Island6 Gallery & Zhenru Temple (12/17-18/2011)

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Kent had to go to the Shanghai Railway Station to exchange train tickets, which meant we were in the northern parts of Shanghai. So afterwards we headed over to 50 Moganshan, the art space, to see the special exhibit at Island6 Gallery on Shanghai in the 30s. There were a few things that related to that theme, and when we ran into the gallery proprietor, he said the day after the exhibit reception, they start taking it down. Well!

This is the gallery where video serves better than photos:

That evening we saw a performance of what is called a "sung-through musical" of "Notre Dame de Paris," a French-Canadian production based on the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. This was the inaugural performance for the world's deepest theater, Shanghai Culture Square. The theater itself was pretty spectacular, with an enclosed jet d'eau and an entire stained glass wall. The show was sung in English with Chinese subtitles. Why did some of the songs seem familiar?

Sunday, December 18, 2011

This is our last day to explore Shanghai in 2011, and we have just a couple items left on the B-list!

First to Zhenru Temple. After exiting the Line 11 Zhenru Metro station, we found ourselves in the middle of a huge fish market.

A looong block with vendors on both sides of the street, and then alleys deep into both sides:

Very LARGE clams:

Peanut worms:

Mantis shrimp:

This guy seemed to be stripping the spine out of the eels:

These are huge conger eels split open to dry:

Did they put enough of a load on this handcart?

The next block held the Zhenru Temple, which turned out to be a bit of a pleasant surprise.

It was active with people burning offerings for their ancestors:

Lotus candles:

A wall with every window opening a different shape:

A great covered corridor along a canal:

Lined with calligraphy and paintings:

And bells:

There was a zigzag bridge:

A rockery:

Lattice "windows:"

The pagoda:

Chanting prayers:

Stone lions all in a row:

Stone relief carvings:

Fancy lamps:

The women were hard at work cleaning windows and the fountains:

Inside the what they called the Hall of Perfect Penetration:

was the marble goddess of mercy, Guamyin.
The Matavira or Main Hall:

The very old gingko tree:

The gate:

Next we headed south. A topiary on Zhaojiabang Road:

They seem to be women with balls.
We were on Shaanxi Road in the French Concession:

Our destination was Jianshan Market:

It started out as a local market, but turned into a trendy market:

This is where they have a secret garden up on the roof:

A Common Myna speaks Chinese:

"Hello!"

Nearby was a trendy shopping and office complex, the Loft: