Yonghegong: History and Modernity

Introduction. Yonghegong Monastery is the largest and the most famous Gelug Buddhist monastic complex outside Tibet, located in the northeastern part of central Beijing, however, its history is not well known in Russian historiography. The purpose of the article is to fill the existing gap in the historiography. In this regard, the history of the monastery, its architecture, composition and number of monks, monastic educational faculties, issues of monastery management and its current state is briefly examined in the article, with the help of the main historical methods, such as historical-comparative, chronological. The main sources were the sources in Chinese, such as legislative acts and regulations of the CCP and the government of the PRC, the Yonghegong Monastery website and the articles on various aspects of the history of Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism. Results. Yonghegong Buddhist Temple is one of the most important cultural and historical monuments of Beijing, which, unlike most buildings, has managed to preserve its appearance to the present day. Founded in 1694 by the Manchu Emperor Kangxi as a residence for Crown Prince Yinzheng (1678–1735), the monastery was officially designated as a court Buddhist monastery by the Qianlong Emperor in 1744 and given the name Yonghegong. Throughout its history, the monastery has been under the direct control of the imperial court, government agencies, beginning with the Chamber of External Affairs (Lifan Yuan), the Ministry or Council of Rites, and the Bureau (National Administration) of Religious Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (1949 to the present). The monastic complex consists of five main temple buildings, arranged in a straight axis from south to north. The temples, connected by courtyards with various small temples located on the sides of the large temples, are distinguished by the richness of decoration, unique historical and cultural artifacts, stone carvings, stone steles with inscriptions in Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian and Tibetan languages. Conclusions. The management of the monastery is divided between the General Administrative Management Department of Yonghegong and the Monastic Council for the Management of the Monastery. At present, the monastery, which combines religious sites, tourist attractions and the Museum of Tibetan Buddhist Art, which is visited every day by a large number of tourists and believers, both from the PRC and from all over the world, is turning into one of the main tourist sites in Beijing. The changes observed in Yonghegong indicate the process of growing identification of Buddhist monasteries with Chinese civilization, resulting in gradual reorientation of monasteries from religious sites to symbols of cultural heritage and museums playing a significant role in cultural diplomacy.

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