Xiding Temple, Taoist temple in Shuguang Subdistrict, China.
Guangren Gong, also called Xiding Niangniang Miao, is a Taoist temple on Xiding Road in Haidian District, Beijing. Only the central axis survives: a three-bay gate with a stone plaque reading "敕建广仁宫", the Gongzi Hall with a replica of the Kangxi "金阙宣慈" plaque, side halls, and a two-storey sutra library whose lower floor houses the Sixty Jiazi deities and upper floor the goddess Bixia Yuanjun.
The site began as the Jiaxiang Guan, founded under the Ming Zhengde emperor. It was rebuilt in 1582 and completed in 1590 as the Huguo Hongci Gong; Liu Ruoyu's writings date the Xiding Niangniang temple to 1608, and it was repaired in 1624. Kangxi's 1708–1709 restoration ended with the 1712 renaming to Guangren Gong. Occupied after 1949, it was listed as a Beijing protected site in 2001, restored from 2007 and reopened in 2008.
The name Xiding refers to one of Beijing's Five Peaks, and the temple is commonly called Xiding Niangniang Miao after the goddess Bixia Yuanjun. From the Ming dynasty, residents came here during the fourth lunar month to carry earth onto the grounds, a custom called jintu, described by Liu Ruoyu as carts, baskets and horses hauling soil in a constant stream. The temple is now a ticketed tourist site, not an active place of worship.
The temple stands on the north side of Xiding Road in Shuguang Subdistrict, Haidian District, just north of the Jinyuan Shidai shopping centre, on the site of the old Landianchang dye works by Changchun Bridge. It is a ticketed tourist site rather than an active place of worship, managed under the shopping centre. Only the central route of the original three survives, and the gate and gate hall were not repaired in 2008.
About three li west of the temple stood Chanjiaowan village, which once had an older Xiding shrine; only the place name survives and the temple site cannot be located. The temple also keeps a stele by Xu Ting, a court-appointed instructor at the Inner Palace School, erected during the Qianlong reign.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,095 contributors worldwide.