Cultural Heritage Unlocked
Hall of Shakyamuni in the Clean Enlightenment Temple 清化寺大雄寶殿, Qinghua Street 清華街, Dongcheng District 東城區, Beijing 北京, China, Ming Dynasty 明代, 1515
This 3-bay-wide timber hall was originally the Hall of Shakyamuni in the Clean Enlightenment Temple. With a high-ranking Wudian 廡殿 Chinese hip roof, it is one of the most important ancient buildings in the historical centre of Beijing, and the only non-imperial establishment built with such roof type outside the Gate of Advocating Literature 崇文門. The rare forms of craftsmanship embodied by its authentic early 16th century timber structure, especially those Bracket Sets 斗拱, offer us a glimpse of Beijing’s local architectural tradition in mid Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Its exact construction date has been discovered in a hidden beam inscription, which can be cross-verified by historical records. This has granted the building with the significance of a benchmark specimen in Chinese architectural archaeology.
According to a lost stone stele, the Zen 禪 temple was established by Madame WANG Miaoxiu 王妙秀 and her younger brother WANG Rong 王榮 between 1432 and 1444. Madame Wang was one of the wet nurses of Emperor Zhengtong 正統 (1427-1464). As the rewards for her favoured nursing of the young emperor, she received a large amount of money, and had her soldier brother appointed as Centurion 百戶. In order to return gratitude, Wang purchased the ruins of a previous temple called Ensuring Safety 保安寺outside Beijing’s Gate of Advocating Literature, and asked her brother to commission the construction of a new Buddhist temple with the rewarded money, praying for the well-being of the imperial family. The construction took 12 years to finish. In 1512, the temple was accidentally burned down, rebuilding was finished in 1515. Though being restored several times afterwards, the entire timber structure of the main hall remained authentic to its 1515 recreation. On the 1750 map of Beijing, the temple’s layout was clearly indicated as a 3-courtyards complex, facing southwest in a slanting street.
After 1949, the Gate Hall 山門 of the temple had been demolished, and the inner space of the Hall of Shakyamuni had been used as a factory workshop and dormitory. The original Buddhist statues and liturgical furniture were removed. The addition of another house covering the front façade had led to the accidental preservation of the hall’s original wooden name-board 牌匾 above a modern ceiling for decades. The name of the chief monk, Guangxian 廣現, who arranged the last restoration of the building in 1820, is clearly inscribed on the plaque. This precious name-board was removed from its original spot in 2014.
During Guangxian’s restoration, the timber structure of the Hall of Shakyamuni was painted with a thin layer of red wood oil 桐油. This was an economic practice in Qing Dynasty 清代 (1644-1912) for the protection and tidying of wooden structures, thus the original patterns of Ming Dynasty beam-paintings became covered. However, a hand-written rebuilding plaque on the bottom surface of the top beam can still be vaguely seen beneath the Qing paint, whose initial characters read: ‘the 10th year of Great Ming’s Zhengde period 大明正德十年’. It is the same year as recorded in historical books for the completion of the post-fire rebuilding. This is a key archaeological evidence for the dating of the extant structure, which means 1515 is the hall’s exact construction year.
As a benchmark specimen in architectural archaeology, the wooden Bracket Sets of the the Hall of Shakyamuni in the Clean Enlightenment Temple demonstrate a certain mid-Ming form of structural craftsmanship, which could shed light on the subtle transition from early orthodox Chinese building tradition to the massively simplified official building norms of Qing Dynasty.
One absolutely worth mentioning characteristic is the unequal distance between Bracket Sets in different structural bays (space between 2 façade columns), and in addition, the unequal length of Short Arms 栱 from the same positions within different Bracket Sets: when a bay is wider, the Bracket Sets placed in this bay are a bit further away from each other than those in narrower bays, and that their Short Arms are also longer. In this case, for those Pillar-Top Bracket Sets 柱頭科 dividing different bays, their Short Arms reaching out in two opposite sides do not share the same length. This phenomenon, unseen among standardised Official Style 官式 buildings from Qing Dynasty, shows that the design method of early buildings until mid-late-Ming was to first define the measurements of bays, and then to evenly distribute Bracket Sets among them. Meanwhile, according to Qing official construction standards, the measurements of Bracket Sets were unified basic scales, defining the measurements of an entire building. The Bracket Sets of the Hall of Shakyamuni were hand-measured by a student team lead by myself when studying architecture in North China University of Technology in 2004.
In 2001, the enlargement of the Zhushikou East Street 珠市口東大街 and the construction of the Fengtai Centre 豐泰中心 office building saw the destruction of the temple’s back hall – the Hall of Avalokitesvara 大士殿. Since then, the precious Ming timber Hall of Shakyamuni has become exposed to a secluded back street. Since around 2008, a hole was gradually formed in the north slope of the roof due to the sinking of one pillar under the eave. The deformation of the building accelerated.
The remains of the temple, including the Hall of Heavenly Kings 天王殿 and the Hall of Shakyamuni, were registered as heritage in 2013 and preliminarily restored in 2014. The tiles and Flying Eaves 飛簷 of the roof, as well as the exterior beam-paintings protecting the timber components of the main hall, were fully restored or recreated based on traces of evidence found on the building. However, this initial project was only focused on the structure of the temple halls. The heavily occupied historical courtyards of the temple did not receive proper remediation until 2018.
This photo was taken in 2015.
Hall of Shakyamuni in the Clean Enlightenment Temple 清化寺大雄寶殿, Qinghua Street 清華街, Dongcheng District 東城區, Beijing 北京, China, Ming Dynasty 明代, 1515
This 3-bay-wide timber hall was originally the Hall of Shakyamuni in the Clean Enlightenment Temple. With a high-ranking Wudian 廡殿 Chinese hip roof, it is one of the most important ancient buildings in the historical centre of Beijing, and the only non-imperial establishment built with such roof type outside the Gate of Advocating Literature 崇文門. The rare forms of craftsmanship embodied by its authentic early 16th century timber structure, especially those Bracket Sets 斗拱, offer us a glimpse of Beijing’s local architectural tradition in mid Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Its exact construction date has been discovered in a hidden beam inscription, which can be cross-verified by historical records. This has granted the building with the significance of a benchmark specimen in Chinese architectural archaeology.
According to a lost stone stele, the Zen 禪 temple was established by Madame WANG Miaoxiu 王妙秀 and her younger brother WANG Rong 王榮 between 1432 and 1444. Madame Wang was one of the wet nurses of Emperor Zhengtong 正統 (1427-1464). As the rewards for her favoured nursing of the young emperor, she received a large amount of money, and had her soldier brother appointed as Centurion 百戶. In order to return gratitude, Wang purchased the ruins of a previous temple called Ensuring Safety 保安寺outside Beijing’s Gate of Advocating Literature, and asked her brother to commission the construction of a new Buddhist temple with the rewarded money, praying for the well-being of the imperial family. The construction took 12 years to finish. In 1512, the temple was accidentally burned down, rebuilding was finished in 1515. Though being restored several times afterwards, the entire timber structure of the main hall remained authentic to its 1515 recreation. On the 1750 map of Beijing, the temple’s layout was clearly indicated as a 3-courtyards complex, facing southwest in a slanting street.
After 1949, the Gate Hall 山門 of the temple had been demolished, and the inner space of the Hall of Shakyamuni had been used as a factory workshop and dormitory. The original Buddhist statues and liturgical furniture were removed. The addition of another house covering the front façade had led to the accidental preservation of the hall’s original wooden name-board 牌匾 above a modern ceiling for decades. The name of the chief monk, Guangxian 廣現, who arranged the last restoration of the building in 1820, is clearly inscribed on the plaque. This precious name-board was removed from its original spot in 2014.
During Guangxian’s restoration, the timber structure of the Hall of Shakyamuni was painted with a thin layer of red wood oil 桐油. This was an economic practice in Qing Dynasty 清代 (1644-1912) for the protection and tidying of wooden structures, thus the original patterns of Ming Dynasty beam-paintings became covered. However, a hand-written rebuilding plaque on the bottom surface of the top beam can still be vaguely seen beneath the Qing paint, whose initial characters read: ‘the 10th year of Great Ming’s Zhengde period 大明正德十年’. It is the same year as recorded in historical books for the completion of the post-fire rebuilding. This is a key archaeological evidence for the dating of the extant structure, which means 1515 is the hall’s exact construction year.
As a benchmark specimen in architectural archaeology, the wooden Bracket Sets of the the Hall of Shakyamuni in the Clean Enlightenment Temple demonstrate a certain mid-Ming form of structural craftsmanship, which could shed light on the subtle transition from early orthodox Chinese building tradition to the massively simplified official building norms of Qing Dynasty.
One absolutely worth mentioning characteristic is the unequal distance between Bracket Sets in different structural bays (space between 2 façade columns), and in addition, the unequal length of Short Arms 栱 from the same positions within different Bracket Sets: when a bay is wider, the Bracket Sets placed in this bay are a bit further away from each other than those in narrower bays, and that their Short Arms are also longer. In this case, for those Pillar-Top Bracket Sets 柱頭科 dividing different bays, their Short Arms reaching out in two opposite sides do not share the same length. This phenomenon, unseen among standardised Official Style 官式 buildings from Qing Dynasty, shows that the design method of early buildings until mid-late-Ming was to first define the measurements of bays, and then to evenly distribute Bracket Sets among them. Meanwhile, according to Qing official construction standards, the measurements of Bracket Sets were unified basic scales, defining the measurements of an entire building. The Bracket Sets of the Hall of Shakyamuni were hand-measured by a student team lead by myself when studying architecture in North China University of Technology in 2004.
In 2001, the enlargement of the Zhushikou East Street 珠市口東大街 and the construction of the Fengtai Centre 豐泰中心 office building saw the destruction of the temple’s back hall – the Hall of Avalokitesvara 大士殿. Since then, the precious Ming timber Hall of Shakyamuni has become exposed to a secluded back street. Since around 2008, a hole was gradually formed in the north slope of the roof due to the sinking of one pillar under the eave. The deformation of the building accelerated.
The remains of the temple, including the Hall of Heavenly Kings 天王殿 and the Hall of Shakyamuni, were registered as heritage in 2013 and preliminarily restored in 2014. The tiles and Flying Eaves 飛簷 of the roof, as well as the exterior beam-paintings protecting the timber components of the main hall, were fully restored or recreated based on traces of evidence found on the building. However, this initial project was only focused on the structure of the temple halls. The heavily occupied historical courtyards of the temple did not receive proper remediation until 2018.
This photo was taken in 2015.