Hanshan Temple

Hanshan Temple was founded in the sixth century and named for the Tang poet-monk Hanshan, who is said to have lived here. Its fame rests on twenty-eight characters: Zhang Ji's poem A Night Mooring by Maple Bridge, written around 756, which describes hearing the temple's midnight bell from a boat and which every Chinese schoolchild learns. The poem made the bell an object of pilgrimage, particularly for Japanese visitors, and the new year bell-ringing ceremony each 31 December draws large crowds who come to hear it struck a hundred and eight times. The present bell is a Qing replacement; earlier ones were lost. Maple Bridge and the Grand Canal are alongside.

The main sights

• The bell tower - the bell of the poem, struck by visitors for a fee.
• The poem stele - Zhang Ji's verse carved in stone in the grounds.
• Maple Bridge - the bridge named in the poem, beside the Grand Canal.
• The new year ceremony - the bell struck 108 times on 31 December.

When to go

March to May and September to November for comfortable weather; the new year ceremony on 31 December is the temple's biggest event and requires tickets bought well in advance. Mornings are quiet otherwise.

What to expect

The current bell is not the one in the poem. Ringing it costs extra and the queue can be long. The temple is modest in scale and much rebuilt. Its significance is literary rather than architectural.

Nearby

The Grand Canal runs alongside; Suzhou's old town lies east.

Key facts