Pudu Temple, located on the east side of Nanchizi Avenue in Beijing, is said to be one of the eight temples outside the Forbidden City. It is not eye-catching in the contrast of the grandeur of the Forbidden City, but it is the place to witness the imperial city of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Pudu Temple Mountain Gate photographed in the 1900s
Pudu Temple was the regent's palace in the early Qing Dynasty, and the era when Dolgun power fell to the Qing court, and the place was full of cars and horses, and the crown was like a cloud. The predecessor of the royal palace was Xuan He, the imperial grandson palace of Ming Yongle. Now on the east and west sides of Nanchizi, Dong'anmen Avenue to the south until Changpuhe Park, including Pudu Temple, a huge area, was once the boundary of the Ming Dynasty's Nannei (Dongyuan, Nancheng). Emperor Mingying's Zhu Qizhen was captured by the Mongols during the Tumu Fort Rebellion, and was succeeded by his brother Zhu Qiyu. After Zhu Qizhen was released, he lived in seclusion here. Later, Zhu Qizhen launched a change to seize the door, and the re-ascension to the throne also began here.
Old photos of the main hall and the pole of Pudu Temple. Taken in the 1950s
According to the Ming Shilu, "In the ninth year of Yongle Ding, he ordered the eldest son of the crown prince to be the emperor's grandson and crowned in the Huagai Hall. During Zhu Di's reign, he not only made Zhu Gaozi crown prince, but also made his favorite grandson, Zhu Gaozi's eldest son Zhu Zhanji, the emperor's grandson. The Imperial Palace is the location of the current Pudu Temple, in the southeast of donghua gate, there is a Yan'an Palace in front of the ceremony, and then there is a Chonghua Palace Yan Bed, and there is a black tile Chongqing Palace as a hall.
Aerial photographs of the southeast of the Forbidden City can clearly see that the South Three Institutes and Pudu Temple are at a 45-degree angle. Photographed in 1924
It is no coincidence that a forty-five-degree diagonal line is drawn from the Qianqing Palace to the southeast, passing through the South Three Houses (where the Ming Prince Palace sleeps) and pudu Temple. The Ming Dynasty was divided into three major sections in the entire imperial city area, the central axis area of the Forbidden City, the area of the Prince's Eastern Palace in the southeast, and the area of the Emperor's Grandson Palace in the southeast of the Imperial City, which was arranged in an oblique direction, which was also in line with the arrangement of the traditional etiquette system, and was based on the consideration of cultivating the successors of the imperial dynasty, practicing the ability to see things in the dynasty and learning various etiquette.
The predecessors of Pudu Temple, Chonghua Palace and Yan'an Palace, one north and one south, form the core area of the Emperor Taisun Palace, and together with the Longde Hall Youxing area in the west of the South Pond, the three-legged standing, constitutes the core of the South Inner. Emperor Mingyingzong did not forget this temple, which had lived in seclusion for seven or eight years, and after the restoration of Tianshun, it was expanded in the third year. In the middle of the road, there are Chonghua Hall, Round Hall, Apse Hall and Qinghe Pavilion, the front is Chonghua Gate, the back is Lichun Gate, and behind the door is the Royal Garden. The main hall of Pudu Temple, which is located on the high platform (the foundation of the three main halls of Chonghua Palace), is basically in the position of the apse of Chonghua Palace.
Statue of Vajrayogini in the west of the main hall of Pudu Temple. Photographed from 1918 to 1919
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Dorgon, as the regent of the Emperor's father, was convenient for the dynasty, and this was the most suitable choice. The regent of unparalleled status, whose mansion was "no different from that of the palace" (Qing Shilu), the Shunzhi Emperor once approved the regulation of the Dorgon mansion: "The foundation of the house is eighteen feet high, the building is three stories, covered with green tile ridges and golden tiles on all four sides." "Today's Pudu Temple Hall green tile ridge, the top of the roof cut tile green trim, compared with the regent hall of the year or lower specifications, even lower than the general royal palace." The green glazed tile yellow trimming of the former Xieshan Baoxia, the grade of the tile is higher than that of the royal palace, which should be built for the Pudu Temple during the Qianlong period, including the wood carved dragon head on the beam on the cornice, which is similar to the West Huang Temple's Dugang Hall, and should also be a Lamaist addition in the Pudu Temple period.
The wheel in Pudu Temple is an octagonal woodcut painting, shaped like a pavilion, with a mechanism that can be rotated, and each side is equipped with a door, and each door is dedicated to a small longevity Buddha.
The wheel hides woodcut details
Today, in the southeast corner of Baoxia, there is a revolver pit with a diameter of 4.8 meters and a depth of about 1.5 meters, and the rotor is no longer hidden, and there are still twelve pieces of Ming Han white jade stone carvings, which should be the old existence of Hongqing Palace.
After Dorgon seized the throne, the palace was abandoned, and in the thirty-third year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the former dynasty part of the palace was changed to satin piku, and the back bed was changed to the Mahakala Temple dedicated to the protector god Ofehe, in order to follow the unity of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Huairou Mongzang. Qianlong forty-three years, for Dorgon restored his reputation, and forty-one years has been given the name of Pudu, the temple is called "Juehai Cihang", for Qianlong imperial pen. Later, only the mountain gate, the main hall and the abbot's courtyard were left, and it was used as a primary school, and the mountain gate was used as a grain store, and a large number of houses were mixed. In 2007, it was opened as the Municipal Tax Museum, and in 2011, the Sanpin Art Museum was settled, and now the courtyard is open and the main hall is sealed.
Pudu Temple was once rich in cultural relics, occupied by the army and institutions during the Republic of China, and most of them were stolen and scattered, and in the 1960s and 1970s, the Cultural Relics Bureau hid the remaining statue offerings in the Lama Temple and the South Three Houses of the Forbidden City. In the main hall of the Tzu Chi Hall, the front row was once dedicated to Shakyamuni Buddha, the two sides of the Gaya Ananda, there is no more, and the gold Shrine on both sides is now hidden in the Wanfu Pavilion of the Lama Temple. There is also a pair of phoenix-eyed incense, Gao Zhangyu, which is actually a fossil of seaweed in the Tengger Desert, now behind the side of the Maitreya Buddha in the Lama Temple. In the back row of the main hall is the Third Buddha, which was transferred from the Forbidden City to the White Horse Temple together with the Maitreya Buddha of the Heavenly King Hall, and is now stored in the Luoyang Museum. In the southeast corner of Baoxia, there is a revolver pit with a diameter of 4.8 meters and a depth of about 1.5 meters, and there are no wheels hidden, and there are still twelve pieces of Ming han white jade stone carvings, which should be the old existence of Hongqing Palace.
This is the past and present life of Pudu Temple, starting from the Emperor's Grandson Palace, experiencing the story of Ming Yingzong and Dolgun, shaping the Lama Temple of Kangqian's prosperity, and finally coming to this day, becoming a famous place towering in the streets and alleys of the Imperial City.
(Source: Beijing Daily)
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