Chengde Mountain Resort and Outlaying Temples

---

Chengde is an historical city built around the mountain resort and temples used by the Qing emperors. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mountain resort was built over 100 years from 1704. It is cooling in summer and used as the summer palace for the Qing Dynasty Emperor to escape the heat. It was also the shelter for the Chinese Emperor in 1860 when Beijing was invaded by the western powers.

The temples around the mountain resort were ordered built by the Qing dynasty emperor and their first stop to Chengde was to offer prayers in the temples. The resort itself has section where the emperor work and live. The rest of the area is beautiful garden landscape. It was also here that the Qing dynasty emperor Xianfang had sign the treaties that give land away to other countries. There is now a plaque at the building where the treaties were signed as a national education.


We visited Puning temple which is the most popular among the outlaying temples. The temple houses the largest wooden Buddha sculpture in the world. The front section of the temple has traditional Chinese temple architectural designs while the back section has Tibetan temple designs.

Along the way to the mountain resort, we stop by the Putuozongcheng temple which was modeled after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.

We took a 4 hours train ride from Beijing to Chengde and booked a car to bring us to Beijing in 2 hours by the new expressway. The last train fast leaves for Beijing at noon. So, travelling by car back to Beijing saves us the extra night in Chengde.

Note: The contents (text and photos) of this article remain the copyright of the Author. Under no circumstances should the photos or text be used without the express written permission of the Author. Please contact the Author by leaving a message if you wish to use or publish photos or text from this article.

---

Photos

Mountain Resort
Entrance to mountain resort

Puning Temple
Temple hall with chinese architectural design in the front section.

Puning Temple
The Tibetan temple designs are at the rear of the temple.

Mountain Resort
Lakes around the resort. Very bare like this during the winter months.

Puning Temple
Temple hall with chinese architectural design in the front section.

Puning Temple
Roofs of temple buildings.

Putuozongcheng Temple
This temple was built in 1767 modeled after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.

Mountain Resort Buildings
The room on the left was where the Qing dynasty emporer signed the treaties in 1860.

Mountain Resort
Plaque on the wall next to the room where the treaties were signed.

Mountain Resort
Lakes around the resort. Very bare like this during the winter months.

Beijing - Chengde Train service
These are the fast cars and runs between this 2 cities. They are the fastest trains on this line.