Hanging Temple is located at the foot of Hengshan Mountain in Hunyuan county, hanging on the rock cliff of Jinlong gorge, 65 kilometers away from the Datong city.
It is the national key cultural unit, which is unique as it includes Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian elements. The temple was constructed in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 386-534) with a history of 1400 years. The extant monastery was largely rebuilt and maintained in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The building's features can be summarized as "strange, cliff and ingenious". Strange- Looking up Hanging Temple in distance, it seems as an exquisitely carved anaglyph set in steep bluffs; if you observe it closely, it looks as if it is flying to the sky. Cliff- A total of 40 cabins were suspended, which seems to be supported by several wooden columns. In fact, some columns didn't bear the weight.
It is said that when the temple was constructed, it seemed hanging in the half sky without any support. People fear the temple will drop down, thus several columns were added. Ingenious-The designer made full use of the cliffs to arrange and build each part of temple, putting an ordinary temple in a stereo space with full facilities including drum tower, main hall, Buddhist statue and so on.
