[2025 Suzhou Attraction] Travel Guide for Xiyuan Temple (Updated Feb)

Xiyuan Temple has many aliases. Open Baidu or Google Maps, and the Jiezhuang Lu Temple, Xiyuan Ancient Temple, and Xiyuan marked on the map all refer to Xiyuan Temple, the same place. The temple was first built during the Zhiyuan period of the Yuan Dynasty (1264-1294 AD), and was originally named Guiyuan Temple. The existing buildings were rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, it was once converted into a private garden by Xu Taishi, the builder of Liuyuan. Now the temple is a temple garden in Suzhou City. Its architectural features of combining temples and gardens should be influenced by the Ming Dynasty. The main buildings of the temple are all on the north-south central axis, and you can visit them one by one along the central axis. Outside the temple, on the south side is a screen wall with the words "Jiezhuang Lu Temple" written on it. To the north of the screen wall are the Fude Bridge and the Wisdom Bridge that cross the Shangtang River side by side. On the other side of the river, there is an imperially bestowed archway with the words "Imperial Xiyuan Jiezhuang Lu Temple" written on it. The vertical plaque in the middle of the archway with the words "Zhen Guo Jiezhuang" was bestowed by Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. To the north of the imperial archway is the mountain gate. Entering the mountain gate is like entering the temple. First, you will see a large square planted with pine and cypress trees. There are many ancient trees in Xiyuan Temple, such as camphor and ginkgo trees, which have a history of more than 100 years. Going north along the corridor, there are bell towers and drum towers on the east and west sides of the road. After walking through the corridor, you can see the Main Hall. The Sanbao Building at the north end is the Sutra Library, which is not on display to the public. There is the Guanyin Hall on the east side of the Main Hall, and the Hall of Five Hundred Arhats on the west side are worth seeing in the temple. There are 500 gold-covered statues of Arhats from the Qing Dynasty, with different shapes. After worshiping the 13-meter-high Thousand-Handed Guanyin carved from camphor wood in the middle of the hall, the special activity of "counting Arhats" begins. Men on the left and women on the right, choose a statue that you like and start counting, counting one by one until you reach your age in lunar years, and the Arhat in front of you represents your present life. Remember the number of the arhats, and go to the entrance of the arhat hall to get a corresponding arhat card with annotations. There is a statue of Jigong on the south side of the arhat hall and a statue of a crazy monk on the north side. The belts and folds of the two statues are as real as the real ones. It is said that they were the works of the two teachers who sculpted the five hundred arhats. Then go west, the West Garden in the west of the temple is also a major attraction. This is a place with a strong Suzhou garden style. In the middle is a tadpole-shaped release pond, with its head facing south and its tail facing north. The tail extends to the southeast, leading the pool water around the garden and directly leading to the Xiangji Pond in front of the main hall. It is exactly the same as the architectural features of the Jiangnan gardens with waterscapes everywhere. In the middle of the lake is the Lake Pavilion, and with the Souvenir rockery and pavilions, it doesn't look like a temple at all. The two Ming Dynasty giant softshell turtles that have lived for more than 400 years in the release pond have always been a topic of great interest to tourists. Giant softshell turtles are very precious, and there are only a few in the world. Unfortunately, one of them died in 2007. There is a bronze statue of a big turtle in the southwest corner of the release pond. Visitors who cannot see the big turtle can take a photo with the statue to make up for their regret. The "Four-sided Hall" on the east side of the release pond is a place for Buddhist Dharma circulation, where you can buy Buddhist beads and other Buddhist Souvenir. There are two wisterias from the Ming Dynasty on the terrace of the Four-sided Hall, which are more than 400 years old, and there is another wisteria on the south side that is more than 500 years old. Complimentary Buddhist sutra booklets can be obtained at the Dharma Propagation Department on the south side of Xiyuan. Xiyuan Temple is a temple that is said by local people in Suzhou to be very effective in making wishes, and you can pray here. On the first and fifteenth day of every lunar month, there are constant pilgrims; the incense is especially strong during the Spring Festival, and many pilgrims come to pray on the first day of the Lunar New Year. The temple will also hold Dharma meetings on the birthdays and anniversaries of various Bodhisattvas. There is a vegetarian restaurant in the temple, which is on the west side of the Heavenly King Hall and the south side of the Five Hundred Arhats Hall. There are only three kinds of noodles, Ruyi noodles, Arhat vegetarian noodles, and Guanyin noodles, and the average price per person is only 10 yuan. Outside the temple is Gongdelin, an old vegetarian restaurant. The price is slightly higher than that inside the temple. The vegetarian chicken and "sweet and sour spare ribs" are delicious. To the west of Xiyuan Temple is Hanshan Temple, to the east is Liuyuan Garden, and to the north are Dingyuan Garden and Tiger Hill. You can arrange the tour route according to your own preferences.