Chongyuan Temple, Buddhist temple near Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou Industrial Park, China.
Chongyuan Temple is a Buddhist temple in Suzhou Industrial Park, China, made up of several large halls, open courtyards, and landscaped gardens arranged along a central axis. The buildings follow the layout typical of classical Chinese temple design, with rooflines in dark glazed tiles and red-painted wooden structures.
The temple was first established in the early 6th century and went through several reconstructions as it passed under different dynasties. It received its current name during the Qing dynasty to avoid a naming conflict with a taboo linked to imperial conventions.
The name Chongyuan (重元寺) comes from a Qing-dynasty change: the second character 玄 was replaced by 元 to avoid the personal name Xuanye of the Kangxi Emperor. The temple is a Chan (Zen) Buddhist monastery, and the abbot of Hanshan Temple, Qiu Shuang, also served as its abbot after the 2003 reconstruction.
The temple is well served by public buses, with several lines stopping near the entrance. The grounds cover a large area with multiple halls and courtyards, so comfortable footwear and enough time to walk through at a steady pace are worth planning for.
The Guanyin statue inside the hall is 33 metres tall and weighs 88 tonnes, made of gilded bronze; it is described as the tallest indoor Guanyin statue in China. The hall housing it was, at the temple's 2007 reopening, the largest and highest main temple hall in the country at 2,400 m² and 38 m.
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