Located on the Longhua Road at the south of the city, Longhua Park is famous for the ancient Longhua Temple, Longhua Pagoda, the Evening Bell-Striking Ceremony and the peach blossoms.
First built in 242 AD, which is during the period of the Three Kingdoms, Longhua Temple is the oldest temple in Shanghai for its long history of over 1700 years. Because of the several destructions by the wars, most of the buildings in Longhua Temple were reconstructed during the reign of the Emperor Tongzhi and Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty.
Besides its long history, Longhua Temple is the largest temple in Shanghai. It occupies an area of over 20,000 square meters (five acres) and the architectural proportion is about 5,000 square meters (one point two acres). Along the 194 meters long (637 feet) axis are the Maitreya Hall (Miledian), Devajara Hall (Tianwangdian), Mahavira Hall (Daxiongbaodian), Three Sages Hall (Sanshengdian), Abbot’s Hall (Fangzhangshi) and the Sutras Keeping Hall (Cangjinglou) which keeps the three treasures of the temple including the Dazang sutras, the gold seals and the Buddhist statues.
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Accessory halls on the two sides are the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, both of them are furnished with the same hexagonal windows and the curved eaves. The whole courtyard was built strictly in the style of traditional Buddhist symmetry and it’s in accordance with the Chinese concept of beauty.