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Suzhou Hanshan Temple

Hanshan Temple, means "Cold Mountain Temple" in English, is a Buddhist temple and monastery located at Fengqiao town, 5 km west of Suzhou.

Hanshan Temple is a very famous Buddhist temple and the bells of Hanshan Temple are also very famous because of a well-known poem. In the poem written by Zhang Ji, the bells of Hanshan Temple were an important image. Therefore, Hanshan Temple became even more famous and a place that many people long for. There are two bells used at Hanshan Temple nowadays, both were rebuilt in Qing Dynasty. The original Tang Dynasty bell is said to have been taken to Japan in ancient times.

There are some famous Buddhist statues in Hanshan Temple, such as the statues of the Buddhist patriarch Sakyamuni. Bronze statues of three famed monks are in the Hongfa Hall: Xuan Zang, Jian Zhen and Kong Hai.The most notable scene in the temple is the majestic pagoda called Pumingbaota, during your tour, you can climb up, though not to the top of it (because it is not allow to be reached), and command the good view of the Suzhou city.

It is interesting to see the giant old bell in the Hanshan Temple. The monks here will strike the bell 108 times in the Lunar New Year. The action represents the 12 months, 24 solar terms and 72 climatic phenomena (numbered 108 in total) in traditional Chinese meteorology. It is said that man has 108 times of fretting over something annually, so the listening to the 108-strike can expel all the worries in your mind.