Chongyuan Temple

Chongyuan Temple, one of the 480 temples of the Southern Dynasties: It was founded in 503 during the Southern Dynasties' Liang period, originally named Chongxuan Temple. It was renamed to Chengtian Temple at the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, and then to Nengren Temple towards the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. During the Yuan Dynasty, it was known as Chengtian Nengren Temple. In 1356, Zhang Shicheng captured Suzhou and converted the temple into a palace, which was restored to a temple during the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, to avoid the taboo of Emperor Xuanye's name, it was renamed to Chongyuan Temple. The temple was damaged during the Cultural Revolution, and was rebuilt on the original site in 2003, with few ancient relics remaining.