Yonghegong (Lama Temple) and the Confucian Temple are physical reflections of Buddhism and Confucianism respectively, but both these sites have also long played a role in state ritual and the ideology of empire.

At the Confucian Temple and the adjoining Imperial Academy, students, officials, and rulers came to venerate the Great Sage and to study for the examinations which were the gateway to power and elite status in imperial China.

At Yonghegong (The Lama Temple), we will consider how the emperors of the Qing Dynasty appropriated the forms of Tibetan Buddhism by consecrating a holy space in their capital even as their armies were steadily moving westward across the Tibetan Plateau. The historical connection between empire building and Buddhism in Tibet continues to have profound implications for the relationship between the government and the people of that region.

This walk will explore both sites and offer insight into the history of Confucianism and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.