Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
fairs. Ironically, its most distinguished show in 2007 was the wildly popular
“Millionaire's Fair”, at which the city's new rich enjoyed browsing through
yacht catalogues.
Jing'an Temple and around
Continuing down Nanjing Xi Lu brings you to the
Jing'an Temple
(daily
7.30am-5pm; ¥10), another building, hemmed in by skyscrapers, that doesn't
seem quite comfortable in itself (perhaps aware that Shanghai's true places of
worship are up the road, with names like Plaza 66). Building work first began
on the temple in the third century, and its apparent obscurity today belies its
past as the richest Buddhist foundation in the city. In the late nineteenth
century it was headed by legendary abbot Khi Vehdu, who combined his
religious duties with a gangster lifestyle; the abbot and his seven concubines
were shadowed by White Russian bodyguards, each carrying a leather briefcase
lined with bulletproof steel, to be used as a shield in case of attack. At the time
of writing the temple was in an ugly state of reconstruction, but it should be
considerably prettier by the time you read this. The main hall is currently a
concrete bunker, holding a golden statue of the Laughing Buddha and figures
of eighteen
arhats
; in the corner is a model of what the new hall will look like
when it's finished. More effort seems to have gone into the shop in the western
wall, which sells religious trinkets.
Over the road is attractive
Jing'an Park
, once Bubbling Well cemetery, which
has a good pit stop in the form of the
Bali Laguna
restaurant (see p.121). One
block southwest, at the corner of Wulumuqi Bei Lu and Yan'an Xi Lu, lies the
grandiose yet slightly run-down
Children's Palace
. Originally known as
Marble Hall, the sprawling estate was built in 1918 as a home for the Kadoories,
a Sephardic Jewish family and one of the principal investors in pre-World War II
Shanghai. The drab, worn exterior gives no clue to the chandeliered ballrooms
of the mansion's grand interior. In its current function as a children's art centre,
it hosts frequent singing and dancing performances on weekday afternoons and
at weekends. The only official way to see them is by arranging a tour with CITS
(see p.42), but you just might find the back gate along Nanjing Xi Lu ajar if you
come here on your own.
Yufo Temple
Three kilometres north of the Jing'an Temple is the
Yu f of Te m ple
( Jade
Buddha Temple; daily 8am-5pm; ¥15) a much more interesting and attractive
complex. The pretty temple buildings feel much more authentically temple-like
than those at Jing'an, with flying eaves, complicated brackets and intricate roof
and ceiling decorations. It's a lively place of worship, with great gusts of incense
billowing from the central burner and worshippers kowtowing before effigies
and tying red ribbons to the branches of trees, to decorative bells and to the
stone lions on the railings.
The star attractions here, though, are the relics. Two
jade Buddhas
were
brought here from Burma in 1882 and the temple was built to house them. The
larger, at nearly two metres tall, sits in its own separate building in the north of
the temple, and costs ¥10 to see. It was carved from a single block of milky-white
jade and is encrusted with agate and emerald. The second statue, in the western
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