Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a pleasant interruption to any
shopping trip. Afterwards, hop into
a taxi (or take a bus) a couple of
kilometres south to Longhua
Cemetery - actually a rather
charming park - and Temple.
St Ignatius
Cathedral
It may be hard to imagine today,
but Xujiahui is actually the site
of Shanghai's oldest Western
settlement: the Jesuits set up shop
here in the seventeenth century.
The only significant remnant
from their sojourn is the red-
brick, Gothic style Catholic
cathedral, St Ignatius , built in
1910 on the grave of Paul Xu
Guangqi, Matteo Ricci's personal
assistant and first Jesuit convert.
The cathedral was vandalized
during the Cultural Revolution,
its stained-glass windows
smashed, and used as a granary. I t
reopened in 1979, when the
spires were renovated; now the
windows are being replaced with
some that marry Christian and
Chinese motifs. St Ignatius is one
of the many places of public
worship to have received a new lease of life as China's Christian population
has boomed. T The first service on weekdays starts at 6.30am, while Sunday
services begin at 8am.
Longhua Cemetery and Temple
A couple of kilometres southeast of the St Ignatius Cathedral, Longhua
Cemetery of Martyrs (daily 6.30am-4pm; cemetery ¥1, exhibition hall ¥5)
memorializes those who died fighting for the cause of Chinese communism in
the decades leading up to the final victory of 1949. Commemorative stone sculp-
tures, many bearing a photo and a name, dot the park. The fresh flowers brought
daily testify to the resonance these events maintain. Particularly remembered are
those workers, activists and students massacred in Shanghai by Chiang Kaishek in
the 1920s - the site of the cemetery is said to have been the main execution
ground. In the centre is a glass-windowed, pyramid-shaped exhibition hall with
a bombastic memorial to 250 communist martyrs who fought Chiang's forces.
The cemetery is a short walk south from the terminus of bus #41, which you can
catch from Huaihai Zhong Lu (close to Shaanxi Nan Lu), or from near the
Shanghai Centre on Nanjing Xi Lu; alternatively take a taxi.
Right next to the Martyrs' Cemetery is the Longhua Temple (daily 5.30am-
4pm; ¥10), the most active Buddhist site in the city and a centre for training
98
Search WWH ::




Custom Search