The Temple of Azure Clouds lies at the foot of the Western Hills. Its landmark the Diamond Throne Pagoda can be seen towering amidst green trees from a far distance.

The Temple was first built in 1366 before the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty. Under the Ming two powerful eunuchs, YuJing and Wei Zhongxian (1568-1627), had it expanded at various periods, trying to make it their burial ground, but they didn't succeed.

In 1748 during the' Qing Dynasty, large-scale construction work was done. The Hall of Arhats designed after the jingci Monastery in Hangzhou and the Diamond Throne Pagoda at the rear of the temple was built in that period. Before 1949, the buildings in the temple were quite run down. Since 1954, they have been renovated and painted anew, and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall was rebuilt to pay tribute to this great pioneer of the Chinese revolution.

Entering the gate you can see the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, one on each side.
Wei Zhongxian cleverly rose to power by obtaining a position as purveyor of food to the concubine of Emperor Wanli' s son, and later, in the 1620s, dominated the court life of Wanli' s grandson. At the peak of his influ ence, Wei Zhongxian was able to publish historical works bilittling his bureaucratic enemies, and to order that temples in his honor be erected all across China.

The temple was listed as a national key relic by the Chinese Government under special preservation in 2001.