Hanging Temple

Hanging Temple
悬空寺
The Hanging Temple.
Religion
Affiliation	Buddhism
Location
Location	Hunyuan County, Datong City, Shanxi Province
Country	China
Shown within Shanxi Show map of Shanxi Hanging Temple (China) Show map of China
Geographic coordinates	39°39′57″N 113°42′18″E / 39.66583°N 113.70500°E / 39.66583; 113.70500
Architecture
Style	Chinese architecture
Founder	Liaoran
Date established	6th century

The Hanging Temple, also Hengshan Hanging Temple, Hanging Monastery or Xuankong Temple (simplified Chinese: 悬空寺; traditional Chinese: 懸空寺; pinyin: Xuánkōng Sì) is a temple built into a cliff (75 m or 246 ft above the ground) near Mount Heng in Hunyuan County, Datong City, Shanxi Province, China. The closest city is Datong, 64 kilometres (40 mi) to the northwest. Along with the Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the Datong area. Built more than 1,500 years ago, this temple is notable not only for its location on a sheer precipice but also because as a Buddhist temple it also contains references to the other two of the three Chinese traditional philosophies or religions (三教): Taoism, and Confucianism. The structure is kept in place with oak crossbeams fitted into holes chiseled into the cliffs. The main supportive structure is hidden inside the bedrock.^[1] The monastery is located in the small canyon basin, and the body of the building hangs from the middle of the cliff under the prominent summit, protecting the temple from rain erosion and sunlight bake.