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Most cities have places that seem to naturally invoke nostalgia and memory in the 
people who visit. In Shanghai, Chenghuang Miao is without a doubt, the place that most inspires a longing for the past.
Chenghuang Miao began its evolution from temple to marketplace during the reign of Qing Dynasty emperor, Qian Long. At that time, there was a period when the famous Yu Yuan Garden had been converted into Chenghuang Miao's "West Garden". In 1855, Yu Yuan's newly restored Huxin Ting Pavilion was converted into a tea house, and brought the first whiff of business into the West Garden-Chenghuang Miao area. From then on, business began to flow in, transforming this former gateway to the spirit world into a bustling market.
In the early days, Shanghai people resi-dents loved coming to the Chenghuang Miao. Anything that anyone could possibly want to buy was sold right around the temple; there were tea houses, restaurants, stalls filled with goods, general merchandise, and snacks. Craftsmen would also collect along the entrances to the lanes and alleys nearby, fixing bowls and plates, fixing barrels, kneading dough boys, providing letter writing services, performing tricks, pulling teeth, and telling fortunes. These roadside merchants and craftsmen have long since disappeared into the tides of history, becoming nothing more than a part of our written and oral memory. They have been replaced with large stores and seemingly ubiquitous small souvenir shops. Today there are no traces of the Chenghuang Miao's famous curio market on Fuyou Lu, but you can now find the "treasure building", Cangbao Lou, which is widely influential in the curio world. The burgeoning Shanghai Lao Jie (the Shanghai "Old Street"), Fuyou Street Market, Fuyuan Mall, crystal-selling Street, and other streets selling small merchandise, make up the fresh new face of today's Chenghuang Miao.
Originally called Ciyunchan Temple, the Chenxiang Ge Temple was established in 1600, as a temple for Buddhist nuns. The temple was most famous for enshrining and worshiping the aloeswood Guanyin Goddess of Mercy. According the Qing Dynasty Shanghai Town Annals, Yu Garden founder, Pan Yunduan, was once supervising the transport of goods to Huaikou when he discovered the Aloeswood sculpture floating on the water. He built a pavilion next to his Yu Garden, and enshrined the sculpture inside, turning the pavilion into his personal temple. During the Qing Dynasty, the convent underwent several expansions.
The Aloeswood Goddess of Mercy was carved from the rarest water aloeswood, and was the only such sculpture that can be found in Shanghai. With her arched foot and a hand resting on her knee, Guanyin appeared lost in thought, and her pose was lifelike and natural. It was said that during times of uninterrupted rain, the sculpture would send out a pervasive long-lasting aroma. Unfortunately, the Goddess of Mercy was completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and a large portion of the temple was turned into a factory. After modem restoration efforts, only one small temple courtyard remains. Nevertheless, Chenxiang Ge still retains its peaceful and secluded Buddhist style. The Guanyin statue currently found in Chenxiang Ge's Goddess of Mercy Temple was carved from Haiqiong aloeswood and donated by Hong Kong Buddhists.
Located on Wenmiao Road, Confucian Temple is the only structure in Shanghai that serves as both a center of worship and of scholarship. Dedicated to Kong Zi or Confucius, the founder of the Confucian tradition, this temple was built in the Yuan Dynasty soon after the founding of Shanghai town. At the same time, the temple also served as a school of advanced study for imperial scholars. Over the last seven hundred years the temple has relocated once, having been rebuilt at its current location during the Qing Dynasty.
Shanghai residents have cleverly linked the location of their weekend second-hand book market to the ancient school and temple, reflecting both a longing for and the continuation of an ancient educational tradition.
All Shanghai locals know that Confucian Temple is the place to go for old books. Book lovers have a special affection for this famous market. Confucian Temple is home to the largest second hand book market in Shanghai, and on Sunday, it seems that every book hunter in Shanghai clears out of their house and heads there, turning the market into a really grand scene. People in the know understand which book stalls have the good books, and crowds around these booksellers become so tight that it seems impossible for even air to escape.
Every Sunday, 230 book stalls pack into the square in front of the temple's main hall, and crowds swarm the area. Not all of the books on sale are true secondhand books. A lot of books are in fact new books that have spilled out from a publishing company's overstocked storerooms. These are usually sold directly to small book dealers "on wholesale", and become low price deals at the Sunday market. Probably the most interesting books that can be found here are the picture story books. Almost all members of the Shanghai Story Book Association became hooked to the Wenmiao book market.
Originally called Qingzhen west mosque and later, Shanghai Xicheng Huijiaotang, Xiaotao Yuan is Shanghai's largest piece of contemporary Islamic architecture. First established in 1917, the mosque was rebuilt at its current location in 1925. Xiaotao Yuan's domed structure is built in the West Asian Islamic style.
Built during the reign of Ming Dynasty Emperor Jia Jing, this was the only section of Shanghai's city wall left standing when it was torn down in the 1911 Revolution. Originally built as a shrine to the General Guanyu, this part of the wall is named after a horizontal board inscribed with the words, Daqian Shengjing — a wonderland of this great world — that used to hang here. The words were written by Qing Dynasty governor-general, Chen Luan.
The Natural History Museum was established in 1956 and currently has a collection of over 240 thousand specimens. Inside you will find exhibits of ancient human history, ancient animals, invertebrates, amphibians, mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, and preserved animal remains. A variety of special exhibitions are also held frequently. The museum exhibitions and facilities at present are not entirely perfect. The Shanghai government is currently planning to build a new museum in Pudong.
Chenghuang Miao is located at 1 Yicheng Lu in the Huangpu District. You can get there by taking bus lines 932 and 569 to their final stops (the Fuyou Lu — Lishui Road intersection and the Henan Nan Road—Mingxing Jie intersection respectively). You can also take bus lines 11,64,126,736, 801, 831,920,926, 930, and the Jinjiang Tour Bus to the Xinbei-men stop on Renmen Lu, or lines 64,66,929, and the Fangchuan Line to the Fuyou Road stop on Henan Nan Road. There are parking lots on Fuyou Road, Jiuxiaochang Road, and Henan Nan Road (near Dajing Road).
Most tourists in Shanghai justifiably give primary status to visiting Chenghuang Miao and Yu Yuan Garden. If you have an abundant amount of time, it is worth giving yourself a full day or two to thoroughly immerse yourself in these places. However, if you are on a limited schedule, you should still set aside at least half a day to spend in the temple and the garden. You can use the rest of your day to explore the curio markets on Dongtai Lu and the Wenmiao Confucian Temple. If you have a little bit more time, you can also check out the Little Peach Orchard Mosque, The Old City Wall-Dajingge, the Shanghai Natural History Museum, and spend some time strolling through the lanes and alleyways in Dongjiadu. For those visiting Shanghai on the run, you can limit your visit to the alleys I and lanes between Chenghuang Miao and Dongjiadu, representing some of the oldest lifestyles in Shanghai. Before you head out, remember take your camera, video camera, and plenty of film.
The snack stalls and snack shops at Chenghuang Miao have a splendid reputation. Here you can find: New Year's cake) crisp rolls with a sesame crust, sweet fermented glutinous rice with rice flour dumplings, stinky dry tofu, roasted sweet potatoes, hot ginkgo nuts, water chestnuts, and pear syrup candy. Most of the snack stands are concentrated in the area near Chenghuang Miao and the Bridge of Nine Turnings.
Nanxiang Steamed Bun Shop(南翔馒头店)
Located on the side of the Bridge of Nine Turnings, this shop focuses its business on small crab meat filled steamed buns (蟹粉小笼包). Every day, you can see a long line of customers here, and piles upon piles of food steamers in front of the glass window. A steamer full of steamed meat buns costs between 20 RMB and 30 RMB. Nanxiang also has two crab meat bun set lunches that cost 50 and 150 RMB respectively.
Lubolang restaurant (绿波廊)
Specializing in local Shanghainese cuisine, for 20 years this restaurant has hosted such luminaries as Queen Elizabeth, Japanese Prime Minister Takeshita Noboru, Argentinean President Carlos Menem, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, American president Bill Clinton and over 40 other distinguished guests. American President Bill Clinton, who came to Shanghai in 1998, was the most recent big name to visit Lubolang. President Clinton's "working lunch" of soybeans and pickled vegetables (咸菜毛豆) and spicy chicken cubes (宫保鸡丁) received strong praise. Despite practicing with chopsticks a full month before his visit, President Clinton went through three pairs before finishing his sweet osmanthus cake (桂花拉糕). Afterwards, Lubolang publicized this visit as the "President's Set Lunch", and took advantage of the opportunity by taking the president's photo and hanging a blown-up autographed version at the restaurant entrance. This occasion has greatly increased Lubolang's publicity in Shanghai. You probably will not be surprised to hear that prices here are expensive. Nevertheless, the food is pretty good. We recommend trying the crab-meat steamed buns, minced crab meat with heart of cabbage, duck tongue in soy sauce, and other special local dishes.
Huxin Ting Tea House (湖心亭茶楼)
This well-established tea house hosted the Queen of England during the 1980's. If you are lucky, when you visit you might be treated to a musical performance with bamboo instruments. As you would expect, prices here are not cheap, so be prepared to spend a lot of money. A cup of tea will set you back at least 50 RMB. For snacks, we recommend trying the quail eggs, zongzi, small glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in reed leaves), and green tea sesame.
Songyue Lou Vegetarian Restaurant (松叶楼素菜馆)
Located between Chenghuang Miao and Xiaoyang Lu, this restaurant is a good value and has pretty good food as well. We recommend the wheat gluten noodles, vegetable-stuffed steamed buns, orchidjellied bean curd, and Chinese crab apple cake. Songyue Lou also serves tasty vegetarian duck and sausage dishes.
Huifeng Lou Muslim Restaurant (回凤楼清真餐厅)
Located at 89 Henan Nanlu near the Shanghai Lao Jie archway, you will find some good Muslim cooking at Huifeng Lou.
You can also find snack stalls along Shanghai Lao Jie selling all kinds of Shanghai-style goodies. If you like fast food, there is a McDonalds on Jiuxiaochang Road next to Lao Chenghuang Miao (the "Old City God Temple").
