Hanshan Temple (in simplified Chinese 寒山寺) is located at a region not far away from the southwest gate of Suzhou city. According to some legends, the temple was built in 502-509 AD by a merchant. However, the exact date of the construction of this temple is still unknown.

When you examine the temple’s architecture, you would be able to find that the temple previously used a stupa as the main part of the whole construction group. During the Sui Dynasty, the focus of the temple gradually shifted to the center, and the stupa was used as a backup of the main building. If you study the basic history of Chinese religion, you would find the Buddhism of China actually originated from India. Therefore, in this Hanshan Temple, some people said that they had found some Indian building style.

In Suzhou, there are a lot of temples. However, there are not many temples which could have such a long history as Hanshan Temple. Therefore, it is very worthwhile to visit Hanshan Temple if you are visiting Suzhou. There are a lot of old-style towers as well as flats. In Buddhism, these towers have special meaning and you would only be able to know more about them when you visit the temple because it is hard to describe just through the use of words.

Visiting Hanshan Temple is free. However, if you appreciate this temple, and you would like to contribute to the preservation of the temple, you are welcomed to donate some money to the authority through some boxes put inside the temple so that the authority could use the money to maintain the operation of the temple.

If you are fond of Buddhism, and you would like to know more about Buddhism in ancient China, Hanshan Temple is definitely one of your destinations in Suzhou. If you are not very fond of that but you would like to know more about ancient Chinese building, this place is also suitable for you to visit. I hope you would enjoy your trip!