Nanshan Temple (in simplified Chinese 南山寺) is located in the southern part of the of Sanya City, which covers an area of 400 acres. Under the construction plan, there had been meditation hall, towers, and supporting Office of the Court being set up in the temple. Of course, as a Buddhist temple, the above things are preliminary and essential. Surely, there would be a Buddhist being placed in the temple to give the meaning and sense of Buddhism. In the first phase of the construction project, 100 million yuan had been spent. Therefore, we can see the determination of the government to set up a Buddhist temple in a modern time.

In fact, the place where the Nanshan Temple is located now was previously also a Buddhist temple, but the history of it was very long. About 1200 years ago, a monk, together with other monks, decided to take a ship to go to Japan. However, when they arrived at this location, they discovered that their ship was destroyed in the bad weather. Therefore, they decided to stay onshore and prepare for their trip. After a few months, they finished building the ship and they finally successfully arrived at Japan to spread Buddhism. Therefore, when they came back to China, they built a temple in this location to commemorate their trip.

Sadly, after thousand of years, the temple had been ruined and no one could find any bits of the remains of this temple.

But nowadays, the new Nanshan temple had been set up in this location. It is really a coincidence, right? Or it is the decision of the Buddha? Who knows?

When visiting this temple, you should pay attention to the building style. As mentioned above, this temple is relatively new one. Therefore, they would be more or less a bit modern building style fused with the traditional one. If you love fusion and you would like to see the fusion of old and new Chinese building style, you should not miss this temple.

Of course, since it is a religious place, you should respect the religion and should not do anything that would harm the feeling of the people who were doing their worship.

Filed under: Hainan

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