Discover Shanghai
Jing'an Temple
静安寺
A gilded, teak-and-stone temple complex rebuilt in the 2000s and now wedged between luxury malls on Nanjing West Road - the single best image of how old and new Shanghai sit on top of each other. Floodlit at night on weekends.
The story
What makes this place special
The temple claims a founding in 247 AD under the Kingdom of Wu, beside Suzhou Creek, and a move to this site in 1216 under the Song - the 247 date is traditional rather than documented. In the Cultural Revolution it was razed and the ground used as a plastics factory; the site was returned for religious use in 1983 and rebuilt, and the complex was expanded again with the Jing'an Pagoda completed in 2010. The result is that almost everything you see is modern construction in a Tang-revival manner, built with considerable money. The contents are correspondingly spectacular: a 3.8m seated jade Buddha, said to be the largest in China; a 15-tonne silver statue of Buddha Rudra installed on 19 December 2009, with more than ten three-tonne silver bodhisattvas and disciples added to the main hall; and a 6.2m camphor-wood Guanyin weighing five tonnes.
What you’ll discover
A compact walled compound of heavy timber halls on a raised platform, with a golden-roofed pagoda, set directly among the skyscrapers and luxury malls of Jing'an - the contrast of yellow walls and glass towers is the photograph everybody takes, and it is best from the raised plaza across the road or from the metro exit. Inside, you climb to a courtyard with a bronze incense burner and go through to halls containing the silver Buddha, the jade Buddha, and the camphor-wood Guanyin. It is small; thirty to forty-five minutes covers it.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- This is an architectural and urban experience more than a historical one. Nothing here is old, and visitors who want an ancient temple should go to Longhua instead; visitors who want to see what a rich modern Chinese temple looks like should come here.
- The best view of it is from outside - from the north side of Nanjing West Road, or from the upper floors of the mall opposite, where you look down on the golden roofs against the towers.
- Go at dusk when the halls are lit and the surrounding towers come on. It photographs far better then than in flat daylight.
- The silver statues are the thing to look at closely and are easy to miss in the gloom of the main hall; so is the detail on the camphor-wood Guanyin.
- Jing'an Temple metro station exits at the gate, and Jing'an Park across the road is a good, shaded, free place to sit afterwards - which the temple itself, raised and paved, is not.
- Lunar New Year here involves a famous crush of people buying the first incense of the year; avoid it unless that is what you came for.
When to come
Late afternoon into dusk on a weekday, for the light on the gold against the towers. Avoid lunar first and fifteenth days and the New Year period. Any season - the visit is short and partly under cover.
Getting around
Mediocre. The temple is built on a raised platform above street level and the main approach is by a broad flight of steps; there is a lift or ramped access from the side in some arrangements but it is not obvious and should be asked for at the gate. Once up, the courtyard is level, but each hall has a raised threshold and a step or two. A bad knee will manage with the handrail; a wheelchair user should ask staff at the entrance rather than assume. The compound is small, which limits the distance involved.
Worth knowing before you go
For the famous shot of golden eaves against glass towers, stand outside on the pedestrian bridge at the Nanjing West Road / Changde Road corner - no ticket required. Night lighting runs Friday, Saturday and holidays from about 19:00.
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