Jade Buddha Temple

Last week I played tour guide to a friend of a friend that was in Shanghai for a few days. I was excited about this because there are quite a few things that I just haven't gotten around to seeing here. The first stop was the Jade Buddha Temple. I did a little bit of research before we went and was looking forward to the "peaceful and transcendent atmosphere" that one website promised. I did find it a bit strange that the opening hours were different on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, but didn't really think much about this. If I had thought about what this really meant, I would have figured out that the 15th day of the 1st lunar month is January 15th - the day that we were visiting the temple.

When we arrived outside the temple, it was mass chaos. I would have taken some photo's but was a little too overwhelmed and was more focused on how to get tickets to get into the temple. As it turns out, we arrived for our visit on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month. And guess what, all of the locals were there too. Apparently, this is a special day for the Buddhists and on this day they show up to the temple to pray and offer gifts to the statues. There were stands set up everywhere selling incense - and everybody that purchased a box of incense immediately opened it and started letting it smoke.

We managed to make our way into the various rooms but unfortunately couldn't do much reading or truly appreciate the meaning and history behind each of the statues. In front of each statue, people formed lines and waited patiently for their chance to pray. There were various areas where people could offer gifts to the statues - mostly in the form of fruit and flowers although I did see one bottle of sprite given as an offering.

I managed to take a few photos but felt like I was intruding on a prayer service and didn't want to disrespect the locals. We were able to snake our way through the various buildings and capture a glimpse of the famous statues. All the people and chaos ended up being more than I could handle so I suggested we make our way to the exit and we continued the tour of Shanghai in a less crowded market. Hopefully the next time I visit the temple it will be calmer and I will be able to appreciate the history a little more.

One of the statues

Outside one of the temples - you can see the people waiting in line to go in

another statue

Offering table - almost all fruit with on random bottle of sprite