Before the sun slips behind the mountains, no one quite knows how the Hanging Temple will appear after dark.
For nearly 1,500 years, the monastery has clung to a sheer cliff face in northern China's Shanxi province, suspended between rock and sky. It appears almost frozen in time, but at night it waits for light to awaken it again.
"I'd seen so many photos and vid- eos of it on social media," says Joe Burns, a British travel vlogger visit- ing the temple for the first time. "But in reality, it's much smaller than I imagined.
Perched more than 60 meters above the valley floor on the cliffs of Hengshan Mountain near Datong, the Hanging Temple is one of China's oldest and best-preserved cliffside wooden structures. From a distance, its red timber columns and yellow, glazed roof tiles resemble a finely crafted wooden box tucked into the mountain.
