Zhanshan Buddhist Temple is situated at the eastern foot of Taiping Hill, and is one of the famous Buddhist temples built in modern times in China. It is a huge courtyard with five rows of halls and houses surrounded by hills on three sides and facing the sea in the south. It is located in a beautiful place with cool winds from the sea.

It is covered by green trees in summer and golden leaves in autumn. As the famous Chinese writer Yu Dafu put it, “It is a corner in Zhanshan Hill with summer as cool as autumn”. The Qingdao Municipal government listed it as a key historic site in 1982. Built on the hill slope, the temple has four rows of halls and houses from the main gate to the Depository of Buddhist Scriptures. All the buildings are constructed by stone and wood in a Ming Dynasty style with exterior columns. The temple covers an area of 13.33 hectares, and has three courtyards (east, middle and west).

There are three halls in the middle courtyard, i.e., Hall of Deities, Hall of Sakyamuni, Hall of Three Saints, and a depository of Buddhist Scriptures. In the west courtyard, there are three lass, the Memorial Hall for Master Tanxu, Sanxue Hall and Qi Hall. In the east courtyard, there are rooms for retired old-monks and visitors. There is a Buddha tower in the southeast of the temple. In front of the temple there is a pool for freed captive aquatic animals and a pavilion at the bank.

There is a marble statue of Goddess Guanyin in the pool which is surrounded by marble railings. In front of the main gate, there is a pair of stone lions donated by Prince Heng of Qingzhou Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty. There are calligraphies written by Master Tanxu on the plaque above the main gate and on the wall fence of the temple. The first hall inside the main gate is the Hall of Deities, with the statue of a laughing Buddha in the middle and four deities beside him. Behind the Buddha statue, there is the Bodhisattva, the protector of Buddha dharma.

The magnificent Hall of Sakyamuni enshrines the statue of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, Dazhi Wenshu Bodhisattva, Daxing Puxian Bodhisattva, and 16 respected senior masters on the left and right sides, with the statue of Island Goddess behind them. The Hall of Sakyamuni is the venue for monks to chant the Buddhist Scripture and take part in Buddhist services.

The courtyard is spacious, with slate-covered paths lined by pine trees. The Hall of Three Saints has a spacious and flat courtyard in front. In it are enshrined the statues of Amitabha, Guanyin Bodhisattva and Dashizhi Bodhisattva; behind them is the statue of Dizaongwang Bodhisattva. Beside the Hall of Three Saints, there is the Merit Hall with a façade plaque with inscriptions meaning “The Spirit of Haiyin Temple”. The plaque originated from the Haiyin Temple built by the Naluoyan Cave in Laoshan Mountain in the Ming Dynasty by Master Hanshan, who was falsely charged and sent into exile to Shaozhou in Guangdong Province. His Haiyin Temple was destroyed and his doctrine was abolished.

Three hundred years later, some lay Buddhists raised funds to help Master Tanxu build the Zhanshan Temple, and Tanxu was regarded as the rebirth of Hanshan. Therefore, the plaque was inscribed in memory of Hanshan and Tanxiu. Behind the Hall of Three Saints, there is a two-storey depository for Buddhist Scriptures. The building is strong, fire-proof and in a unique style. It keeps 7,240 volumes of Buddhist Scriptures of the Qianlong Period in the Qing Dynasty, and 1,675 volumes of Buddhist books. It is one of the largest collections of ancient Buddhist volumes in China. There is also the Sequel to Buddhist Scriptures in 151 photocopied volumes published in Hong Kong.

Telephone number: +86 532-83862038

Address: 2 Zhiquan Road, Shinan District, Qingdao