Jinshan Temple (Zhenjiang)

National Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit; A Buddhist Temple Founded In The Fourth Century, Setting Of The Water Flooding Of Jinshan In The Legend Of The White Snake · Zhenjiang, Jiangsu

A temple wrapped so completely around its hill that the hill has disappeared into it - the local phrase is that the mountain is hidden in the temple - standing above the Yangtze at Zhenjiang with the Cishou Pagoda on top. It was founded in the fourth century and has burned and been rebuilt repeatedly since; what makes it famous across the whole Chinese-speaking world is not architecture but a story. In the Legend of the White Snake, the monk Fahai imprisons the snake spirit Bai Suzhen's husband here, and she raises the Yangtze to flood the temple to get him back - the Water-Flooding of Jinshan, which every Chinese child knows and which has been opera, television and film a hundred times over. There is a cave pointed out as Fahai's. Historically the temple was an island in the river until silting joined it to the bank in the nineteenth century, and the halls climb the hill in tiers so that the pagoda at the top gives a long view over the Yangtze and the city. Su Dongpo and a dozen other poets wrote about it.

62 Jinshan Road, Runzhou District, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China

Generally open daily, roughly 8:00-17:00 with slightly longer summer hours and last entry about an hour before closing. The Cishou Pagoda CLOSES IN HIGH WIND, which on a Yangtze bluff is not unusual. Combination tickets covering Jinshan, Jiaoshan and Beigushan together are sold and are the sensible buy for a full day. This is an ACTIVE MONASTERY with daily services; visitors are welcome in the halls but are asked to be quiet.

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