The Red Snails Temple is situated southwest of the Yanqi Lake in Huairou District. It was first built in the Eastern Jin Dynasty with its original name being “Daming Temple”, and otherwise known as Temple of Praying for Blessing on the Country. It was said that inside the Pearl Well in the west of the temple lived two giant red snails that would send out red rays at night, flushing the whole temple, which could be seen within an area of 100 li. It was later renamed “Red Snails Temple” accordingly.
    Covering an area of 16.6 acres, the Hongluo Temple is the biggest temple in the northern area of Beijing. The temple is divided into 5 courtyards. The central courtyard, taking Shanmen(the entrance of the temple), Tianwangdian(Hall of Heavenly Kings), Daxiongbaodian(Hall of Mahavira), and the Meditation Room as axes together make up 3 halls namely, the Hall of Teaching Buddhist Scripture and two accompanying halls in the east and west sides. The eastern courtyard consists of a guestroom and diing rooms. The western courtyard comprises of Abbot's Cell and Shifangtang. The eastern back yard consists of Yanshoutang(the room for prolonging life), with the Monk's Hut in the north and an arena for practising Qigong in the south. In the far west is the tower yard which consists of the Ash Room for monks, the monk pagoda and the Pagoda of the spiral Shell.