World of Pots: The Hanging Temple

The province of Shanxi in China is full of interesting tourist attractions. Beside the ice caves, the ancient court house, another famous attraction is the Hanging Temple 悬空寺. From far, you may find that this temple looked like being embedded onto the side of a mountain cliff. It is strange, when engineers construct buildings, they have to do piling underground to provide a firm foundation to anchor the buildings. It has never occur in my mind for once that piling can be done horizontally to sustain the weight of a building, defying the law of gravity. But again in old ancient China, anything was possible as this was carried out more than 1500 years ago.

The hanging temple is built into a cliff some 75 metres above the ground near Mount Heng in Hunyuan County of Shanxi Province. We had to travel to the city of Datong then only arrived at the site after some travelling on the coach. The temple was built more than 1500 years ago, probably in the Sui Dynasty. This temple is famous not only for its location on a steep side of a mountain cliff, it is also a building site that incorporated Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian elements. The structure is kept in place with oak crossbeams fitted into holes chiseled into the cliffs. The main supportive structure was hidden inside the bedrock. One should admire the intelligence and creativity of ancient folks if one studies architecture and civil engineering. Why on earth should someone built a temple so high above the ground? So long ago?

Signage

Close Up View

View from the far ground

Steps leading to temple

Why on earth did ancient people build a temple so high above the ground, on the side of a steep mountain?

If you look at history and the culture at that time, it is not difficult to find out the answer. During that time, warfare and uprisings were common things. Empires came and new emperors ruled the country for a while. Then there was uprising with intense fighting before new empire and new rulers came into power. These events happened again and again. If the monks built the temple on the ground, when the army (imagined hundreds of thousands of them, marching and running or on horse backs) came along, it would disappear in no time (just like a bull dozer removing any obstacles on its path). As the temple was built so high up, the army would not disturb it (monks also posed no threat to rising power). Moreover, if the temple was on high ground, the monks would not worry about the animals that roamed the vicinity at night. Yes, the earthquakes and fires and all those natural disasters, the temple will survive all thees threats. With no disturbance (natural or man made) to worry about, the monks would be left doing their own things, minding their own business. What a revelation. This also explained the reason why the temple was still around after so may empires had come and gone. The ancient folks were not stupid after all.

When we there, we had to climb some flights of narrow steps and walkways before reaching the chambers of the temple. What was on every body's mind at that time, do you know? Sure, we were dead frightened. Could the stairs and walkways (or temple chambers when we were standing on) support our weight? What happened if the structures suddenly collapsed? Don't forget it was built some 1500 years ago. Did they have solid basis in engineering principles when the temple was built so long ago. As I was able to write this article, you would have known the answers. All the worries and doubts were not necessary. As a tourist, just enjoy the magnificent temple and the beautiful scenery in the vicinity. Ancient people were no doubt skillful and intelligent. An Italian architect, after visiting the hanging temple, couldn't stop admiring the wisdom and civilisation of ancient China. What they built years ago will stand the test of time unless some crazy fellow were to bring it down using modern methods. The temple can be very save as the mountain provides a shelter for it.