The Eight Outlying Temples - Chengde

The Eight Outlying Temples of Chengde we built in the Qing Dynasty, not so much as places of worship but for public relations. The largest of them the Putuozongcheng Temple, is built as a replica of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. The Xumifushou Temple was built in to receive the 6th Panchen Lama, and is built with many Tibetan architectural features. The Pule Temple was built for visits from minority envoys including Kazakhs, Uyghurs. The Puning Temple, also with many features of Tibetan architecture is home to a gigantic wooden Guanyin (Godess of Compassion) statue. The other four outlying temples are the Puyou, Anyuan, Puren and Shuxiang Temples, none of which we visited, being either closed to the public or in bad condition.