Last day in Shanghai … for now!
Had a few hours to kill before our driver came to pick us up for the ride down to NingBo. Went to see ‘Jing An‘ temple – a Buddhist temple right amongst the shopping malls in the heart of Shanghai. ‘Jing An‘ loosely translated means: the hall of heavenly kings or peace and tranquility.
Peace and tranquility was just what the doctor ordered – what a relief it was to escape the constant bombardment of Hongkong pop dribbling at you over breakfast, in the hotel lobby, in elevators, on busses and on the streets. There is such an over-saturation of noise here in China that an old blind man, sitting at the exit of a street underpass, playing an ‘er hu‘, a traditional 2-string Chinese instrument, can almost not be appreciated for its beauty and simplicity. A shame really. I guess one good thing is that I don’t understand any of it, which makes cutting it out or not being sucked into it a little easier, but not by much.
‘Jing An’ is quite a beautiful little temple. It is the most famous landmark in the Jing’an district, where our hotel was, and is known as the oldest shrine in the city of Shanghai dating back to 247 BC (although accounts of this differ depending on where you read up on it). This would mean that it is older than the ‘official’ foundation of the city itself. It has undergone considerable reconstruction since the mid 90’s. Some of which is still to be finished.
Inside, the temple is decorated with big trees of Camelias and Azalea. I’m still mazed by them every time I seen them. People were lighting incense sticks and praying to two big golden statues of Buddha. I also loved the mixture of old and new. Maybe this next picture will illustrate what I mean by that.
In the foreground – parts of the temple and its main courtyard, the middle statue being part of the prayer ceremony with people throwing money in its opening. At the back, the wooden, simplistic structure of the temple, and then the skyscrapers of modern Shanghai. Funnily enough, although one is stepping off the noisy streets and into a much calmer, relaxed world, the escape from advertising media inside the temple is limited only to the reduction of noise. Adverting billboards situated far above the temple remind of other types of worship – western brands, shopping malls – anything to satisfy your needs for consumption.
I guess it’s all part of China’s rapidly developing economy. More on this over the next couple of months, as I write my entries. Let’s hope that the new does not drown out or even replace the old too much! Coexistence of both makes for a lot more vibrance and interest and in the case of Jing An temple provides such a nice escape from sensory overload.
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