(Photo : Qing Dynasty Stelae)

Beijing No. 11 Middle School is located in the former site of South Medicine King Temple of Dongcheng District in Beijing. Recently, when workers were reinforcing the school, more than 20 stelae buried under the playground were dug up unexpectedly. But how to protect and handle these stelae becomes a difficult problem for the school.

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Surprise! Ancient stelae hiding underneath the playground

The eastern campus of Beijing No. 11 Middle School is located in the former site of South Medicine King Temple. Once, the South Medicine King Temple was one of four largest medicine king temples in Beijing.

The main building of South Medicine King Temple has three floors with a total of seven apartments in it. After the school was founded, teachers started to work inside of South Medicine King Temple.

As it has been a long time since the temple was built, in order to keep safe, Beijing No. 11 Middle School has begun to reinforce these old buildings since last year.

Surprisingly, when workers were digging the playground recently, they unearthed more than 20 buried stelae in ground one meter deep.

Stelae with Chinese characters "Qianlong Thirty Four Years" on them

Recently, when our reporters arrived at Beijing No. 11 Middle School. They found these stelae were placed on the ground in front of South Medicine King Temple. Every stela weighs up to several tons. However, there are only four to five stelae that have been preserved perfectly.

The sculptured patterns on top of the stelae are exquisite. Unfortunately, most of the Chinese characters on the stelae have blurred, which is difficult to read. Parts of the stelae show Chinese characters "Qianlong Thirty Four Years" on them.