Remnants

A massive double decker bus in the "French Concession"--the former area of Shanghai that was under control of France. It is now a major shopping center full of many expensive stores, some of which are Western companies (Caroline - they have a five-story H&M, so quit your job at Dulles and move to Shanghai to work here).

But why pay American/European prices when you can score a knock-off for ~$10 in the street shops? There is apparently a famous street in Shanghai called 七普路 / Qipu Lu (pronounced "chee-pu lu", lu means road). this is a transliteration of "Cheap" and apparently this little street is full of extremely cheap--we're talking $8.50 for Gucci-- goods. Making a stop there is definitely on the to-do list-- anyone need anything??

While I'm on the topic of shopping/shopping centers, take a look at this picture I took inside a modern Shanghai shopping mall:

Remind anyone of an American shopping mall? Very peculiar... the more I go to the wealthier, nicer parts of Shanghai, the more they look American.





Right next door to this very nice shopping center (which was pretty much empty), is the 静安寺 / Jing'an Temple. Below is a picture:







As you can see, the temple is right in the middle Shanghai and can not escape those L'Oreal Eyes. I will refrain from making comparisons with the Great Gatsby. But this temple was extremely interesting to visit because it was actually shut down during the Cultural Revolution, which took place from 1966-1978. (1978 is the year Mao died, though most of the radical culture 'smashing' occurred during the first three years, after which Mao said that the CR was going a bit too far. Nonetheless historians usually give the above date for the Cultural Revolution.)

During this time, the Jing'an Temple was converted into a plastics factory, and it still has not been fully renovated. Take a look at these pictures, one is the back of Jing'an Si, which was free for tourists like myself to walk around/look at, and the other is on the roof of the main hall, a space which can be used for outdoor services:














So as you can see, it looks just like a factory still. At the time of my visit, in the main gathering hall an hour-long chant was in process. It was really beautiful to hear, especially because the only chants I have ever heard are not melodious--this one had a repeating melody.

A second Buddhist location we visited that still holds scars of the CR is a large monastery in Hangzhou. Our class traveled to the tourist city of Hangzhou this past weekend. It was about three hours by bus, south of Shanghai. I forget the Chinese name of the mountain next to the monastery that we visited, but the story is pretty interesting. The Buddhists believe that the mountain flew from the Western Paradise and landed in its current location. Many Buddhist monks and pilgrims travel to this mountain because there are thousands of Buddhas, Arhats, Bodhisattvas, and Heavenly Kings carved into the mountain (if you are interested in the differences between those four categories, send me an email and I'll do my best to use my college education in Virginia to fill you in, hah).

During the Cultural Revolution, Red Guards and other radicals came to this mountain and defaced more than half of the images:
(I decided to show you pictures of myself and my friend Napatra because I don't think I've posted any of myself or friends yet. I hope this doesn't deface the image more than the destruction of the CR, ha !)

But yes as you can see (hopefully), all of the images' faces have been smashed. it is really a pity because it was such a beautiful mountain with very detailed representations of important Buddhist deities.

I am really looking forward to conducting research on this topic in the spring. Why exactly did the Communist Party find ancient relics such as these a threat to the development of the nation? Where were practitioners displaced? And post-Cultural Revolution, how where these sites able to rebound? In the Hangzhou monastery, we viewed a ritual of blessing for a man and woman by Buddhist monks. When was this sort of thing mandated "allowed"?

Time for dinner. until next time.