The Temple of Universal Happiness
1 min readEncompassing 24 000 square metres，the Temple of Universal Happi-ness（also known as Round Pavilion）was erected in 1766 when the upper strata personages from the Mongolian and the northwestern tribes came to pay respects to Qing emperor Qianlong for the stability and peace in north-western region of China.The main building，the Pavilion of the Brilliance of the Rising Sun（旭光阁），is noted for its caisson ceiling and unique wooden mandala，the only one of its kind in China outside Tibet.The temple’s outer walls were once topped by eight colourfully glazed-tile pagodas built on lo-tus flower pedestals，but nowadays only one of them stll stands.Legend has it that they are said to symbolize the lotus flowers that appeared at ev-ery step taken by Sakyamuni，founder of Buddhism，when he was very young.
