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We offer holidays to the four corners of the globe. If you want specialist advise please phone our travel team and we will be happy to help.
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- Destinations
- Asia
- China
- Beijing
- Great Bell Temple
Great Bell Temple
The Qing Temple is home to the Ancient Bell Museum (Gu Zhong
Bowuguan) and is a must see for travellers en route to the Summer
Palace. The temple, originally known as 'Awakened Life Temple',
apparently wasn't experiencing enough 'awakening' and a 47-ton
bell, with a height of 22.7 feet (6.9m) was transported to the
temple on ice sleds in 1743. The bell is inscribed with Buddhist
Mantras on both the inside and outside of the body and features
over 227,000 characters in all. The bell was often chosen by the
emperors to pray for rain and blessings for the people of China and
was one of three projects that Emperor Yongle in the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644) commanded after re-establishing Beijing as the capital;
the other two were the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. The
bell is considered as an auspicious article in the Chinese
tradition and nowadays it is rung 108 times to begin the
celebrations at grand ceremonies.
Information & Facts
Address
Admission
¥10; ¥12 to climb the Bell Tower
Language
The official language is Mandarin Chinese, but there are
hundreds of local dialects.
Money
The currency used in China is the Renminbi Yuan (CNY). The Yuan
is divided into 10 chiao/jiao or 100 fen. Make sure you exchange
your leftover Yuan before returning home because this currency can
be exchanged only within China's borders. Travellers cheques,
preferably in US Dollars, and foreign cash can be exchanged in
cities at the Bank of China. Banks are closed weekends. The larger
hotels and the special 'Friendship Stores' designed for foreigners
will accept most western currencies for purchases. Major credit
cards are accepted in the main cities at various establishments,
but outside the major cities acceptance is limited. ATMs are scarce
outside the main cities.
Opening Times
Open Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30am to
4pm
Time