If your Shakeperean impulses make you start itching to find the closest nunnery, the Ji Ming Temple might well suffice. Home to over thirty nuns, this centrally-located Buddhist temple on a hill just south of Xuanwu Lake is not only one of Nanjing's most active temples, but also the most convenient one to visit.

Especially lively around festivals such as the Lunar New Year, the temple greets a steady stream incense-burning worshippers. Here, local parents passing down ancient customs to their children mix with a more recent phenomenon - Buddhist pilgrims on bus tours.

They are following a long history--a temple has existed on this site since 300 A.D. Although the temple has changed names almost as many times as Nanjing has changed rulers, the name Ji Ming (Rooster Crowing) has stuck since its last name change in 1387 (during the early Ming Dynasty). Legend has it that when the emperor of the Southern Tang, and his concubines, hid themselves in the well, in order to escape the enemy, the stains of rouge were left on the wall of the well, and hence its name.

Most of the buildings were destroyed in 1973, when a fire ravaged the grounds, but they have since been rebuilt. The latest restoration is the 44.8 meter-tall Yao Shi Tower, a seven-storey pagoda that offers a 360-degree panorama of Nanjing's skyline.

Try to make it to Ji Ming Temple around lunch time, a good vegetarian restaurant sits in a pavilion at the top of the hill. Although the restaurant doesn't have English menus, try to make do by ordering the "Tian Xia Di Yi Yu"--the "Number One Fish Under Heaven." (The chefs use tofu, vegetables, and a variety of sauces and spices to mimic the taste and presentation of the fish.)

It is easy to combine your outing to Ji Ming Temple with a visit to the Ming Dynasty Walls (Jiefang Gate is just north of the temple's entrance), Xuanwu Park and the Drum Tower (a short walk west along Beijing Xi Lu).

Tel: (025) 360-0842

Open Time: 8:00 ? 17:00

Transport: Bus No's: 2, 3, 11, 15, 20, 24, 31, 48, 52, 70, 304 and Tour Bus 1.

Admission Price: 5 yuan (US$0.6); an additional 2 yuan to climb the Yao Shi Tower

(China.org.cn February 24, 2003)