The Past and Present of Huang Temple

Xihuang Temple The Huang Temple we talk about now is actually the Xihuang Temple. From the name, it can be inferred that there used to be a Donghuang Temple. However, Donghuang Temple has disappeared without a trace. If it still existed, it should be located on the central axis road south of Anhua Bridge. Donghuang Temple and Xihuang Temple were initially established on a grand scale. From 1651 to 1652, Emperor Shunzhi allocated 90,000 taels of silver to rebuild Huang Temple on the foundation of Empress Dowager Xiao's Yanjing palace during the Liao Dynasty, for the use of the Fifth Dalai Lama's residence in Beijing. Donghuang Temple no longer exists, while Xihuang Temple is largely intact. The most well-known structure in Xihuang Temple is the Qingjing Huacheng Pagoda, commonly known as the 'Panchen Pagoda', built in the 47th year of Qianlong (1782), in memory of the Sixth Panchen Lama. In 1987, the China Tibetan Language Institute of Higher Buddhism, founded by the Tenth Panchen Lama Erdini Qoigyijabu, was established at Xihuang Temple, becoming the highest institution for training senior Dharma teachers in Chinese Tibetan Buddhism. In 2018, the Xihuang Temple Museum officially opened to the public, marking the first time in over 300 years that the temple has been open to the public, becoming one of the rare original Tibetan Buddhist cultural museums in Beijing. Before becoming a Buddhist academy, there was an interesting event related to the Mao Dun Literature Prize. In 1981, following Mao Dun's will to establish the Mao Dun Literature Prize, a reading group was organized to filter through a large number of novels to narrow down the selection. The reading group was held in the meditation rooms of Huang Temple, and it was there that the shortlisted works for the first Mao Dun Literature Prize were announced.