Jing'an Park & Jing'an Temple (4/4/2012)

Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Continuing on the Jing'an theme...
We met Kent's work colleagues for lunch at the Bali Laguna Restaurant in Jing'an Park:

Known as the best Indonesian restaurant in Shanghai, we ate well. Good company and Colin & Sharon are the best at ordering a variety of dishes for all the share.
Kerria japonica:

After lunch, Tuk accompanied us to the Jing'an Temple (Temple of Peace & Tranquility) with its iconic guardian lion post:

Tuk tried her luck at tossing a coin into a hole in the bottom of this "well:"

We all succeeded in getting a coin tossed into this contraption:

What Colin calls the giant samovar!
Because it is Qingming Festival Day, we came to see the honoring of ancestors. People fill red bags with paper representations of things they want to send to the ancestors; money, food, houses, cars, etc.

The red bags are then burned so that the offerings reach the ancestors through the smoke rising to heaven:

Statue of Sakyamuni:

Made from Burmese white jade and weighs 11 tons. Sakyamuni, or the Gautama Buddha, is the first incarnation of the founder of Buddhism.
Monks chanting:

Statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy:

Made from thousand-year old camphor wood and weighs 5 tons.
The Jing'an Silver Buddha:

Located in the main Mahavira Hall, it is made from 15 tons of silver.
Behind the Silver Buddha is a stone relief mural:

These murals usually depict stories from the lives of Buddha.
Detail of the carved stones in different colors:

The Jing'an Temple burned to the ground in 1972, so this is a restoration that has been ongoing. Lots of marble and wood:

Modernization:

Marble balustrades and rooflines:

KSS

Temple guardians lined up on the roof eave:

KSS

Hall of the Heavenly Kings:

Back courtyard:

A side hall where they are sticking up cards honoring ancestors:

KSS

Miniature lion post:

KSS

Tamiko & Kent:

(Thanks, Tuk!)
The main lion post:

KSS

Out on Nanjing Road, lots of  colorful Ranunculus asiaticus:

A map on Chendu Road:

Greenspace at the corner of Chengde and Beijing Roads: 

Wujiang Food Street was having a food fair:

I guess it is Consumption Promotion Month!