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.
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