Nestled peacefully in the west of modern Shanghai, the Jade Buddha Temple is one of the Temples that have received the most guests and heads of state from home or abroad in Shanghai and the country.
In addition to the peaceful and transcendent atmosphere, the temples two striking white jade Buddhas attract busloads of visitors.
Jade Buddha Temple was founded in 1882 to hold two jade Buddha statues which had been brought from Burma by sea. One of the Buddha statues is seated (1.95 meters tall, 3 tons), while the other is a smaller reclining Buddha representing his peaceful death. The two precious jade Buddhist statues are not only rare cultural relics but also jade artworks. Both the Sitting Buddha and the Recumbent Buddha are carved with whole white jade. The sparkling and crystal-clear white jade gives the Buddhas the beauty of sanctity and make them more vivid.
The temple now also contains a much larger reclining Buddha made of marble, donated from Singapore, and visitors may mistake this larger sculpture for the original, smaller piece.
In the Great Hall, there are Three Golden Buddhas, Gods of the Twenty Heavens, 18 Arhats, Guanyin, Shen Cai and his 53 teachers