Nan Lian Garden, Diamond Hill, Kowloon

Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images

Chi Lin Nunnery

Top choice in Kowloon


One of Hong Kong's most arresting and tranquil escapes, this Buddhist complex, originally dating from the 1930s, was rebuilt completely of wood (and not a single nail) in the style of the Tang dynasty in 1998. Amid lotus ponds, immaculate bonsai tea plants and bougainvillea, silent nuns deliver offerings of fruit and rice to Buddha and arhats (Buddhist disciples freed from the cycle of birth and death), or chant behind intricately carved screens.

The architecture (interlocking sections of wood joined without a single nail) is intended to demonstrate the harmony of humans with nature. It’s pretty convincing – until you see the high-rises looming behind the complex.

You enter the complex through the Sam Mun, a series of ‘three gates’ representing the Buddhist precepts of compassion, wisdom and ‘skilful means’. The first courtyard, which contains the delightful Lotus Pond Garden, gives way to the Hall of Celestial Kings, with a large statue of the seated Buddha surrounded by the deities of the four cardinal points. Behind that is the main hall, containing a statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha flanked by two standing disciples and two seated Bodhisattvas.

To reach the nunnery, take exit C2 of Diamond Hill MTR station, turning right at the top of the escalator (don't enter the mall). It's a five-minute walk east along Fung Tak Rd.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Kowloon attractions

1. Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple

0.75 MILES

A devout ensemble of halls, shrines, pavilions and altars, this busy temple is a destination for all walks of Hong Kong society, from pensioners and…

2. Kowloon Walled City Park

1.09 MILES

Try to imagine that this 1.2-hectare ornamental park, built by the British in the early 1990s, was just a few years earlier one of the most infamous…

3. 1a Space

1.59 MILES

This nonprofit visual-art organisation is one of the most active tenants inside the Cattle Depot Artist Village, holding regular exhibitions of high…

4. Cattle Depot Artist Village

1.61 MILES

This century-old slaughterhouse deep in the entrails of Kowloon has been reincarnated into an artists’ village, its red-brick buildings housing studios…

5. Amah Rock

2.18 MILES

This oddly shaped boulder southwest of Sha Tin carries a legend. For many years a fisherman’s wife would stand on this spot in the hills above Lion Rock…

6. Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre

2.55 MILES

These factory premises that used to churn out shoes and watches have now been taken over by artists and creatives. Many studios are closed on weekdays,…

7. C&G Artpartment

2.57 MILES

Clara and Gum, the founders of this edgy art space up three flights of stairs in a residential building, are passionate about nurturing the local art…

8. Heritage of Mei Ho House Museum

2.67 MILES

This museum inside the Mei Ho House Youth Hostel introduces the history of Mei Ho House, which was among the first batch of resettlement blocks built to…