TWO TEMPLES: JING'AN AND JADE ; and A TAXI PROTEST

Sunday Daring was my guide to Jing'an temple and the Jade Buddha temples in the Jing'an District.   I found the temples to be a contrast in style.  Jing'an temple is in the middle of a busy shopping district with high rises and up-scale clothing stores. It is also in the process of being remodeled.  Jade temple, maybe a little more than a half mile away, is set in a modest area of older shops; the temple itself is a contrast to the gold and glitter of Jing'an temple.

Here is Jing'an Temple

Jing'an and three large Buddhas in three different buildings.  The Buddhas are several stories high.  Daring told me that it would be disrespectful to take pictures of the Buddhas so I refrained from photographing anything inside the temples.   She also told me that one of the Buddhas was one people prayed to in order to become pregnant.   Although I don't remember if she stopped at that particular Buddha, she did stop and pray at various Buddhas in the temples we visited.

Here are a few more of Jing'an temple.  I realize on looking at the photos now that they have a foggy feel to it.  The day was clear, but the temples had outdoor places where people were burning incense, and I realize now that the smoke clouded the air.

Here is Daring, who is my guide for the day.

Here you can see the courtyard and the incense burners.  Notice that there is gold everywhere.

While Jing'an had the feeling of being in the middle of the city, Jade Buddha Temple looked as if it might have been in the countryside.   It too had several large Buddhas to whom people prayed, and one very large Buddha.  The Jade Buddhas were in another place in the temple.  There were two of them, one sitting and the other reclining.   We could see them after paying a small fee.   Below are some more photos from the Jade Temple.

I hope you can see the difference in the atmosphere and the richness of the temples.  I found the Jade temple to be the quieter and in some ways the more comfortable place to be.

   You can find pictures of the Buddhas by using these search terms on Google:

Jing'an Temple Shanghai, Buddha photos.








You can find photos of the Jade Buddhas (there are two of them) by using these search terms:

JADE TEMPLE, SHANGHAI, JADE BUDDHA PHOTOS

Here is Daring walking through the container garden.

One of the highlights was this moment as we exited the Jade temple, and stopped to watch visitors feeding the koi.

I did a little shopping at a nearby shopping center and then we went to dinner at a vegetarian restaurant.  But first we checked out the vegetarian restaurant at temple, but it was a little too austere (run-down), so we decided to try one close to Jing'an temple.  This was dinner:

It was quite good.  Two dinners for around  75 yuan I thought was a good deal, but Darin thought it was a little expensive.   75 yuan is equivalent to about 12 American dollars. 

Sitting in the back seat of the taxi, I took photos of the protest the driver had posted on the backs of the seats.   It was dark, so the photos are not very clear.  The signs say something to the effect that he was robbed at his apartment by the government and evil businessmen.   His neighbor lady was robbed at her apartment by the government and evil businessmen and killed hanged herself.

Daring sat up front and talked to the driver.   He told her that the government had condemned the building where he was living in order to build a new high rise, but they did not pay enough for the residents to purchase another apartment, thus the reason the woman killed herself.   He was very upset, and clearly pretty brave to be protesting so openly.  



Good luck, Mr. Taxi Driver.