SANS HENG AN

　　SANS HENG AN is situated east of present-day Liuxiang South Road and west of Haizi Bian, and takes its name from the SANS HENG AN temple. During the Qing Dynasty, it was called Sansheng Temple Street, and after the Republic of China, it was referred to as SANS HENG AN. This temple was originally built over 1,000 years ago during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, which was also the period of the Liao Dynasty’s Nanjing City. It is a nunnery dedicated to the Three Saints of the West, hence the name SANS HENG AN.

　　The temple has three courtyards. In the second floor of the main hall in the last courtyard are enshrined the Three Buddhas—Sakyamuni, Amitabha Buddha, and Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha); while the first floor houses the Three Saints of the West—Amitabha Buddha, Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva, and Guanyin Bodhisattva. Although some of the original courtyard spaces have now been turned into building plots for new residential communities, the overall structure remains largely intact. Its current appearance dates back to a major renovation in the early years of the Republic of China. To respect the thousand-year-old all-wood mortise-and-tenon construction, no iron nails have ever been used, and no nails are found on the walls either. The present cloud-shaped glazed tiles and the “five ridges and six beasts” on the upturned eaves were donated by President Li Yuanhong, a devout Buddhist, in the early years of the Republic of China.

　　Source: Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development