The village of Longhua ("Lustrous Dragon") and the temple and temple fair of the same name, all grew dynamically over the years, with each of the three entities feeding off the growth of the other two in a classical, almost Keynesian-economics feedback fashion. The answer to the chicken versus egg puzzle here (Which came first, the chicken or the egg?), however, is straightforward: it was the temple that gave birth to the village, and it was the subsequent interaction of these two that created the fair, which, in turn, increased the growth of the village cum town and the temple, which in turn increased the growth of the fair, and so on and so forth in successive spirals of decreasing magnitude, for this kind of dynamic generally reaches an equilibrium, or maximum growth potential, fairly quickly – determined, in this case, by the temple's capacity for growth combined with its willingness – or perhaps reluctance – to lend itself to over-commercialization.

 

The history of Longhua Temple – now styled as  Shanghai   Longhua Temple since the village cum town of Longhua has become absorbed by the neighboring metropolis,  Shanghai  – as well as the history of the village and the temple fair will be traced below.

 

 

Longhua Temple is said to have been built as a modest temple in CE 242 during theChiwu (CE 238-251) Reign of the then King of Wu of the Three Kingdoms (CE 220-280) Period, Sun Quan, who ruled the Kingdom of Wu (CE 222–280) from CE 222–252.* According to the legend, it was not the temple per se that the King of Wu was interested in, but the complemental pagoda that would be a part of a network of thirteen pagodas distributed throughout the kingdom which would house the Sharira relics that had come into the king's possession and which are reputed to be the cremated remains of the Buddha (Sakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism).** So in a sense, if we are to believe the legend, the "egg" referred to above was not actually the temple, but its pagoda, though the temple was surely constructed prior to the construction of the pagoda.

 

There is also a dragon legend concerning the origin of the name of Longhua Temple (dragon legends being one of the most common types of legends in China). However, since the dragon also symbolizes the king (they are both all-powerful), and since this temple and pagoda were constructed, according to the legend concerning the temple's origin, specifically on the orders of the King of Wu, the name of the temple (and pagoda and village) could simply be shorthand for "Emperor's Temple" – or perhaps "Royal Temple" (and "Royal Pagoda" and "Royal Village").

 

Longhua Temple was badly damaged during the Tang (CE 618-907) Dynasty, but was rebuilt in CE 977 during the Northern Song (CE 960-1127) Dynasty, then was renamed Kong Xian g Temple in CE 1064, also during the Northern Song Dynasty. Kong Xiang Temple underwent repairs during the reign (CE 1572-1620) of the Wanli Emperor, Emperor Shenzhong of the Ming (CE 1368-1644) Dynasty, when the temple reverted back to its original name, Longhua Temple. The temple as it stands today dates largely from the extensions and restorations that were undetaken during the reign (CE 1861-1875) of Emperor Tongzhi and during the reign (CE 1875-1908) of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing (CE 1644-1911) Dynasty, though the pagoda, despite its many later restorations, has been kept in the style of the Northern Song Dynasty reconstruction of CE 977. The entire temple complex, including the pagoda, were "refurbished" in 1954, but preserving the Qing style of the main temple complex and the Northern Song style of the pagoda.

 

Longhua Temple is Greater Shanghai's largest Buddhist temple and one of its grandest. It has the requisite Drum Tower and Bell Tower for any Buddhist temple worthy of its reputation (the Bell Tower is used every evening and on special occasions for the Bell-Striking Ceremony), and its exquisite old seven-storey brick-and-wood pagoda, Longhua Pagoda, with its quintessentially Chinese, upturned, glazed-tile eaves on each storey and its overall tapered shape, stands at 40.4 meters, the tallest structure of the temple complex. Alas, its age renders it fragile, therefore the pagoda is not open to the public, though one is free to admire it from the outside.

 

Longhua Temple is constructed in the Sangharama Five-Hall Style that characterizes the Chan (in Japanese: Zen) Sect of Buddhism. These are: Maitreya Hall (it houses a statue of the Maitreya Buddha of Chan Buddhism, though rendered in the manifestation of the Laughing Buddha, aka Cloth Bag (as in sackcloth... see below for more on the Laughing Buddha) Monk), Heavenly King Hall, Grand Hall of the Great Sage, Three Sages Hall and Abbot Hall.

 

There are other, less-appealing sides to Longhua Temple which, however, belong to the full picture of the temple: it was used by the Kuomintang (KMT, the so-called Nationalists who eventually fled to Taiwan ) as an execution and burial grounds (behind the temple proper) for the gruesome, anti-Communist purges they carried out in  Shanghai  in 1927; and the Japanese, in 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45, which morphed into the Second World War (1939-45) in the Pacific Theatre) ran one of the largest internment camps near here prior to and during the Japanese massacre at Shanghai, which was a precursor to the Massacre of Nanking (present-day Nanjing , the country's ancient southern capital (nan means "southern") and one of the Four Ancient Capitals of China) a few months later.

 

 

Temples, whether they were of Buddhist or Taoist origin, were typically located apart from villages, though not so far as to isolate them. It was desirable for the temple to be situated a distance from the secular comings and goings of everyday village life, but it was important that villagers could reach the temple – unless it functioned solely or even primarily as a seminary, or monastery, for monks, in which case it might sit atop a tall mountain – in order to worship, also because temples were in large measure dependent upon the generosity of the local populace for their maintenance. Thus, Longhua Temple was built in what was then a rural setting, yet was near to various houses, farms and the like, though there was no town or city present. All that changed with the presence of the temple...

 

Longhua Temple came to fulfill a communal social role as well as a religious role. This is not unusual for Buddhist temples, of course, as many of them today operate restaurants where one can have a tasty and healty meal, albeit, a vegetarian meal, at a very affordable price, while other Buddhist temples sell souvenirs and books, tracts and artwork. In ancient times, the temple, by its very nature of attracting so many devotees and other occasional visitors, especially on festival days, also came to attract commerce.

 

Thus, around Longhua Temple sprang up open-air markets that eventually grew into roofed buildings that housed a myriad of shops, large and small, and the resulting marketplace developed into a village (the same phenomenon occurred along the passes, or gates, of the Great Wall where the Great Wall runs the length of the Gansu Corridor in present-day Gansu Province, though at such gates, the commerce that sprang up served not devoees who arrived for religious ceremonies, but the military contingents that were garrisoned at those passes).

 

The marketplace, before it morphed into the village of Longhua, was only a large marketplace on special occasions, that is, on special festival days, since on such occasions, great numbers of people from far and wide would visit the temple to participate in the festivities that were part religious, part secular. Since there were no shops in this community where the local farmers could purchase, for example, seed grain, farm tools, etc., these things had to be purchased in more distant cities, which was an additional burden upon the farmer and which was instrumental in stunting the growth of the local farming community. Eventually, the commerce that sprang up around the temple in connection with the coming of springtime became an annual temple fair where also seed-grain merchants and sellers of farm implements arrived with their wares, bringing the mountain to Muhammad, as it were, instead of Muhammad being required to journey to the faraway mountain.

 

It was this practical side of the temple fair that had such a profound influence on the growth of the marketplace around the temple, which marketplace eventually morphed into a village with all manner of shops. This in turn expanded the population, bringing more devotees to the temple, increasing the temple fair and thus further strengthening the village and the temple. The merchants who staged the temple fair no longer came from afar; though they still brought in wares from afar, they were the merchants who served the village on a daily basis. However, the very large Longhua Temple Fair of today, spanning over 20,000 square meters, is still an outdoor affair, with makeshift stalls and other arrangements that are put up for the occasion of the fair, but that only makes it more charming – in fact, Longhua Temple Fair is rated as the best of Greater Shanghai's outdoor marketplaces/ fairs.

 

 

Beginning with the Ming Dynasty period of restoration, when the temple that had been renamed to Kong Xiang Temple reverted back to its original name, Longhua Temple, the temple fair at Longhua was no longer simply a religous event, it had already evolved into a full-fledged springtime planting-season festival corresponding to the traditional harvest festival celebrated among many ethnic minorities in China (and in other cultures the world over). At that time, the fair was held at a given date that was thought to be the best to coincide with the planting season (giving farmers time to purchase the needed seed grain and ready it for planting), but since this date turned out to be at the very embryonic beginning of the peach blossom season for the Longhua area, the villagers agreed that it would be better to postpone the fair for two weeks to coincide with the full explosion of the peach blossom, something that proved to be a boon for the fair, as the peach blossom season attracted much larger crowds (currently, the peach trees blossom in the Longhua area from late March through the middle of April).

 

With increasing crowds flocking to the Longhua Temple Fair as a result of the shifting of the fair's date to coincide with the annual peach blossom festival, the temple fair expanded, including thereafter a number of recreational activities, thus attracting ever larger numbers of visitors, and growing the village of Longhua in the process, which had become a township in the meantime.

 

It is claimed that the Longhua Temple Fair helped to increase the population of  Shanghai  as well, which is perhaps true, though  Shanghai  was more or less a sleepy fishing village until the Unequal Treaties (1842-1933) period brought in foreign trade via unwelcome and highly resented (and resisted, at least initially – think: the Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60) trade and territorial concessions, with European, Russian, Japanese and North American representations at port cities all along the coast of China, a development that forever changed the face of  Shanghai  (think: The Bund ), growing that city like no other event in its history except perhaps the development of  Shanghai  as an economic zone after Deng Xiaoping opened up China to the West (to learn more about Shanghai's history, click here).

 

In more recent years, Longhua Temple Fair has waned, the commercial significance of the fair having more or less completely evaporated, though the fair's religious and communal significance remains. However, it is too soon to write the temple fair off, for a new cause can imbue it with renewed significance tomorrow, or next year, or a decade from now. For example, as the world becomes more environmentally friendly, local gatherings of the type held at Longhua Temple Fair will likely take on a new identity and new vigor. In the meantime, it is still a worthwhile event to be a part of, and it is a great time of year to be in the  Shanghai  area.

 

Today, Longhua Temple Fair is still a relatively large outdoor bazaar packed with novelty shops, snack shops and other fast-food eateries, and on the more cultural side there are art and architecture displays, book fairs and dragon and lion dance performances – and of course there are Buddhist religous activities such as the first incense offering, the release of captured animals (for good luck), the Laughing Buddha rite and the ritual of paying tribute to one's ancestors (note that the Laughing Buddha is especially loved by the Chinese people, being – no disrespect meant – the Friar Tuck, as it were, of the various Buddha incarnations... Friar Tuck, the reader will recall from Robin Hood, is the jovial, chubby, balding, worldly monk who was quite fond of food and drink).

 

There is also a tour of the temple's scripture tower with its countless tomes of religious manuscripts. During the day, the visitor can wander about in Longhua Park enjoying the fragrant peach blossoms that are also a beauty to behold, with their pink to purplish-pink tones.

 

In the evenings, there is puppet theatre and traditional Chinese festival singing and dancing that visitors are invited to take part in. In fact, one entire day of the Longhua Temple Fair is reserved for activities geared especially to the foreign tourist. Some of the typical foods served at the temple fair are Longhua mutton (not everyone is a vegetarian), Longhua spiced beans and Longhua tofu (bean curd), plus a long list of traditional Chinese fare.

 

 

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Longhua Temple Fair is a 1700-year-old tradition that was only interrupted briefly during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) and during the SARS outbreak in 2003 and 2004. It is a 'best of both worlds' tradition that combines the religious with the secular, the old with the new. It is an enjoyable event for people of all ages, whether one arrives solo or in a large flock, as a couple or as an extended family.

 

 

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* An alternative legend says that the temple was built by the King of Wuyue of the Kingdom of Wuyue (CE 904-978), one of the ten kingdoms of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (CE 897-979) Period.

 

 

** There are many such claimed relics spread throughout China, just as there are certainly an even larger number of claimed Sharira relics throughout India (and surely in Tibet (Tibet Autonomous Region) as well as in Japan, not to speak of the other Buddhist countries of Southeastern Asia), so the most logical conclusion, if there is any validity to the origin of these ashes, is that the ashes were kept in a shrine in India, Sakyamuni's homeland, and small quantities of them were judiciously distributed among devotee communities throughout India and the neighboring countries that embraced Buddhism. There have been similar claims made by many churches/ cathedrals within the Christian religion regarding the so-called sacraments of Christ.

 

 

 

 

When:

 

Good question! Sometime in early April of the Gregorian/ Solar Calendar (it has to coincide with the blossoming of the peach trees, which usually occurs these days in the  Shanghai  area from late March to early April, and which might just correspond to the period 1^st – 7^th of the Third Lunar Month... the First Lunar Month begins on February 2^nd this year, 2011).

 

 

 

Ta Yuan Plaza in Longhua, on Longhua Road, Xuhui District of  Shanghai.