Shanxi Mount Heng Impending Temple, China

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Impending Temple of Mount Heng

The Impending Temple is located at the famous Golden Dragon Col of North Mount Heng in the territory of Hunyuan County, Shanxi Province. It has got the reputation of having three landscape characters known as breathtaking, artful-created and fancy, since ancient time.

Viewing from Tianfengling, the grand highest peak of 2017 meters in the range of Mount Heng, visitors can easily find a red Buddhist temple built on the krantz of the Cuiping Peak like a phoenix resting in the green valley. It is just the Impending Temple.

The Impending Temple of Mount Heng in Shanxi is rather peculiar among so many temples in China with a history of about 1400 years built in the late North Wei period. To strengthen the special impending frame of the building, Emperors of every dynasty had all sponsored its maintenance and so that it has kept the original look throughout the history.

This impending temple is really hanging over the ground, outstanding against the krantz. Ancient men cut holes in the krantz and plugged wood beams in it and thus the great temple can sit both on the beams and on the popping out rocks. Visitors can't see the beams from distance but quite a lot of thin stakes sustaining the temple floor at acute angles.

In fact what can make the temple "hovering" high is not only by the aids of the cross beam but also the masterly application of the stakes. The location of each stake has been care fully calculated to secure the sustaining ability for the temple. It is really am asterpiece of the ancient architects.

As it's built on the krantz, the depth of the temple halls is a little short and the statues of the Bodhisattvas are in a small size but have appropriate scale and rich brows that indicate their art value. There are more than 40 wood-built halls and chambers in the temple.

Having passed the platform in front of the Buddha hall, you will stand on you feet, hold you breath and move carefully on the plank connecting every separate buildings. Every step seems so hard that you can't resist the fear that the entire temple might fall down.

However, although the plank under the feet is cheeping all the time, the pavilions sticking to the rocks stand firmly. So some says that small as it looks from outside, the temple is not small in proportion to its inside techniques.

Walking along the small stairs upward, a half-grotto as Buddha hall will surprise visitors within a Buddha statue that seems beat-up in dark light but still impress people with its calm face. The shape of the mountain here looks like an erect hollowware with its middle sunk and the temple is just at the bottom of the hollowware. Such advantage has prevented the storm from north of the Great Wall blowing the impending temple.

Besides, the peak in front of the temple also has prevented the temple from the sunshine. In summer there are only three hours for the sun to shine the buildings, which has significantly reduced the cases being blowing, polarized or caught in the rain and thus it can survive the long time.

North Mount Heng winds its range for hundreds of li and has many pavilions and palaces scattering in green woods. Among these buildings the Impending Temple is the most attractive as being built on the cliff. Poems and inscription can be seen everywhere in the temple.

Whether to enjoy the beautiful view of Mount Heng or to appreciate its breathtaking, artful-created and fancy characteristics, you can see absolute difference from modern metropolitans and will immediately relieve the business burden and refresh your body and minds.

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