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My Solo Trip to Datong ( Third Day )
( Hanging Temple - June 22, 2008 )
At 8:00m this morning I meet the taxi driver as scheduled and go on with my trip to Hanging Temple and Yingxian Wooden Pagoda. I have paid RMB 400 for the taxi. The Hanging Temple is built on the cliff in the Jinlong Valley of Hengshan Mountain, 4 km south of Hunyuan County, 70 km to the south-east of Datong. The way to the Hanging Temple is not a national-level road, but its road conditions is fairly ok. You don't see much tourist traffic due to the shoulder season. My driver - Mr. Xu is a man of great patience with much knowledge of Datong. He is a Datong native. He drives slowly and tells me a lot of history of Datong. He is quite proud of Datong. But he feels quite shamed for the damage done to the ancient relics in Datong.
On the way to the Hanging Temple
It takes about one hour and 50 minutes to get to the Jinlong Valley of Hengshan Mountain where the Hanging Temple is located. Hengshan Mountain ( Mount Heng in Shanxi ) is the Northern Mountain of the Five Sacred Mountains in China. Datong Mount Hengshan. It attracts people by its natural views and man-made landscaping.
We are approaching Jinlong Valley of Mount Hengshan where the Hanging Temple is located.
The Hanging Temple was built in 491 in the reign of Beiwei Dynasty, has survived more than 1,500 years. This extant monastery was rebuilt in Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. There are now about 40 rooms and structures linked by a creative system of pillars, walkways and posts. There are totally over 80 religious statues of copper, iron, rock and clay. The Hanging Monastery is famous internationally both for its architecture and religious heritage. The Hanging Monastery is itself an architectural wonder! A featuring mechanical theory was used to work on the building of the framework. The crossbeams were half-put inside the rock as the solid bade and the rock in back became its strong support. The most uniqueness of the the Hanging Monastery is its combination of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism! They live happily together, rarely seen in the world.
The ticket office of Hanging Temple
See the Hanging Temple from a distance
See the Hanging Monastery just below
The whole picture of the Hanging Temple
A close look at the left section ( a buddhist temple )
A close look at the middle section ( a taoist temple )
A close look at the right section ( a Confucian temple )
Climbing up the Hanging Monastery is not an easy job. The temple is hung up 50 meters above the ground. There are steep steps leading to the temple. There are narrow and steep stairs linking the three main structures hanging on the cliff. If you have some acrophobia, you are kindly adviced not to climb up to the temple.
Unlike most of the temples in China, the Hanging Temple is a mix of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. You can find different statues of these three religions all in the temple hanging on the cliff.
After I finish my trip to the Hanging Temple, we drive to Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, about 50km to the east of the Hanging Temple.
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