Adventures of the White Owl

I am living in Hangzhou, China for one year as a Senior Scholar at China Academy of Art. I will be learning Chinese in the Fall and then will be an honorary student for "Experimental Art" in the Spring. This blog will document my experiences and the art here. China is modernizing and assuming a powerful global position, I am excited and honored to be able to experience and see what is happening first hand. I hope to share as much as possible here with you.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Llama Temple

Building work on the YongHeGong Temple started in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty. It originally served as an official residence for court eunuchs. It was then converted into the court of Prince YongZheng (Yin Zhen), a son of emperor KangXi. After YongZheng's ascension to the throne in 1722, half of the building was converted into a lamasery, a monastery for monks of Tibetan Buddhism, while the other half remained an imperial palace. Unfortunately I could only find Chinese batteries around this area, so I ran out of batteries after a few pictures and couldnt take any more, but there were lots of really cool statues, people burning incense everywhere, and maybe a thirty or forty foot tall Buddha carved from one tree, with a plaque outside from Guinness Records (Ive inserted someone else's shot below).