In Shanghai, I finally found the ancient charm of the late Tang Dynasty

🔛 After murmuring to myself for several months, I still came because I truly love this Tang-style temple. 🌳 This secluded monastery, with fewer skyscrapers and bustling crowds, invites a sense of calm as you enter its gates. 🌳 It was founded in 1511 (the sixth year of the Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty), over 500 years ago. Through dynastic changes and a restoration project restarted in 2005 that cost 800 million, it has been built into the most beautiful late Tang palace-style temple in Shanghai to date. 🌳 The entire temple is constructed using the quintessential Chinese mortise and tenon woodwork and has received the highest award in the construction industry, the 'Luban Award'.👍🏻 🌳 As you enter from the mountain gate, you are immediately greeted by the ancient Tang-style ambiance. The east and west corridors connect the Hall of Heavenly Kings, the Mahavira Hall, the Guanyin Hall, the Medicine Buddha Hall, the Jialan Hall, the Sutra Repository, and other structures, complemented by a unique Tang-style Zen garden and meticulous attention to detail, from the roof ridges, flying eaves, and decorative tiles to the water drips... Every aspect commands respect for the authenticity of this Tang-style architecture. It's been said that it resembles Kyoto, but that's only because Japan has preserved more of the Tang-style architecture than China, giving people this impression. 🖍️TIPS: 🎫 Incense offering tickets are 20, half-price on Buddhist holidays and on the first and fifteenth of each month, when there are also many pilgrims. ⏰ Opening hours: 0700-1600 🚇 Take the subway line 7 and transfer to a bus to get there. The south-facing mountain gate of Baoshan Temple is off the bus stop; walk back to the river and follow it to the south gate to enter. 🍚 The temple offers vegetarian meals for pilgrims at 10r/person