Hanging Temple

1,500-year-old wooden temple complex pinned to the side of a 75m cliff at Mt Heng. Engineered with horizontal posts driven into the rock face.

The Hanging Temple was built in 491 CE, originally as a Buddhist site that later incorporated Confucian and Daoist halls — a rare three-religion complex. The wooden temple is suspended 75m up a cliff, supported by horizontal posts driven into the rock and counterweighted internal structures. Visitors walk a sequence of narrow wooden walkways through the halls. The site was relocated 2.5m higher when a dam was built downstream in the 1990s. Combine with Yungang Grottoes for a Datong weekend.