Jian Jin, Jindi Yao, Jianxiang Wang

Value of Planning and design of Buddhist

temPles in heBei ProVince, china.

Jian Jin, Jindi Yao, Jianxiang Wang

Abstract
To raise public awareness of protecting Buddhist temples, this study considers Hebei Province of China as an example,
and explores the value of architectural planning and design of Buddhist temples. After 11 Buddhist temples in Hebei
Province of China are selected, the paper adopts a Delphi method and questionnaire survey method, establishes the
value evaluation system from four dimensions: historical value, artistic value, scientific value, and sociocultural value;
open house international Vol.41 no.3, september 2016. Value of Planning and design of Buddhist temples in hebei Province, china.

and calculates the value of the Buddhist temples architectural planning and design according to expert rating. Research
results indicate the following. Puning Temple, Jinhe Temple, and ShiEn Temple rank at the top because they are com-
plete extant ancient buildings and have beautiful architectural styles. Chongguang Temple and other Buddhist temples
have low comprehensive score because they are severely damaged and other reasons. The comparative study indi-
cates that Buddhist temples at different historical periods have different architectural heritage values, and different influ-
encing factors exert different effects on the architectural heritage value. The study establishes an evaluation indicator
system, studies the value of Buddhist temples architectural planning and design, and achieves certain innovative
research perspective. The evaluation of the value of Buddhist temples architectural planning and design can help the
public gain a better understanding of the value of temple architectural culture. This understanding benefits the preser-
vation of the temple building heritage.

Keywords: Buddhist Temple, Artistic Value, Heritage Value, Planning and Design.

1. introduction architecture and its planning and design is an impor-

among the five religious beliefs in china, Buddhism
has the largest number of followers, and has major
influence on chinese religion. there are three sects of
Buddhism in china, among which the han Buddhism
and tibetan Buddhism have deep historical roots in
hebei Province, china.
after Buddhism was introduced in china,
many Buddhist temples were built in the country. the
planning and designs of the preserved Buddhist tem-
ples before and during the construction process
demonstrate the historical and cultural background of
the construction period, reflect the development
degree of Buddhist arts, and provide us with a solid
foundation to understand the development and
changes of Buddhism and to conduct historical
research.
Buddhist temple buildings have strong ethni-
cal features and the characteristics of eras, and have
rigorous and clear construction design and planning.
they have particular requirements in the construction
site. Buddhist temples also have particular require-
ments for architectural style, and are built with differ-
ent materials according to the different religious
beliefs. although different Buddhist temples have dif-
ferent interior decorations, artifacts, statues, and
Buddha, they can reflect the characteristics of different
eras.
tant part of cultural heritage (garaca et al. 2014). as
a cultural heritage, temple buildings are valuable,
non-renewable resources. in studying the planning
and design of Buddhist temples, their value can be
established from the perspective of design concept. it
is also appropriate in judging the development and
changes of Buddhist temples from the perspective of
architectural details. evaluation of architectural her-
itage value is an important part of the study on archi-
tectural culture heritage. it can facilitate the discussion
on architectural culture heritage from a theoretical
level and provide a practical foundation for the pro-
tection of architectural culture heritage.
2. literature review
in the early 20th century, the concept of cultural her-
itage evaluation gradually emerged (arjo, 1996;
tyron and John, 2007). With the progress and devel-
opment of society, many countries,such as the us, the
uK, france, Japan, have explored lots of ways and
means to protect cultural heritage.
many chinese scholars studied cultural her-
itage value. some of them (min and Yihui, 2011) start-
ed with the perspective of architecture and urban
planning and design, studied the controversial or
omitted parts of urban cultural heritage standards.
some (Zhongmin et al., 2013) established an histori-
cal and cultural heritage value evaluation system,

44
studied the historical and cultural heritage value of
some ancient town. Wenjie (2015) used contingent
Valuation method to analyze the digital tourism value
of tarim intangible cultural heritage. some
researchers (linlin et al., 2009) conducted field stud-
ies on the historical and cultural villages, and evaluate
them. now, there are many methods to evaluate cul-
tural heritage, such as factor analysis method, fuzzy
comprehensive evaluation method, travel cost method
and contingent valuation method (Jin and shawei,
2014).
Buddhist temples are well-known architectur-
al heritages. research on their value has attracted
wide attention from chinese researchers. some of
them (Xinxin and Junfeng, 2009) studied the origins of
the relationship between tibetan Buddhism art and
hebei Province, and investigated the artistic charac-
teristics of tibetan Buddhism. some (haibei, 2014)
studied the relationship between tibetan Buddhisms
building materials and historic and cultural tradition,
Table 1. Architectural value evaluation system of Buddhist
Temples.
and explored the artistic value, historical value, and
Jian Jin, Jindi Yao, Jianxiang Wang
cultural value of Buddhist buildings.
the literature review indicated diversified
studies on cultural heritage value and a few studies on
architectural culture heritage. however, very few stud-
ies established an evaluation index system to study the
architectural value of Buddhist temples. therefore, the
author establishes an evaluation index system, and
studies the architectural heritage value contained in
the planning and design of 11 Buddhist temples in
hebei Province, china.
3. research methodology
3.1. establishment of value evaluation system
after consulting experts in architecture, religion, cul-
ture, and other fields and considering the characteris-
tics, construction planning, and design concepts of
Buddhist architecture, the author establishes the archi-
open house international Vol.41 no.3, september 2016. Value of Planning and design of Buddhist temples in hebei Province, china.
tectural value evaluation system of Buddhist temples
(table 1) covering the evaluation of historical value,
artistic value, scientific value, and sociocultural value.
indicators in the evaluation system clearly reflect the
value of buildings in the construction planning and
design processes.
table 1. architectural value evaluation system of
Buddhist temples
3.2. Value indicator system method
the study adopts the delphi method. several experts
in the industry are chosen for the panel of judges.
Questionnaires are distributed, with all the members
of the panel of judges not meeting one another.
thereafter, the experts questionnaires are collected
and analyzed. after several rounds, the predictions
and suggestions of the expert team are obtained to
make decisions that comply with market expectations.
first, the expert team determines the weight of each
design indicator according to the effects of 20 indica-
tors on the value evaluation system. among these indi-
cators, those with large weights exert great influence
on the architectural, historical, and cultural values. By
contrast, those with small weights exert low influence.
the weight of each factor is between 0 and 1, and the
sum of all evaluation factors is 1. in calculating the
weight of each factor, the weights of the value evalu-
ation indicators of the Buddhist temples are obtained.
second, the average value is obtained according to
the expert panels rating of the indicators. then the
expert panels rating is used to calculate the total
score with the following formula:
45
 4. comparison of architectural Value of Buddhist
Jian Jin, Jindi Yao, Jianxiang Wang

temple

the author selects 11 representative Buddhist temples,

including Bailin Buddhist temple, Jinhe temple,
longquan temple, shien temple, linji temple, tiefo
temple, Yuntai temple, chongguang temple,
longxing temple, Xinglin temple, and Puning temple,
analyzes the indicators of the Buddhist temples, and
obtains the evaluation results of the expert team.
formula (1) is used to calculate the values of the 11
Buddhist temples, and the results are shown in table
2.

table 2. the value of 11 Buddhist temples

Figure 1. A full view of Puning Temple.
4.1. comparative analysis based on the expert
teams evaluation score
open house international Vol.41 no.3, september 2016. Value of Planning and design of Buddhist temples in hebei Province, china.

the value scoring of Buddhist temples reflects the

importance of architectural heritage value contained
in the planning and design of Buddhist temples. it par-
ticularly highlights Puning temple, Jinhe temple, and
shien temple, which are listed as a world cultural her-
itage, a provincial key protection unit, and a national
key cultural relic protection unit respectively.
Puning temple, which ranks the first, is one of china's
largest places for Buddhist activities. it ranks at the top
in terms of the integrity of existing heritage building
(figure 1), scientific selection of construction site, and
reputation of building. the temple has a unique archi-
tectural style and rich connotations (figure 2), which Figure 2. Eaves of Puning Temple.
confirms its honor as a world cultural heritage. Jinhe development level and coordination with surrounding
temple ranks the second. it has beautiful natural buildings. longxing temple, taking third place, has a
scenery, prominent historical and cultural connota- magnificent and delicate layout and good perfor-
tions, beautiful overall architectural shape (figure 3), mance in its overall style and aesthetic appearance.
great effect of historical figures and significant events, the temple is a national key cultural relic protection
and outstanding performance in reflecting historical unit.
shien temple, Bailin Buddhist temple,
longquan temple, and linji temple are Buddhist tem-
ples with medium cultural heritage values. shien
temple has unsophisticated and magnificent architec-
tural style, good architectural layout, architectural
detail structure. however, because the cultural relic
lacks protection, its architectural heritage value is

Table 2. Weights of value evaluation indicators of Buddhist

Figure 3. Overall architectural shape of Jinhe Temple.
Temples.
46

Figure 4. Pagoda in Longquan Temple..
rated as low. Bailin Buddhist temple is world-famous.
however, the slightly inferior literature records affect its
cultural heritage value. longquan temple has beauti-
ful scenery and attracts many monks for monasticism.
its temple pagoda has a particularly innovative archi-
tectural style and is extremely magnificent (figure 4).
however, the detailed structure of the temple building
is not fine enough. the buildings decoration lacks an
aesthetic feeling. constructed in the eastern Wei
dynasty, linji temple has a long history, but the main
building was destroyed during the song-Jin war. only
the pagoda was well-preserved. this affects the tem-
ples architectural heritage value.
the other four Buddhist temples have rela-
tively poor architectural cultural heritage values. as a
temple with more than two thousand years history,
Yuntai temple has experienced vicissitudes since the
Qing dynasty. By 1949, nearly the whole temple has
been in ruins. tiefo temple lacks aesthetic appear-
ance, and was destroyed during the cultural
revolution. Xinglin temple has a long history, rich his-
torical events and figures, which fully reflects the his-
torical development process. however, it has rough
architectural craftsmanship. the construction site is
not good, and the temple has poor coordination with
the surrounding environment. many cultural relics had
been unearthed in chongguang temple, and the affil-
iated cultural relics have exquisite craftsmanship.But
the temples heritage value is low because of its poor
aesthetic feeling and cultural uniqueness.
4.2. comparison of four typical Buddhist temples
architectural planning and design
architectural style and layout of Buddhist temples
Jian Jin, Jindi Yao, Jianxiang Wang
open house international Vol.41 no.3, september 2016. Value of Planning and design of Buddhist temples in hebei Province, china.
Figure 5. Architectural layouts of four different Buddhist
Temples.
reflects the development of Buddhism to a large
extent. Buddhist temples in china can be divided into
four categories: han Buddhist temple, tibetan
Buddhist temple, theravadin Buddhist temple, and
han-tibetan Buddhist temple. Buddhist temples in
hebei province are mainly han Buddhist temples and
han-tibetan Buddhist temples.
figure 5 shows the architectural layouts of
four different Buddhist temples, including 1. Bailin
Buddhist temple, 2. longxing temple, 3. Puning
temple, and 4. Jinhe temple.
Bailin Buddhist temple is a typical han
Buddhist temple. architectural planning and design of
han Buddhist temples is as the following. the key
Buddhist halls and statues are arranged on a central
axis. large Buddhist halls are found on the two sides
of the main hall, with a layout similar to a palace
courtyard gallery. several smaller courtyards are sym-
metrically arranged, and each court is named accord-
ing to the Buddha or function. Bailin Buddhist
temples architectural layout shows the following. the
front gate and the hall of Vitasoka, the hall of
Puguangming, the hall of guanyin, Wumenguan
(meditation hall), and Wanfo Building are distributed
along the central axis. the pagoda for ancient Zen
masters in Bailin temple, the hall of dharmapala and
the Bell and drum tower, huixian Building, Zhiyue
Building, and other halls are distributed on the two
sides. the architectural layout of Bailin Buddhist
temple reflects the typical architectural planning fea-
tures of han Buddhist temples.
longxing temple, also known as Big Buddha
47
 temple, is one of china's large-scale well-preserved
Jian Jin, Jindi Yao, Jianxiang Wang

Buddhist temples. it is also a typical han Buddhist tem-

ple. it covers a large area and has more than ten halls
distributed on the central axis and two sides, including
the hall of deva Kings, relics of the hall of
sakyamanis six teachers, the manichean hall, the
Buddhist altar, Pavilion of maitreya, Zhuanlunzang
Pavilion, imperial tablet Pavilion of Kangxi and
Qianlong, Pavilion of imperial study, dabei Pavilion,
Jiqing Pavilion, and the hall of amitabha.
Puning temple is a han Buddhist temple with
beautiful combination of tibetan arts. the temples
architectural style adopts a han Buddhist temple style
in the front and a tibetan Buddhist temple style in the
back. the main buildings are concentrated on the
central axis running from north to south. the affiliated
buildings are found on both sides, following a sym-
metric pattern. in taking the main hall of Puning
temple, the hall of mahavira, as the boundary, the
open house international Vol.41 no.3, september 2016. Value of Planning and design of Buddhist temples in hebei Province, china.

front part is built according to the chinese architectur-

al style. the main buildings include the front gate, the
Bell tower and the drum tower, the hall of the deva
kings, eastern and western side halls, and the hall of
mahavira. the rear part is built according to the
tibetan mandala layout. the mahayana Pavilion,
which reflects the world center of Buddhism, is built on
the center point of the rear part of the building.
Jinhe temples planning and design represent
another case of a chinese Buddhist temple. usually,
this type of Buddhist temple is built on a mountain.
under the restriction of terrain, it is usually built
according to geographic conditions, with delicate lay-
out.such temple building's central axis is not obvious,
but the main hall is still arranged on the major tour
route. Jinhe temple belongs to this kind of temple
building. its relics are distributed on a bench terrace
where the terrain gradually increases from northwest
to southeast. the bench terrace in the mountain is
boat-shaped, surrounded by the gold river. the orig-
inal temple was built according to the natural terrain,
facing toward the south. two main halls are located in
the front and back. the north Pagoda forest is 500
meters away from the main building, and the south
Pagoda forest is located in the east of the gold river.
these pagodas are naturally distributed on the top of
mountains or in valleys facing the south. this charac-
teristic fully reflects the feature showing that these types
of buildings are built according to the natural geo-
graphic conditions (figure 6).
the four Buddhist temples have distinct archi-
tectural planning and design styles, reflect the archi-
tectural culture of different regions at different histori-
cal periods, and provide a theoretical foundation for
studying the architectural heritage value of Buddhist
temples.
5. conclusion
a Buddhist temple is an important place for religious
and cultural activities and an important building for
reflecting the evolution and development of religion.
With the changing times, the construction techniques
and design concepts of Buddhist temples have been
48
Figure 6. Pagodas built on mountain according to the natur-
al geographic conditions.
changed accordingly. therefore, by comparing the
planning and design, construction technology, and
other factors of Buddhist temples, we can clearly judge
their heritage value. the heritage value contained in
the planning and design of Buddhist temples is inves-
tigated to clarify the cultural heritage value reflected in
the architectural planning and design process of
Buddhist temples, so as to take effective measures to
protect cultural heritage buildings. the architectural
heritage value of Buddhist temples is determined
according to the evaluation of cultural heritage value
contained in the planning and design of Buddhist tem-
ples in hebei Province of china made by experts
engaged in religious studies. By comparing the cultur-
al heritage values of different Buddhist temples, we
found that because different eras have different ideas
and adopt different building materials and construc-
tion processes, and because other factors can affect
the development of Buddhist temples and exert varying
influences on the heritage value, different Buddhist
temples have different architectural heritage values in
their design and planning. therefore, determining cul-
tural heritage value according to the quantized scores
of architectural heritage value, selecting key protec-
tion targets according to the value contained in the
planning and design, and effectively protecting archi-
tectural culture heritage are of great practical signifi-
cance.
the value contained in the temple building's
planning and design can be affected by many factors.
our future research will further refine the temple build-
ing evaluation indicator system and explore the effect
of various factors on a temples architectural culture
value.
acknowledgments:

Jian Jin, Jindi Yao, Jianxiang Wang

the work was financially supported by the humanities
and social sciences Planning fund of the ministry of
education of china (no. 11YJa910005).

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Jian Jin1, Jindi Yao1, Jianxiang Wang2*

1. college of economics, hebei university, Baoding,
china
2. department of security, hebei university, Baoding,
china
* corresponding author: Jianxiang Wang,
email: wangjianxiang626@163.com

49
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permission.