Chenghuang Temple, well-known highly around the world, is a major and relatively inactive Taoist Temple in Shanghai. It is located in the Fangbang Zhong Road with the east to Anren Street, the north to Fuyou Road, and the West to the old Jialchang Road.
During the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Shouyue, the officer of Shanghai County dedicated a temple to the local city god. Since then, Chenghuang Temple was destroyed several times and the current temple was built in 1926, which is composed of many halls such as the grand hall, middle hall, bedroom palace, star gods hall, yama palace, xuzhen god hall, etc. With an area of over 10,000 square meters, Chenghuang Temple includes two gardens: Western Garden (Yu Yuan) and East Garden.
A saying goes like this: “one can’t boast that he had been to shanghai if he did not pay a visit to chenghuang temple”, which is the witness of the infection and status of Shanghai. The religious festivals of the temple are regarded as the festival of all Shanghai people, especially when the Sanxun Festival (a day when the chenghuang God starts to inspect his people) approaching, almost all of the people will come to the Chenghuang Temple to burn incense, worship the Chenghuang Temple and pray for the happiness and safe.
All the shops inside or outside the temple will hang lantern to celebrate the festival. In addition, the Chenghuang Temple is famous not only for its tourist sites but also for its shopping attractions. There are boutiques, large jewelry stores, department stores as well as shops selling the local specialties such as some folk arts, cockfight, penmanship performance,etc.
