| Temple of the Jade Buddha | Shanghai City |
| Shanghai Acrobatics | Shanghai Pub |
Temple of the Jade Buddha
On our arrival in Shanghai we found time to go see this temple. Unlike the Feilai Feng Temple it was ok to take photos here. This temple is famous for having survived the cultural revolution intact and for it's Jade Buddha. I have not included a pic of the Jade Buddha here because we could not take pictures of it so I popped a postcard scan into the Pic Archive. Instead I am showing a beautifully serene gilt statue of Buddha, one of many that decorates the temple.
If you have any interest in Buddhism and you happen to be in Shanghai, come to this place. It is a very active temple with many monks and nuns who live on the premises. Whilst we were there we saw a service in progress where the monks and nuns sang from scriptures. Meanwhile other worshippers burned incense and prayed to the various statues.
So what is the deal with all these statues of Buddha ? After all the man himself was totally opposed to idolism in any way - so why are there so many of them ? Well it all stems from Hinduism and Islam. Buddha was born and lived in India, in a majority Hindu country 2500 years ago. He became so famous in his lifetime and gained such a following after his death that the Hindus had to make him a deity within their own religion to head off the rate of conversions. That said, all was well for over 2000 years until Muslims started invading north eastern India and inflicting very heavy losses, especially among the Buddhists (who were pacifists). Quickly, the Muslims developed such a violent reputation that the Buddhists would simply run away rather than face certain death. As a result they were spread far and wide across a large expanse of Asia. They carried with them their moral traditions and that was how Buddhism spread outside of India (ironic isn't it ?). Around the same time european technological advances which were the precursors of the industrial revolution started to have some small impact of India. One of the new skills that the europeans discovered was mass-casting of large and intricate metal objects such as statues. The Hindus learnt this skill and put it to very great effect in their temples for two reasons: firstly, the average man could not read, so mass produced statues were a good way of bringing the myriad Hindu deities to life and secondly, the Hindus were baiting the Muslims because worshipping of idols is strictly forbidden within Islam.
So as a natural consequence of the Muslim/Hindu wars along with the beginning of the industrial revolution, untold numbers of statues of Buddha were cast and distributed throughout India and beyond. Buddhism was exploded by the advancing enemy in a way that could not have been achieved otherwise. So today we see that Buddha is idolised against his wishes, and his philosophy of life has become one of the worlds major movements.
Shanghai is an awesome city. The financial district features buildings that should only exist in comics and Batman films. Pictured far behind H is the bizarre Pearl TV tower, reaching high above the skyline. The city is wonderful to spend time in, especially for europeans because here you see a high degree of colonial influence. There are areas of the city that serve up french, italian, portuguese and even english food. It certainly deserves it's title as the 'Paris of the East'. I very much liked the crowded and heavily decorated streets, it was so easy to imagine I was in the set of a Jackie Chan film. Some of the other tourers went to different areas of the city, principally the Bund (a riverside part of the city), where they became the envy of my wife, finding some 'genuine' Gucci watches for 12 Yuan (thats about a quid in Sterling).
Do not miss this ! The picture really does show four women standing on their heads whilst they each spin four plates on four long sticks. How they got that way was a feat of concentration and training. Also in the show was the fifty or so people on a bike trick. Not having ever seen this live I didn't realise how impressive it was. There was also all sorts of neck-breaking gymnastics with no safety ropes or harnesses. The grand finale of the show was the Wall of Death, except this time it was the Small Ball of Certain Destruction. By the climax of the performance there are three motorcyles inside a very small metal sphere all zooming around fast enough to turn upside-down. Their speed defeated the shutter on my camera (you can see my effort to capture the act in the pic archive). It was a real wonder that they did not crash. At moments it looked so dangerous you felt like shouting out to them 'Stop, I don't want to see you all die just for my entertainment!' I am very relieved to report that no one was hurt during the performance (well unless you count everyones hands from clapping so much).
This was the last night of the tour for me and most of the group. So that made it the last chance for a night out together. We came into the bar (a typical ex-pat pub) and took over the far end around the dance floor. Many, many beers were sunk and the dancing began. It didn't stop until well into the small hours after one of the group (pictured) had performed a strip show for a finale. Obviously, I couldn't drop that one in here -> click the pic and find out.
Of course parting is such sweet sorrow. So for now I'll finish up with an invitation to anyone from the tour. You are all welcome to come and visit us any time in the sunny Middle East.
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