▲ Hanshan Temple is located in the western suburbs of Suzhou and has a history of over 1,400 years. It gained worldwide fame through the famous line "Outside Gusu City lies Hanshan Temple, its midnight bells reaching the traveler's boat" from the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ji's poem "Mooring by Maple Bridge at Night." The temple is a renowned destination for blessings, with a continuous stream of devotees coming daily to ring the bell, offer incense, and pray for peace.
▲ Hanshan Temple primarily consists of structures such as the Mahavira Hall, Bell Tower, Stele Corridor, and Scripture Depository. The Mahavira Hall features a towering Sumeru pedestal carved from white marble, enshrining a gilded statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. Flanking the walls are eighteen exquisitely crafted gilded iron arhat statues cast during the Chenghua era of the Ming Dynasty, originally relocated from the sacred Buddhist site of Mount Wutai. In the Stele Corridor, visitors can view fragments of inscriptions by Wen Zhengming and Tang Yin, two of the "Four Great Talents of Jiangnan," as well as poetic steles by renowned figures like Yue Fei and Kang Youwei. Particularly iconic is the poetic stele "Night Mooring at Maple Bridge," inscribed by the late Qing Dynasty scholar Yu Yue, which stands as a classic treasure within Hanshan Temple.
▲ The bell tower within the temple is the origin of the "midnight bell sound," with its resonant and melodious chimes symbolizing Hanshan Temple. Every December 31st, Hanshan Temple holds a New Year's Eve bell-striking ceremony, where the bell is struck 108 times, symbolizing the dispelling of worries in the coming year. Although the current bell is no longer the one mentioned in Tang poetry but rather a relic from the late Qing Dynasty, it remains a rare giant bell so large that it takes three people to encircle it.
