Zhihua Temple, Buddhist temple in Dongcheng District, China

Zhihua Temple is a Ming-dynasty Buddhist temple at 5 Lumicang Hutong in Dongcheng District, Beijing. Its central axis runs south to north through the shanmen, Zhihua Gate, Zhihua Hall, the two-storey Tathagata Hall and Wanfo Pavilion, and Dabeitang. The halls have black glazed tile roofs; the site measures 278.8 m long and 44.5 m wide, about 1.24 hectares.

The temple was built in 1443 during the Ming Dynasty by Wang Zhen, a powerful court eunuch who used it as a private place of worship. After his death, the complex passed into imperial control and continued to function as an active Buddhist site.

Zhihua Temple is known for a tradition of ritual music that has been performed within its halls for centuries. Visitors can witness these performances on certain days, making it one of the few places where this living Buddhist practice can still be heard.

The temple sits inside an older residential neighborhood in Dongcheng, with narrow streets leading up to it, so it helps to check your route before heading out. Music performances do not happen every day, so it is worth finding out the schedule in advance if that is part of your visit.

The temple's two Ming wooden coffered ceilings were sold in the 1930s by monks to American collector Laurence Sickman. The Zhihua Hall ceiling is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, while the Wanfo Pavilion ceiling is at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City. The only coffered ceiling remaining in the temple is above the revolving sutra cabinet in the Zang Hall.