Beijing (2) - The Historic Royal Mansions

Our aims for 15/05 were on two historic royal mansions in Beijing - (1) Prince Gong's Mansion - Gong Wang Fu (恭王府) and (2) YongHe Lama Temple - Yonghe Gong (雍和宮)

On our way to the Prince Gong’s Mansion which is not too far way from the hotel, we came across Beijing Bell Tower - Zhonglou (钟楼) and the adjacent Beijing Drum Tower - Gulou (鼓楼), which were just 5 minutes walk from the hotel.

Beijing Bell Tower - Zhonglou

Beijing Drum Tower - Gulou

These buildings were once played significant roles for time announcements in the old Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty. Previously the daily activities for the people were very much dependent on the time announcement from the buildings (well, there were no watches or clocks like now). However with the demise on the Qing dynasty, their original functions were no longer exists and there are now meant for tourist visit.

Prince Gong's Mansion - Gong Wang Fu (恭王府)

This is the China’s largest and best-preserved princely residence with the total size for the compound area of more than 57,000 sq. It is an extravagant mansion built in siheyuan (四合院) layout and the Jiangnan (江南) garden style. It was constructed more than 200 years ago by was initially constructed for the corrupted minister He Shen (和珅), who was then the favorite minister for the Emperor QianLong. It was then given by Emperor XianFeng to his brother Prince Gong.

The ticket is priced at RMB40.00, slightly on the high side.

The front view of the main gate

The walkway for the building surrounding the courtyard

The interior view of one of the main hall – This is not opened to public

One of the courtyard

The pond surrounding

Photo taken with the pond in the background

Beijing YongHe Lama Temple - Yonghe Gong (雍和宮)

YongHe Gong is the popular lama temple in Beijing. Its predecessor was a princely mansion, built in 1694 by Emperor Kangxi for his 4th son Prince Yongzheng. After Yongzheng's ascension to the throne in 1722, half of the building was converted into a lamasery, a monastery for monks of Tibetan Buddhism. The other half remained an imperial palace. It was then converted to Lama Temple on 1744 by Emperor Qianlong.

We captured a lot of photos especially on the building and the artworks of the temple which are in the combination of Han Chinese and Tibetan styles.

The main entrance

The Yonghe Gate