Yunyan Temple (Suzhou)

The Yunyan Temple () or Tiger Hill Temple () was a historical temple located on

Tiger Hill The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

, in

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The temple was founded in 327 and was last rebuilt in 1871. It has suffered damage in successive wars throughout history, and much of the temple was finally destroyed during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, which ended in 1945. The grounds of the temple covered most of what is today Tiger Hill park. Some elements of the temple survive and are important features of the Tiger Hill park. These include the formal entrance to the temple (and today, the formal entrance to the park grounds), its famous, "leaning" pagoda (the

Tiger Hill Pagoda The Tiger Hill Pagoda, more officially the Yunyan Pagoda (; Suzhou Wu: Yuin nge zy thaeh, or ; Suzhou Wu: Hou chieu thaeh, ), also sometimes translated as Huqiu Tower, is a Chinese pagoda situated on Tiger Hill in Suzhou city, Jiangsu Province ...

), and several other buildings and smaller shrines scattered throughout the park. This Pagoda was extremely important during the Song Dynasty, when it was the center of many religious events, festivals, and worshiping. Buddhist temples in Suzhou {{Suzhou-stub