Zhihua Temple

Zhihua Temple in Beijing traces Wang Zhen, the palace eunuch who tutored a boy prince into the throne and became the first eunuch to run the Ming court, building this compound in the fourteen forties with materials reserved for the palace. The guide follows him into the campaign he pushed his former student toward against Mongol raiders, and to what happened at Tumu in fourteen forty nine. Look up at the black glazed roof tiles as you listen, a color normally kept for the emperor alone.