In Suzhou, the most obvious famous temple is of course the Han Shan Temple (寒山寺). In Cantonese, it will pronounce as "Hon Shan", so this name may be some sort of transcription error, or a translation based on different dialects.
The style of architecture looks like it too. However, I am unable to find any photo that matches the view on Google Map. It could have been rebuilt and/or refurbished many times in between. And I have also not looked up its history of aerial ropeways. See if you can find anything extra about it.
Thanks Breskvar. I've just looked at the photos of the temple online, and also the site in Google Earth. The land there looks very flat, not like the steep hillside in this photo, so I don't think the photo shows Han Shan Temple.
Tymon also notes that the ropeway in the photo above appears to carry skips rather than the passenger-gondola we see in the photo below that we know shows this ropeway:
I can't think why they'd run skips to and from the camp, so at the moment there's no firm evidence that this shows the ropeway at Beacon Hill.
Comments
We guess that's the ropeway
We guess that's the ropeway near Beacon Hill. Can anyone recognise the village in the foreground?
Regards, David
Are we looking north in this
Are we looking north in this picture and seeing the Shatin heights-end of the ropeway?
North / Shatin Heights
Hi Phil,
The sun is behind the photographer, so we're looking somewhere between northwest & northeast.
I'm not sure about Shatin Heights though. If that means the area near Tai Po Road, it seems too far west to be involved in the tunnel project.
Regards, David
Or not Hong Kong?
Tymon Mellor notes there is another copy of this photo at http://www.photofromthe1st.com/gallery/
On that site, they caption it:
Subject: Cn85 - Temple Hoshan
Date: C1900
Area: Suzhou
Though I can't find any mentions of "Temple Hoshan" on the internet.
Can anyone add any more clues to where this was taken?
Regards, David
Han Shan Temple?
Hi David,
In Suzhou, the most obvious famous temple is of course the Han Shan Temple (寒山寺). In Cantonese, it will pronounce as "Hon Shan", so this name may be some sort of transcription error, or a translation based on different dialects.
The style of architecture looks like it too. However, I am unable to find any photo that matches the view on Google Map. It could have been rebuilt and/or refurbished many times in between. And I have also not looked up its history of aerial ropeways. See if you can find anything extra about it.
breskvar
re: Han Shan Temple?
Thanks Breskvar. I've just looked at the photos of the temple online, and also the site in Google Earth. The land there looks very flat, not like the steep hillside in this photo, so I don't think the photo shows Han Shan Temple.
Tymon also notes that the ropeway in the photo above appears to carry skips rather than the passenger-gondola we see in the photo below that we know shows this ropeway:
I can't think why they'd run skips to and from the camp, so at the moment there's no firm evidence that this shows the ropeway at Beacon Hill.
Regards, David