Susan's Shanghai Blog - Week 55

This week we headed to the North-Western part of Shanghai to the Jade Buddha Temple. It is an active temple, with somewhere between 70 and 100 resident monks (depending on which website you read). It was founded in 1882 with two jade Buddha statues imported to Shanghai from Burma by sea. These were a sitting Buddha (3 tons, almost 2 meters tall), and a smaller reclining Buddha representing Buddha's death. The temple now also contains a much larger reclining Buddha made of marble, donated from Singapore.

This is the temple exterior, in a bright yellow color.

Once inside, there are several main buildings, this one being the Grand Hall or Great Hall. You can see the incense burners in front in the courtyard.

The Chamber of Four Heavenly Kings contains the statues of Maitreya, Wei Tuo Bodhisattva and the Four Heavenly Kings, who represent favorable circumstance. We got pictures of all four, but can't tell you which is which. There is also a buddha.

The roofline is very characteristic, containing little statues of animals.

There was a wood carving in one of the courtyards where people end up putting coins in all of the little crevices.

Another courtyard.

This is the reclining buddha, located in the Jade Buddha Chamber. It is made of white jade and is lying on the right side with the right hand supporting the head and the left hand placing on the left leg, this shape is called the 'lucky repose'. The sedate face shows the peaceful mood of Sakyamuni when he left this world.

A nice bell in the courtyard.

I think these are the 18 golden Arhats, standing in two groups of nine in the Great Hall.

Guanyin, Shen Cai and his 53 teachers. A large golden statue of Guanyin stands on at northern entrance to the Great Hall, with Shan Cai at her side and sculptures representing the 53 teachers of his life above.

Also in the Great Hall, the central sculpture is the Three Golden Buddhas: Gautama Buddha, the left Amitabha and the right Bhaisajyaguru.

The centerpiece of the courtyard in front of the Great Hall, and people lighting incense to start their prayers.

Next we headed over to the former residence of Zhou Enlai. Quick history lesson: Zhoi Enlai (also spelled Chou En-lai) was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976. He is best known as the long-time top aide to Mao Zedong, specializing in foreign policy. Largely due to his expertise, Zhou was able to survive the purges of other top officials during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. As Mao Zedong's health began to decline in 1971 and 1972, Zhou and the Gang of Four struggled internally over leadership of China. Zhou's health was also failing, however, and he died eight months before Mao on 8 January 1976.

This is his former house, although for me, "house" is a bit of a stretch. The house and its beautiful garden display the Western influence in Shanghai in the early 1900s. The interior itself is very spartan and really seemed more like an office with some cots to sleep on than a house. No pictures inside, so what you get is a vew of the house and its' architecture, the garden, and the status of Zhou Enlai.