Jing'an Temple

Jing'an Temple
Location
Country	China
Geographic coordinates	31.2250000, 121.4408333

Jing'an Temple (Chinese: 静安寺; pinyin: Jìng'ān Sì; lit. 'Temple of Peace and Tranquility') is a Buddhist temple on the West Nanjing Road in Shanghai, China. Jing'an District, where it is located, is named after the temple.

History

Buddha in the Precious Hall of the Great Hero

The temple was first built in 247 AD in the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. Originally located beside the Suzhou Creek, it was relocated to its current site in 1216 during the Song Dynasty. The current temple was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty but, during the Cultural Revolution, the temple was converted into a plastic factory. In 1983, it was returned to its original purpose and renovated with the Jing'An Pagoda completed in 2010.

Features

The Guanyin Hall

Jing'an temple inside the modern urban area

Shanghai Jing'an temple

Three Southern-style main halls, each with its own courtyard, dating from the most recent reconstruction (1880):

• Hall of Heavenly Kings
• Hall of the Three Saints
• Hall of Virtuous Works
• The Precious Hall of the Great Hero, or main hall
• To the east of the main hall is the Guanyin Hall. In the center of the hall is a statue of the goddess made out of camphor wood. Standing on a lotus-shaped base, it is 6.2 meters tall and weighs 5 metric tons
• Opposite the hall is the Jade Buddha Hall, where a 3.8-meter jade Buddha sits in the center. It is the largest sitting jade Buddha statue in the country
• Abbot's Chambers
• Ming Dynasty copper bell (Hongwu Bell), weighing 3.5 tons
• Stone Buddhas from the Southern and Northern Dynasties period (420-589 AD)
• Paintings by master painters, Chu Zhishan, Zhang Daqian and Wen Zhenming

Transportation

The temple sits on top of the Jing'an Temple Station, a major hub of the Shanghai Metro network where Line 2 and Line 7 intersect.

External links

• Article at chinadaily.com.cn
• Official Website (in Chinese)