Last semester we had a chance of going to the Longevity Temple with Professor Xu. He was a kind teacher in that he would show us something extracurricular before a class was over. Usually he would show us some nice pictures and tell us some related information. We gained a lot from his classes. It was very nice of him to be our guide that day in the Longevity Temple. His guide in some way taught us how to appreciate a historical site. Here, I’d like to give a brief introduction to the Longevity Temple following his train of thought. Hopefully it will offer those who plan a china travel something you won’t take care of on your Beijing Tours.

 First, let’s see some roofs. There are three main kinds of roofs in the Longevity Temple. One is the single-eaved gable and hip roof, one is single-eaved hip roof, and the other is double-eaved gable and hip roof. 

As the name suggests, single-eaved gable and hip roof has extended roofs on the two sides of a building, thus forming a triangle on two sides, while single-eaved hip roof has no triangles. And double-eaved gable and hip roof has two eaves and also triangles. Professor Xu told us we could judge the class of a building by its roof. Generally speaking, a building with hip roof ranks higher than one with gable and hip roof, because the latter is more difficult to build. Moreover, multi-eaved roof ranks higher than single-eaved roof. And the more decorations a building bears, the higher rank it represents.

Then we see some brick carving on the wall of the temple.

As can be seen from the picture, ancient people used to carve lotus on the wall. Lotus stands for Western pure land in Buddhism. As the Longevity Temple is established for royal families of Ming and Qing dynasties where gardens and Buddhist structures are naturally blended, it is also a place for worshipping Buddhism. So we can see many such carvings on its wall. A specialty of the nine lotus flowers picture lies in that it is not carved as a whole. Instead, it was cared separately and then mapped together. This demonstrates the wisdom of the ancient Chinese people.  

Finally, we can find something tiny, special and interesting in this temple. As the following picture shows, at the foot of every wall there is a carved flower. Don’t think it just serves as a decoration. In fact, it has a practical usage—ventilation. As the ancient buildings are made of woods which are easy to decay, the small flower provides ventilation to protect the buildings.

Another tiny but lovely thing is the small elephant standing in front of a building. Guess what it is! I thought it was also a decoration, but I found it was a trashcan only from the words written on it. So you see the designers are really very creative and considerate. They should not only consider the exterior appearance but also the practical value of some tiny decorations.

The above introduction is far from enough for you to know the Longevity Temple well. However it may have provided a new perspective for you. I started to care for some tiny things which are usually neglected by travelers after Professor Xu’s guide. I think he is right. We can learn more about a historical site from its particulars. I hope this article will be inspiring for those who take a Travel to Beijing.

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