Hanging Monastery is situated at the foot of the Hengshan Mountain

Being the most outstanding Buddhist temples in China, Hanging Monastery is situated at the foot of the Hengshan Mountain, 75 kilometers southeast of Datong. First built in the late Northern Wei dynasty in the 6th century and renovated three or four times since, the serried buildings look as though they are supported by a dozen or so slim wooden posts no more substantial than chopsticks. Huge rocks loomed overhead, apparently liable to fall at any moment. The fragile path was strung out along the face of the cliff. There were two reasons to construct the Hanging Temple here. One reason is because there used to be a vital center of communication in old times, it is necessary to construct a temple along this route for the passing pilgrims. But the Hunhe River that flowed past the foot of the cliff was capricious. The other reason is whenever there was a storm there would be a terrible flood. In those days people believed that a golden dragon was the cause of all this trouble, so they thought of a construction of a Buddhist temple to ward off the influence of the dragon. Welcome to China for Canton Trade fair. HRC is pleasure to provide Guangzhou hotels booking and China Tour guide .

Suspended some 50 meters over the ground and consisting of 40 pavilions and halls, the Hanging Monastery is constructed with the help of wooden pillars that are anchored into the cliff face behind the edifices, though no one today can say for certain whether the holes into which the pillars are anchored were manmade or natural. The monastery is reached via a bridge that leads up a stone staircase that has been chiseled into the cliff face. The monastery's 6 main halls are intricately and ingeniously linked by winding corridors, bridges, and boardwalks that offer a perilous glimpse of the ground below, increasing the visitor's awareness that this truly is, quite literally, a hanging monastery.
The hanging temple is a temple built more then 1500 years ago, into a cliff. It is an extraordinary temple because it represents a combination of Buddhism, Taoism andSONY DSC Confucianism. It is built of wood but due to its ‘hanging’  in the middle of the cliffs, which is under the summit prominent part, protecting the temple from rain erosion and sunlight, the colors in the temple are relatively well preserved.