Temple Yonghegong(Lamasery of Harmony and Peace) is Beijing's largest and best-preserved temple for the Gelug Sect(Yellow Sect)of Tibetan Buddhism. It used to be eunuch's office in the Ming Dynasty.In year 1744,the 9-year-old Qianlong followed his mother's instruction and took into consideration his father's belief in Buddhism,the Emperor rebuilt the major halls into Buddhist ones,transforming it into a Tibetan Buddhist temple.Since then,Yonghegong had acted as the administrative center of Tibetan Buddhist affairs during the Qing Dynasty,startig its glorious history of being the link between the central government and such regions as Mongolia and Tibet.It is not only a Buddhist temple now,but also an important site for China's cultural and religious exchanges with the outside world.
With illustrations,this album introduces Yonghegong's Major Architecture,its valuable cultural relics and Buddist rituals in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Russian, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
