The Big Bell Temple (Dazhong Si) in Beijing was built in 1733 during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The temple was named after the famous Yongle Big Bell housed in the temple, which was cast during the reign of Emperor Yongle (1403-1424) of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

The Yongle Big Bell weighs about 46 tons, with a height of 5.5 meters and a diameter of 3.3 meters. The bell is famous not only because of its size, but probably more importantly because of the over 230,000 characters of Buddhist scriptures engraved on it. The photos were taken on July 13, 2003.