My China Dayze : LONGHUA TEMPLE AND PAGODA, AND THE MARTYRS MEMORIAL

June 17. LONGHUA temple is the oldest and largest of the Buddhist monasteries in Shanghai. I decide to visit this afternoon. I've been thinking about it since visiting the temples in Jing'an. But the visit to Longhua is only the beginning of the day's adventure because it opens the doorway to Longhua Park and the remarkable Martyrs Memorial that is housed there.

But first the temple. The taxi driver drops me off and points in the general direction of east, I think. So I begin walking until I come a yellow wall. I've already seen the Pagoda. It stands tall and alone, so it's visible from the main road.

It's a drizzly day, so everything seems enveloped in a haze.

In front of the Pagoda is a little pool.


The entrance into the temple area.

These young men are preparing to burn large incense sticks. The grounds are quiet today. There are few people. There is a group of monks chanting and beating a drum somewhere in a side temple.

There are several temples down the center of the area with side buildings, some of which have smaller temples. The buildings down the center hold large Buddhas and a series of other guardian Buddhas. One Temple houses what might be called a thousand Buddhas, smaller gold statues that fill the room.

I avoid shooting inside the temple but in a couple cases, the images are clearly visible from outside.

As I leave Longhua temple, I become curious about the park which sits next to it, so I decide to walk a little ways into and then return to the entrance to catch a cab, but I am drawn to the sculptures that immediately capture my attention.

THE PARK:

This huge piece of bedrock stands to welcome visitors to Longhua Park. Below is the backside of the rock; it looks as if it is made for climbing. As I walk through the park, sculpture after sculpture appears, I believe all telling the story of Communist patriots who died for the country. I see a map of the park and something that says cemetery, but I am unprepared for the memorial I about to see. As you can tell, the sculptural style is grandiose and patriotic.

Down the center walkway of the park, I come across this site. The central structure turns out to be several building stacked behind one another.

The first building is a memorial hall. It features the photographs of hundreds of Chinese martyrs. Between 1928 and 1937 some 800 Communists were imprisoned and executed by the Kuomintang. The park is the site of the prison and execution site. I discover this after I get back to the hotel and thumb through the guidebook. (poor planning on my part.) The guidebook goes on to say that during WWII the site was a Japanese internment camp and airfield as depicted by the Spielberg film Empire of the Sun, from the novel by JG Ballard, who drew on his boyhood memories in writing this piece of fiction.

A wall on inside the memorial building.

Here is a window over a staircase going downstairs.

Unfortunately, this description and history is blurry. Below is the second "page."

Here is the first of many walls that are filled with photos of the martyrs. I can sense the patriotic feeling this exhibit is intended to evoke from those who wander through. But there are not many in here on this drizzly, gray day. A couple of men, a woman, and maybe another two or three in addition to me.

I take several passes through the park. Earlier I started down the right side of the map, from the bottom, then before reaching the black sculpture, I retraced my steps and walked down the center portion until I reached the memorial . Having viewed the memorial I walked here to look at the map. I opt not to go down to view the sculpture honoring the martyrs who died on April the 12th, and instead I drift south to view the black children's sculptures on both sides of the park and subsequently walk north along the left pathway. In doing so I miss the underground tunnel that leads to the prison.

These look like grave sites. Some workers are maintaining the area.

Here's the big triangle. The building seems to be closed, but I walk around the back and far sides to come out to a fountain and more sculptures.

To the right is a closeup of part of this sculpture.

Here in the closing moments of my tour through the park, amid all of the Communist patriotic themes, I hear a saxophone permeating the roar of the water spraying from the fountain. It's sonorous tones spread over the area maybe 100 yards away. Its source is a mystery. There are no loudspeakers and it's definitely an American song, and breaks whatever patriotic Chinese mood there may have been. The title of the song escapes me for a moment, but I can hum the theme.

I search for the source of the music and find this little entry, where a young Chinese man is playing. He's sitting deep in the shadows, hidden from view. The title rushes over me like the spray from the fountain: "On Blueberry Hill."

If this video works, don't blame the videographer. If the image is unreadable, remember it's here for the sound, for the young man is virtually hidden in the shadow. The background static is the sound of water from the fountain. (see above)