Temple of Tang Yin

Temple of Tang Yin

The Temple of Tang Yin is a cultural heritage site protected at the municipal level in Suzhou.

Originally named the Temple of Tang Jieyuan, the Temple of Tang Yin is located at No. 10 Qianxin Street, Liaojiastreet, Taohuawu, inside Changmen, in Zhunti Nunnery (also known as Qizi Nunnery). In the tenth year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty (1582), the monk Xuxiao built several meditation rooms here. In the sixth year of the Tianqi era (1626), Yang Daying established a retreat on this site to enshrine the statue of the Bodhisattva Cundi, naming it Zhunti Nunnery.

During the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty, Jiangsu Governor Song Luo renovated the site. In the fifth year of the Jiaqing era (1800), Tang Zhongmian, the magistrate of Wuxian County, further restored it and expanded an auxiliary room to the east of the nunnery into the Temple of Tang Jieyuan, enshrining statues of Tang Yin, Zhu Yunming, and Wen Zhengming. The room was named “Peach Blossom Immortal Hall.” It was repaired again during the Tongzhi era and renovated once more in 1923.

Zhunti Nunnery faces south and now covers an area of about 2,000 square meters. The mountain gate has five bays in width and seven bays in depth, with a flush gable roof. The side bays extend northward to form two corridors on the east and west, each with six bays and two spans, connecting through the main hall, with a spacious courtyard in between. The main hall is five bays wide, measuring 18.2 meters, and 13 bays deep, measuring 14 meters, with a height of 10.2 meters. It features a single-eave flush gable roof, with double-layered side bays. The gable walls are built in the Guanyin-dou style, extending on both sides into wavy slopes, with the Chinese character “佛” (Buddha) molded in the center of the wall. The main hall is spacious and lofty, with a crane-leg arched corridor in the front and a boat-canopy arched corridor at the rear. The beams and brackets of the front corridor are almost entirely covered with intricate carvings, showcasing exquisite craftsmanship in the Zhe School style. The nunnery once also enshrined Jin Jiong, a former prefect of Suzhou in the Ming Dynasty, and Yang Tingchu, a key member of the Fu She Society. Today, the stone engraving of the *Portrait of the Loyal Yang* inscribed with a eulogy by Wang Yan in the fifty-second year of the Kangxi era (1713) remains on the east corridor in front of the hall, while the west corridor houses a stele inscribed with *Record of the Jin Ancestral Hall* written by Hu Boren in the eighth year of the Tongzhi era (1869). Behind the main hall are buildings and auxiliary rooms, most of which were constructed during the Republican era.