Huishan Temple in Wuxi

The world has three major religions, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. They each have distinctive architectural styles for their places of worship. In a Christian church, for example, you will see a lot of the Holy Bible stories. In a mosque you will appreciate how Muslims build their faith and in a Buddhist temple you will see close-up the culture of Buddhism. This is because people with different faiths have different cultures, histories, and customs. In the East, Buddhism is prevalent, with people going to temples to pray for good luck in their lives. In China, there are different sized and styled temples in every city. In this program, we'll introduce you to a more than fifteen hundred-year old building.

It's the Huishan temple with a typical Chinese style botanical garden. It's also famous for the people who have worshipped here, including China's fifth emperor, Qianlong. Despite only visiting six times, it had lasting memories for him and he used his time here to write poems. It's also been visited by other well-known figures including musician A Bing. They all thought the place could give them a unique feeling and help them become more creative.

Located on Xiuzhang street near Taihu Lake in Wuxi, it's home to Jinlian, a square-shaped pool filled with lotus flowers, typically planted by Buddhist monks. The water is also used by women to wash their clothes. Huishan temple has a close relationship with Buddhism. It holds many lectures, to give people professional teaching.

The 30 members of staff ensure a variety of other activities, such as volunteering and charity work. For example, Monk Yuping brings sweet cakes and best wishes to the elderly. This is similar to how Christians like to help disadvantaged groups. Another popular activity is to hang up lights to pray for safety. People like to bring colorful lanterns to hang on the tree and pray good luck for their friends and colleagues.

This temple is an institution with many different parts including an attic, library, and archive. The library has some 3,000 books about learning Buddhism which people can view.

Like many other temples, it also raises money for victims of disasters, such as students who were badly affected by the devastating Sichuan earthquake. Huishan itself raised 20,000 RMB to help.

So, by looking at Huishan Temple, you can see how it compares to churches and mosques.

Let us enjoy the beautiful scenery and waterfall with this song.