Festivals:
1. From early to mid April: Dajue Magnolia Festival focusing on the ancient magnolias in Dajue Temple. It is the first choice for Beijing people to have an outing in spring. During the festival, flower and tea appreciation, tea-making performance, magnolia banquet and other activities meeting market requirements are available.
2. From late September to mid November: West Mountain Ginkgo Festival themed “attention to affection, care for the aged” with the thousand-year-old ginkgo trees as carrier. During the festival, tourists may visit the Exhibitions of Ginkgo Culture, Ginkgo Miniascape, photography and others, or attend the West Mountain Fortune Tie, i.e., tie the golden fortune belt representing your love and blessing to your beloved on the ginkgo trees.
DajueTempleis a featured imperial temple. Tourists not only pay a visit and worship the Buddha, but also accommodate, have dinner, conference, appreciate tea and enjoy the tea culture performances.
Dajue Temple
Dajue Temple (Temple of Enlightenment) stands at the foot of Yangtai Hill, in Beijing‘s western suburbs. The rolling hills here are sometimes said to resemble a sleeping lion.
The vista of two flanking temples, the Lotus Temple and the Temple of Universal Grace-sitting atop Hills, to the west and east of the Temple of Enlightenment, is popularly described as ‘a lion rolling two embroidered balls‘.
The principal structures in the temple are the Maitreya (Future Buddha) Hall, with a peaceful courtyard. The roof brackets and columns of the halls date from the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
A mountain spring flows by the Qiyun (Restful Clouds) Pavilion in the rear courtyard.
By the spring is a stupa which stands at the highest point in the temple complex.
On the grounds there is a giant 1,000-year-old gingko tree, a pool formed of giant white stone slabs, and ancient magnolia trees. On the top of the temple is a Liao Dynasty pagoda embraced by a cypress and pine.
Tickets: 10 yuan (US$1.2)
To get there: Take bus route 346 at the Summer Palace to Beianhe Station.
Tel: 6245-6163
Jietai Temple
Located 35 kilometers west of Beijing, Jietaisi, or Temple of the Odination Altar, takes its name from its ornate Ming marble altar. Built some 1,300 years ago, this altar is nearly five meters high and is decorated with delicate and exquisite carvings.
The temple was first built in 622, during the Tang Dynasty, but most of the buildings in this temple date from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
The temple boasts a lot of ancient trees. Most of them are over 1,000 years old, weathered through history, having adopted unusual forms that scholars exclaim over and make legends about.
Unique construction layout, long history and unusual old pine trees make the temple a tourist must today.
Ticket: 35 yuan (US$4.5)
To get there: Take line one subway, or bus route 921, 336, 959 to Pingguoyuan Station and then change bus route 931 to the temple.
Tel: 6980-2232 6980-2645
Tanzhe Temple
Located eight kilometers west of Jietai Temple, Tanzhe Temple has seen numerous monks practice their Buddhist art for the rest of their lives here, thus leaving many pagoda tombs in different styles close by the temple.
Probably the best known is the one of Princess of Miaoyan, daughter of Kublai Khan, of the Yuan Dynasty. In order to redeem her father from killing so many people in battles, she converted herself to Buddhism, and spent the rest of her life here. Her pagoda tomb is a solid brick five-storey construction with elaborate eaves, with a smaller pagoda on each side for company.
Master Dehuada‘s tomb is a solid stone pagoda like an upside-down bowl, constructed entirely of carved white marble, granite and other precious stones, eye-catching and very different in color from others in grey. The tombs provide an informational resource, both in written language and real objects, to the study of Buddhist pagoda evolution.
Tickets: 70 yuan (US$8.8)
To get there: Same transportation as it to Jietai temple.
Tel: 6086-1699, 6086-2244