http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/01/hanging-temple-in-mount-hengshan-china.html Hanging Temple in Mount Hengshan, China By Kaushik Monday, January 16, 2012 Asia, China, Travel Located in a canyon at the foot of the Mountain Heng in the province of Shanxi, China, the Hanging Temple or Hanging Monastery is a rare piece of architecture. The temple is built into the cliff side about 75 meter above the ground, and stands propped up by hidden rocks corridor and wooden beams inserted into the mountain. Over 40 halls, cabinets and pavilions within an area of 152.5 square meters are connected each other by corridors, bridges and boardwalks. They are evenly distributed and well balanced in height. Inside the temple are more than 80 bronze cast statues, iron cast statues, and clay sculptured statues and stone carvings banded down from different dynasties. According to 7wonders.org, the temple was build to avoid the terrible flood, and use the mountain as protection from rain, snow and sunshine. 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 it includes Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian elements. Pictures: ========== https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_Temple According to legend, construction of the temple was started at the end of the Northern Wei dynasty by only one man, a monk named Liao Ran (??). Over the next 1,400 years, many repairs and extensions have led to its present day scale. (opening picture by photographer Zhangzhugang) The Hanging Temple, also Hanging Monastery or Xuankong Temple (pinyin: Xuánkong 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, 64.23 kilometers 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 it is the only existing temple with the combination of three Chinese traditional religions: Buddhism, 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. Coupled with the repair of the dynasties, the color tattoo in the temple is relatively well preserved. On December 2010, it was listed in the “Time” magazine as the world's top ten most odd dangerous buildings. ----------- http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hanging-temple-hengshan The Hanging Temple, located about 60 km southwest of Datong, China in Shanxi province, is one of the world's forgotten wonders. Clinging to a crag of Hengshan mountain, in apparent defiance of gravity, it consists of 40 rooms linked by a dizzying maze of passageways. The temple is said to have been built by a monk named Liao Ran during the late Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD) and restored in 1900. The temple was constructed by drilling holes into the cliffside into which the poles that hold up the temples are set. Interestingly the temple is dedicated to not just one religion, but three, with Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism all practiced within the temple and represented in 78 statues and carvings throughout the temple. ----------- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMFBPaVnwWc 10 minute Video with a very detailed look at the location -------------- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2663665/Defying-gravity-The-spectacular-Hanging-Temple-China-suspended-246-feet-ground-1-500-years.html ------------ http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_travel/2003-09/24/content_32449.htm History of the temple ----------------- http://thetempletrail.com/xuankong-hanging-temple/ Excellent source of further information