced tea. After two weeks of Chinese food we had pizza. It was soooo good.

Comments

[Heather]

I really enjoyed your post about Yonghe Gong. I haven't been there yet but I hope to go soon. I was surprised to see a Long Island Iced Tea in China! That's so funny! My blog is looking for travel photos, reviews (like maybe where to get good pizza!?), etc, to share. If you have the time, check it out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com, or email me at [e-mail]. Continued fun on your travels! Heather