Jade Buddha Temple, which is near the junction of Anyuan Road and Jiangning Road, is a best-known Buddhist temple in Shanghai.

It was built during the years of Ouangxu's reign in Ch'ing Dynasty (1875 ~ 1908A.D.). The war destroyed the original temple, but was later restored in 1918.

The Jade Buddha Temple carries the building style of the palace from Song Dynasty (960 ~ 1279A.D.). It occupies an area of 8000 square meters and contains 299 rooms, including the Hall of Heavenly Guardians, the Shrine of Greatness and Magnificence, and the Jade Buddha Tower.

The halls also house the most completed collection of the Buddhist Books and Records written in Ch'ing Dynasty (1616 ~ 1911A.D.) and various precious scriptures and cultural relics of Buddhism.

This temple is famous for two rare jade statues of Buddha and collection of the Buddhist Books and Records. By visiting this unique temple you will learn a lot about the age-old Buddhism, which is an indispensable part of Chinese culture.

The Buddhist monks in China are vegetarians. The renowned vegetarian meals served here attract a large number of tourists, you can find many variety vegetarian dishes serve here and nowhere else in the world. Remember lots people come here just for that! You can taste the colorful, tasty and fragrant vegetarian meals here. It will bring you endless aftertaste.

History:

People believe that an eminent monk named Huigen from Mt. Putuo, (a Buddhism Mountain famous for its density of temples and monks). He went through lot of difficulty and traveled a great distance to India to pay respects to Buddha in the early years of Ouangxu.

On his way home, he visited Burma and brought back five jade statues of Buddha in different sizes. He left two jade statues in Shanghai, a seated one and a reclining one. People built this temple to enshrine the two rare and difficult to obtain statues of Buddha.

No doubt, those two jade statues of Buddha are the greatest rarities. With numerous agates, jadeites and precious stones, those statues are treasures of Buddhist art. The jade statue of the seated Buddha kept in the Jade Buddha Tower is 1.9 meter high, is carved out of a single piece of white jade, it glows softly and warmly.

The Reclining Buddha is in the Hall of Reclining Buddha. This one meter long statue of Buddha is half-lying on a couch made of red wood. Its bearing looks perfectly calm and relaxed.