Shanghai Buddhist Temple 10/22/06

This Buddhist temple is located in a busy part of the city, but it's amazing how quiet and peaceful it feels once inside the walls.


Buddha statue


Worshipers in the temple


Statues representing different gods


This is a picture of a ceremonial wake, during which monks and family members pray for the soul of the departed.


Even the monks can't escape from their cell phones! I'm guessing he was checking the score of the Gopher football game.


The brown building in the center of the photo is the temple. As you can see it is surrounded by high-rises in the back and a shopping mall on the right...not exactly your mountain temple getaway.

More Shanghai Photos 10/22/06

Here we are with our fabulous hosts and tour guides, Stacey's family members from her mom's side of the family. From left to right they are (front row): Uncle Bob and Auntie Margaret, who were visiting from San Francisco; Auntie Helen, who graciously allowed us to stay with her; (back row) Cousin Isbrand, who put together the best 3-day tour you could possibly imagine; and Isbrand's son Spencer, who was nice enough to hang out with us "old folks".


The picture above and the two below were taken at Xintiandi, downtown Shanghai's newest, most upscale neighborhood. This 2-square-block pedestrian mall is the hottest venue in Shanghai.


The cafe and boutique development has restored the late colonial architecture known as shikumen, row houses with courtyards and stone gates. The architecture is an artful blend of native traditional and ultramodern Western.


Xintiandi, meaning "New Heaven and Earth", is famous for its trendy restaurants and international shops and after dark its bars and lounges attract Shanghai's wealthy and hip...like the two seen above ;-)


A shipyard on the banks of the Huangpu River


Some of the never-ending traffic on the river


This boat, with its enormous television screen, can be seen cruising back and forth in front of the Bund advertising everything from watches, to electronics, to anything else you can imagine.


Nanpu Bridge, spanning the Huangpu River, was the first to connect Pudong to the city center. It opened in 1991 and handles 45,000 vehicles per day over its 2&1/3-mile expanse.


Shanghai's People's Park (Renmin Gongyuan) is essentially the city's "Central Park". It is built on the site of colonial Shanghai's horse-racing track and it has 30 acres of trees, ponds, rock gardens, amusement rides and this guy...who just laid a giant egg. For more photos of the park see our 10/28/06 posting titled, "More Faces and Places".

The Bund at Night--Shanghai 10/22/06

The Bund Observatory, often called the "Shanghai Lighthouse". During the colonial heyday of the Bund, it served the harbormasters as a control tower for keeping an eye on the junks and clipper ships that clogged the great port. First built in 1884, the observatory was rebuilt in 1907.






Tourists on the Bund with the neon signs in the background


Pudong on a cloudy, rainy night




Lucky for us they had fireworks over Pudong the night we were there!

Shanghai's Yu Garden (Yu Yuan) 10/20/06

Yu Garden is one of China's loveliest private classical gardens. Its name means Garden of Contentment, and once inside you literally feel miles away from modern and hectic Shanghai.


Its construction was completed in 1577 by an official, Pan Yunduan, as the private estate for his father, who served in the Ming Dynasty as the Minister of Punishments (imagine handing out THAT business card).


Its 5 acres are a remarkable maze of gorgeous Ming Dynasty pavilions and elaborate rockeries, arched bridges, and goldfish ponds, encircled by a massive, undulating dragon wall.

Shanghai's Old Town 10/20/06

Shanghai's Old Town is the picture of classic Chinese architecture and it functioned as the main Chinese district of downtown Shanghai during the colonial era (1842-1949). Located just a few blocks southwest of the Bund, it is considered the oldest district in Shanghai with the most traditional shops and best steamed dumplings--which we can attest to! Old Town is the location of Yu Garden and the Huxinting Teahouse, two of Shanghai's most striking treasures, and the area draws as many as 200,000 visitors daily.






Behind us is the Huxinting Teahouse (Huxinting Chashi). China's quintessential teahouse has floated atop the lake at the heart of Old Town since 1784, built by area cotton-cloth merchants as a brokerage hall. Tea drinking was forbidden inside for nearly a century, until the late 1800s, when it became what it is today.


Huxinting (meaning "mid-lake pavilion") is reached via the Bridge of Nine Turnings, so designed to deflect evil spirits who are said to travel only in straight lines. The five-sided, two-story pavilion with uplifted eaves and turrets has served everyone from visiting heads of State to local laborers.


More Western influence...notice the Starbucks and Dairy Queen signs? It definitely takes away from the China charm. Although I can just imagine the various emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties sitting down to enjoy a nice Blizzard or a Grande Skim Latte.

Chinese Cemetery in Shanghai (continued)

Chinese Cemetery in Shanghai 10/22/06

During our trip Stacey and I wanted to pay our respects to her Uncle William, who is buried at a beautiful cemetery in Shanghai.