San Su Temple is the former residence of famous Northern Song dynasty(960-1127) writer Su Xun, Su Shi and Su Zhe who were father and sons(Su xun was the father and Su Shi, Shu Zhe the sons). It is located at southwest part of Meishan City, 60 km south to Chengdu. In China's Yuan dynasty the old house became a Temple to memorize the Sus' great contribution to literature. In Ming dynasty, the old house was burnt over by a big fire. During the 4th year of Qing Emperor Kangxi period(1665), the Temple was rebuilt and enlarged to a bigger scale of 56,800 square meters. In April 1984, it was formally renamed 'Meishan San Su Museum'.
San Su Temple is surrounded by the red walls, green water, ancient trees, bamboo forests etc, forming a bamboo growing along the river scenery and the island home features. The total area of San Su Temple is11,500 square meters. In this garden-like compound, the main buildings are the main entrance, lobby, court office, Phoenix Attracting pavilion, Side living rooms, Cloud Islet floor tower etc.
All the building are layed out along a central axis based on symmetric equilibrium and composed of three courtyards which are in traditional Sichuan Qing dynasty construction style. But, the buildings are more freely arranged along the 2 sides of the axis to make the whole compound more flexible.
San Su Temple is well-known through out the world because of the three Sus(the father and sons). San su(three Sus) was listed in the 'Top 8 Philosphors of Tang and Song Dynasty' because of their exellent invention capablity in literature and brilliant achievement in literature.Their masterpieces were passed down to nowadays. Besides, the three Sus(the father and sons) were with great morals, smpathetic to the poor people, concering about the country's future. They also did a lot of thing to benefit the local people.
Su shi is among the most famous literature masters in Chinese literature history. With his convention and leadership, the literature reformation was completed in Song dynasty and the literature in Song dynasty came to another peak. His poets have a varieity themes and rich contents and his prose was wtritten plain and naturally, smooth tactfully and with ease. His verses always have an open and straightforward meaning, while some of them are written in a very pure and tranquil way. His calligraphy and pianting were abosutely different from the old masters and made himself stand apart.
