Hanshan Temple

The story of how Hanshan Temple become famous is kind of romantic.A poet called Zhang Ji wrote a poem “Mooring to the Maple Bridge at Night (枫桥夜泊 in Chinese) in Tang Dynasty (618-907). In this poem, he described the midnight bell rings of the Hanshan Temple. Since then, the temple has become famous for its bell rings and Buddhism culture. Now the temple has developed into a historical and cultural area with beautiful natural sights.
Hanshan Temple is 5 kilometers away from Fengqiao Old Town of Suzhou. The name of Hanshan is from a famous monk. In the Tang Dynasty, this famous monk Han Shan came to take charge of the temple.The temple was built during the Liang Dynasty (502-557),and repaired again in the following dynasties.
Hanshan Temple cover an area of about 10,600 square meters. It includes the Grand Prayer Hall, Sutra-Collection Building, Bell Tower, Fengjiang Pavilion,Tablets Corridor and so on.Now the new tradition is to listen to the bell tolls of the Hanshan Temple on the New Year's Eve.It begin from 1979. Since then,thousands of visitors gather here in New Year's Eve to listen to the one hundred and eight bell tolls and pray for luck and happiness in the next year.