The Hanshan Temple has won great reputation at home and abroad because of the well-known poem by the Tang poet Zhang Ji a thousand years ago, in which are the lines: Away from the town of Suzhou stands Han Shan Temple, the chime of its mid-night bell reaches as far as my boat. 

For the last dozen years, the Bell-Tolling Ceremony on New Year's Eve at Hanshan Temple has become a special tour item of sustained popularity.