First a temple, then a dorm and soon, a museum

I lived in an old temple for three years as a boarder in senior middle school. It was the early 1980s, a time marked by longtime neglect of cultural relics.

Yet the memory of living in Cheng'en Temple, on Moshikou Street of Shijingshan district, a western suburb of Beijing, is a precious one. The temple was built between 1506 and 1521 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is now under renovation and will be turned into a museum of folk arts.

Moshikou Street, home to many century-old relics and sites, such as Fahai Temple, the ice age museum and Tian Yi Tomb, has already been turned into a major tourist draw called the West Beijing Cultural Relics Street.