There are a number of interesting monasteries and temples to visit in Shanghai for China city tours and they make a nice quiet stop within a harried day of shopping and sight-seeing. It's easy to spend an hour wandering around any of these places and while not very busy outside of local festival days and Chinese New Year, you'll get a sense of Chinese religious practices.

Today I will introduce Longhua Temple to you and you can plan Shanghai day trips if you like. Said to have been founded in 247 AD in the time of the Three Dynasties (238-51), the present Longhua Pagoda dates from 977, during the Song Dynasty. The other temple buildings were first built in 687 and rebuilt many times since. Most of those seen today date from the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty (1875-1909). The area around the temple was used as a prison and execution ground for Communists prior to the Liberation; this is commemorated with a memorial on the west side of Caoxi Road.

Longhua Pagoda is just sits in the front of the temple. It is a brick and wood structure, 40 meters tall with 7 octagonal storeys. There are eaves on every storey and bells hanging on the corners and corridors around the body. Longhua Pagoda is the largest of the 16 pagodas in Shanghai. See more Classic China travel by contacting us.