Hanging Temple in China

Hanging Temple in Mount Hengshan, China

The Hanging Temple is a temple built into a cliff 75m above the ground near Mount Heng in Hunyuan County, Shanxi province, China. It is the hanging temple or hanging monastery is a rare piece of architecture.

The temple is built into the cliff side about 75m above the ground, and stands propped up by hidden rocks corridor and wooden beams inserted into the mountain. Over 40 halls, cabinets and pavilions within an area of 152.5 square meters are connected each other by corridors, bridges and boardwalks. They are evenly distributed and well balanced in height. Inside the temple are more than 80 bronze cast statues, iron cast statues, and clay sculptured statues and stone carvings banded down from different dynasties.

The Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the Datong area. Built more than 1,500 years ago, this temple is notable not only for its location on a sheer precipice but also because it includes Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian elements. The temple was built to avoid the terrible flood, and use the mountain as protection from rain, snow and sunshine. 

According to the history of Shangshen Mountain, construction of the original temple was conducted by only one man, a monk named Liao Ran. Over more than 1,600 years, many repairs and extensions have led to its present day scale. This temple is over 50 meters tall.