Brief / profile
Also called Big Buddha Temple, the Puning Temple is one of the best-preserved temples among the Eight Outer Temples. It imitated the model of Samye Monastery-a sacred Lama site in Tibet and covers an area of 23,000 square kilometers.

Location
This temple stands among mountains to the north of Chengde Mountain Resort in Chengde City.

Function or value in the past
It was built to show the Qing’s respect to the minority groups during the Qing Dynasty. In addition, temple affairs were also held at regular time from lunar December 25 to December 27th and from lunar January 8th to January 15th in the Qing Dynasty.

Construction
With an area of 23,000 square kilometers, Puning Temple is designed in Han and Tibetan styles with temple halls, drum towers, bell towers and pavilions inside. The main hall stands the huge Buddhist statue of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara with the height of 22.28 meters and weight of 110 tons. Besides, the monuments of A Record of Puning Temple, A Record of Pacifying Other Tribes and A Record of Pacifying Their Descendents are located in the Inscription Pavilion. Just behind this pavilion are Daxingbao Palace and the Heaven King Palace. You will find the 36.75-meter-tall Dacheng Pavilion of the Tibetan style when walking further inside. Moreover, 3 stone tablets also stand in the temple.

History
It was constructed in 1755 during the reign of the Emperor Qianlong.

Admission fee.
The admission fee for this temple is RMB 50.

Note
It’s open to the public from 8:40 to 18:30 in winter and 8:00 to 20:00 in summer.