Known as the Little Forbidden City, the Wanshou Temple is located in western Beijing. If you're traveling to Beijing, consider adding this attraction to your itinerary.

Built in 1577, the temple is located by the Changhe River in Beijing's Haidian District and now houses the Beijing Art Museum. It is not only an ancient imperial temple but also a vivid example of cultural integration between China and the West during the Qianlong period.

As visitors enter the Wanshou Temple, they will first experience the orderly layout of traditional Chinese imperial architecture: three complexes and seven courtyards symmetrically arranged along a central axis, with red walls, yellow glazed tiles, wooden bracket sets, upturned eaves, and carved window latticework — all typical of Ming and Qing imperial and religious architecture.

The most stunning highlight is the Western-style gates on both sides of the Hall of the Infinite Life Buddha in the rear courtyard. They are among the only three surviving Baroque-style Western gates from the Qing Dynasty in Beijing.

The main body follows the round gate commonly seen in Chinese gardens, while the top is decorated with curved acanthus leaf relief carvings in the European Baroque style. The lintel combines elaborate Western curves with Chinese brick carvings of interlocking lotus patterns.

This masterpiece was created during the Qianlong period, when the emperor introduced his favorite Western architectural elements from the Old Summer Palace into the Wanshou Temple. It perfectly embodies the open aesthetic of "harmonious integration of Chinese and Western styles," which is extremely rare in ancient Qing Dynasty architecture.