The Joyous Pavilion (Taoranting Park of Beijing) is located northwest to the Taoran Bridge, South 2nd Ring Road in Beijing city taking a total area of 56.56 hectares with the water covering 19 hectares. The famous Taoranting (Joyous Pavilion) and CibeiĄŻan (Temple of Mercy) lie here. Its beautiful scenery and rich history win it nation-wide reputation.
The CibeiĄŻan (Temple of Mercy) is the main ancient building complex in the Taoranting Park. The Temple of Mercy was built in Yuan Dynasty with a history of more than 700 years. Having its Temple Gate facing east, it has a connective arrangement, mainly consisting of the Hall of Avalokitesvara Buddha, the Zhunti Hall, the Wenchang Pavilion and Taoranting (Joyous Pavilion) with a total area of 2700 square meters. Due to its fascinating scenery, it had become the officers and intellectual celebritiesĄŻ favorite place for getting together since Qing Dynasty and leaving a lot of poems. In modern times, especially after the May 4th Movement, it gradually became the venue for revolution. A lot of famous revolutionists had revolutionary activities here, such Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, Li Daozhao, which made it into an important revolutionary site in Beijing. After the renovation, it developed into a park in 1952 and was renovated again in 1978.
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The 3-room-wide pavilion west of this old temple is the famous Tanraoting (joyous Pavilion). In the year 34 in the Reign of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (1695), Jiangzhao, secretary of the Board of Works of the Qing court, built this pavilion and named it Taoranting (Joyous Pavilion), after a poem by Bai Juyi, a renowned poet in Tang Dynasty: When chrysanthemums are in bloom and our home brew is ready, letĄŻs enjoy them together joyously. It is one of the Four Most Famous Pavilions in China with an area of 90 square meters. There are many colored drawing and inscriptions as well as a plenty of poems carved on its walls, three plaques and poles. The Taoranting (Joyous Pavilion), with its three sides facing the lake which is fully planted with lotuses, is really a place where visitors can enjoy the scenery and the history joyously.
There are many historical relics besides the CibeiĄŻan (Temple of Mercy) and Taoranting ( Joyous Pavilion) in the Taoranting Park, such as Longshu Temple, the Dragon King Pavilion, Dark Dragon Pool, and so on. Twenty pavilions were erected from 1989 to 1993 and now the park is home to 36 pavilions, including miniature models of famous structure from other parks in China.
Besides, luxuriant green trees and various kinds of flowers are planted in the park, especially the Flower Street on the two sides of the South Lake where 30000 flowers and 2500 square meters lawn are planted. When all the flowers are in full blooming, the scenery is really fascinating.
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