Hanshan Temple
Hanshan Temple, or Cold Mountain Temple is situated ten kilometers from Fengqiao Old Town in Suzhou, originally built during the Liang during the Southern Dynasties (420 - 589), when the former name is Miaoli Puming Temple. It is said that a famous monk named Han Shan once visited here and took charge of the temple. Later, the temple was named in honor of his coming. Once, a poet of Tang dynasty (618-907), Zhang Ji described the midnight bell rings of Hanshan Temple in A Night Mooring near Maple Bridge. Since then, the temple has become famous, especially for its bell rings and Buddhism Culture.
It is said that the temple was destroyed 7 times by fire within 1,000 years. The existent temple was rebuilt from 1906 to 1911, covering an area of 10,600 square meters, including the sutra hall and the bell tower. In 1995 a Buddha tower was built behind Hanshan Temple, ending the history that this temple had no Buddha tower for more than 600 hundred years.
Now, the temple presents the architectural style of the Qing Dynasty. It includes the Grand Prayer Hall, Sutra-Collection Building, Bell Tower, Fengjiang Pavilion and Tablets Corridor, etc. There are many more historical relics in the temple, such as the statue of Han Shan, the two stone tablet inscriptions of the poem A Night Mooring near Maple Bridge and some other tablet inscriptions written by famous intellectuals of ancient China. The Buddhism Statues of the Hanshan Temple are unique; the art of tablet-sculpturing is world famous, the tablets of poems written by Yuefei, Tang Bohu and Dong Qichang are exhibited in the tablet corridor.
In addition, there are a sitting statue of Buddha is in the main hall of the Hanshan Temple. On each side of the statue there are nine gold-plated arhat statues, each with a different facial expression. If you come to visit them, you will definitely be touched by their life-like designs.
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