Shanghai Jade Buddha Temple

Founded in 1882, the Jade Buddha Temple on Anyuan Lu houses a 2 m tall seated Buddha statue, and a smaller reclining Buddha of under 1 m long, each carved out of a single block of white jade and brought in from Burma by monk Huigen. There is also a recent addition by Singapore Buddhists – a marble reclining statue of around 4 m long, sometimes mistaken for the jade one by the uninitiated. With several buildings in the temple complex, you can spend hours viewing the collection of Buddhist sculptures, paintings, scriptures and other artifacts, and soaking in the quiescence of the temple grounds. Devotees and tourists wander the halls and open squares, some with hands in supplication or on their knees at the foot of statues, others burning joss sticks or dropping donations into the collection boxes which help upkeep the temple and fund charity work. 


A vegetarian restaurant takes care of your more worldly needs.

The temple entrance is to the left of the saffron yellow walled facade.

The forecourt of the main hall.

The seated Jade Buddha.

Not the reclining Jade Buddha as the original is less than a meter long.

A dragon-fish carved out of a log hangs outside the Library, symbolizing scholarly accomplishment through perseverance, like the carp that leaped the dragon’s gate to become a dragon.

Cloistered tranquility.

Guanyin, also known as the Goddess of Mercy, one of many Buddhist icons in the temple.