Yonghegong Monastery, the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in Beijing, is a site with a rich and complex 300-year history. Popularly known to foreign visitors as the “Lama Temple” and included on any Beijing itinerary for tourist or Buddhist pilgrim, Yonghegong is famous for its spectacular architecture and art, including a 60-foot high sandalwood sculpture of the Buddha of the Future, as well as for its elaborate yearly ceremonies. As a working Tibetan Buddhist temple and monastic college, today the site is understandably thought of primarily in religious terms; however, throughout its long history Yonghegong has been equally important for its rich political significance. This lecture will introduce the complex and multilayered interplay of art, religion, and politics at Yonghegong as it evolved from imperial prince’s residence, to symbol of imperial universalism, to tool of Western and Japanese colonial powers, to symbol of multicultural harmony in contemporary China.

Kevin Greenwood teaches Asian art history at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and is a doctoral student in Chinese art history at the University of Kansas. He will soon complete his dissertation on the Yonghegong Monastery complex in Beijing, China, which focuses on the interplay of art, politics and religion in the Chinese imperial court of the 18th century. His broader research interests include Buddhist art and architecture, Chinese and Japanese gardens, and East Asian contemporary art. Sponsored by the Center for Asian Studies, the Center for Religion, Law, and Democracy, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, and the Hogue-Sponenburgh Lecture Fund of the Department of Art History at Willamette University.