The Hanging Temple or The Suspending Temple or Xuan Kong Si (Overhanging Temple) is located on the west cliff of the Gold Dragon Gorge at the foot of Hengshan Mountain, about 5 kilometres to the south of Hunyuan County.
First built in AD 491 in Bei Wei Dynasty later stage, The Hanging Temple is the State-level key cultural relic protection unit and also the first spectacle in Hengshan Mountain. With high cliff above and deep vale below, the entire temple is built with niches backing the rocks, facing south, taking the west as the main direction.
The temple is featured by wooden framework, based on half-inserted crossbeams, skillfullly supported by the hidden rocks to form the combination of beam and column up and down and the fixed match of the corridor and parapet from left to right, according to mechanics, where 40 chambers in various sizes are built on the area of 152.5 square metres.
The steep site, wonderful architecture, artful structure and rich connotation of the temple can be called the uniqueness in the world, which is the only architecture on high cliff in China and one of the rare temples intergrating the syncretism.
Mount Hengshan has been regarded since ancient times as the "First Mountain Beyond the Great Wall". Mount Hengshan's main peak, Tianfeng (Heavenly Peak)Ridge, rise about 2017 metres above sea level. Its steep northern slope is covered with pine trees, and locatrd on its southern slope are temples and monasreries built by ancient kings and emperors to worship their ancestors.
Nine Dragon Wall
