In 1882, an old temple was built to keep two jade Buddha statues which had been brought from Burma by a monk named Huigen. The temple was destroyed during the revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Fortunately the statues were saved and a new temple was built on the present site in 1928. It was named the Jade Buddha Temple.
The two precious jade Buddhist statues are not only rare cultural relics but also porcelain artworks. Both the Sitting Buddha and the Recumbent Buddha are carved with whole white jade. The sparkling and crystal-clear white jade gives the Buddhas the beauty of sanctity and make them more vivid. The Sitting Buddha is 190 centimeters high and encrusted by the agate and the emerald, portraying the Buddha at the moment of his meditation and enlightenment. The Recumbent Buddha is 96 centimeters long, lying on the right side with the right hand supporting the head and the left hand placing on the left leg, this shape is called the 'lucky repose'. The sedate face shows the peaceful mood of Sakyamuni when he left this world. As our students remarked, “Gee, not all Jade is Green,..! No, it sure isn’t.
Off next to "East Jinling Road" at southwestern Huangpu District in Shanghai. In late 19th century, this area was a famous market which Chinese and foreign businessmen liked to do their trade. In 1850s, this area was belonged to French Concession. The French colonists set up a lot of stores, theaters restaurants and casinos here. That made this area becomes a famous entertainment street at that time. This street had been rebuilt and now, lots of world's famous companies set their stores here, including shops that sell quality musical instruments. Students had the chance to wander these stores today and find everything from kazoos to Steinway pianos. Seems to me that several people found a mighty fine bakery too. We then had aome time to walk the Bund - along the river - although the rain continued and most of the skyscrapers were obscured by the low clouds.
This afternoon, we ended up at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a imajor research university in Shanghai. Established in 1896 as Nanyang Public School by an imperial edict issued by the Guangxu Emperor, it has been referred to as "The MIT of the East" since the 1930s. It is one of the nine members of the elite C9 League, the Chinese equivalent of the Ivy League. Tonight's concert was the centerpiece of a day celebrating outstanding alumni - much as we do at Viking Days. Their band played, we played together, and the Augie Band played a 60-minute set. Oh....there were many speeches too! All in all, a very fun and memorable evening. Full house (1100 seats!)
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