Elizabeth goes to an antique market, temple and park Nov 5, 2010

Wow! What a day! Busy, busy, busy! We, my friend Eliza and I, certainly packed in a lot.

We started with the antique market. The refrain "antiques as old as seven weeks" kept running through my head the whole time we were there.

Entrance gate serves as a beacon for the suckers curio seekers.

An eclectic assortment of stuff

Wonderful colours

I have no idea what these are used for, but I thought they looked interesting. 

Suggestions, anyone?

Brother and sister playing. 

Too cute.

This last pose reminds me of a certain 19 year old male I'm related to when he was this age. 

Little boys are the same the world over, aren't they?

More stuff.

Guess the era.

Maybe this will help

My personal favourite

Down with the capitalist roaders!

It's funny that these statues (replicas, I'm sure) are now being sold for a profit.

Ethnic Miao headdress and textiles

Chinese character printing blocks

How long do you think it would have taken to print one page of a newspaper?

I guess it helps if you can read Mandarin. 

Eliza might have been holding this block upside down for all we know.

We left the antique market area and wandered down the street, not knowing exactly where we were headed, but confident of our general direction.

Typical street scene

So is this. I hope you can make out the live chicken he was carrying home. It's beside his left leg.

This woman was shy about having her photo taken, but she let us snap her poodle. Its tail was dyed, too.

Engrossed in mahjong

The area we were wandering through was an old neighbourhood. This is where the residents got their drinking water. The homes have running water, but it's not fit for consumption. 

Maybe not the safest set-up. I don't think these breakers should be this close to the sinks. Mike Holmes would have a fit.

This was taken in the entrance way of an old "apartment" building.

Another safety conscious scene. Watch this...

It wasn't until later that we figured out what he was doing, but I won't keep you in suspense. I'll fill you in now. He was burning joss money and here's an example:

That's a great name for a bank!

They sell stacks of it in all kinds of denominations.

You buy it in stores like this.

"But Elizabeth, you still haven't explained joss money", I hear you saying. 

My friends at Wikipedia will educate you (and me!)...

In traditional Chinese ancestor veneration, imitation money in the form of joss paper are ceremonially burned, with the aspiration that the dead may use the money to finance a more comfortable afterlife. Joss paper, as well as other papier-mâché items, are also burned in traditional Chinese funerals, to ensure that spirit of the deceased has lots of good things in the afterlife. 

More contemporary or westernized varieties of Joss paper include Hell Bank Notes, paper credit cards, cheques, as well as papier-mâché clothes, houses, cars, toiletries, and servants. The designs on paper items vary from the very simple to very elaborate (with custom artwork and names). In some Chinese mythology, Hell Bank Notes are sent by living relatives to dead ancestors as a tribute to the King Yanluo for a shorter stay or to escape punishment, or for the ancestors to use themselves in spending on lavish items in the afterlife.

Hell money notes are known for their outrageous denominations ranging from $10,000 to $5,000,000,000. The bills feature an image of the Jade Emperor on the front and the "headquarters" of the Bank of Hell on the back. Another common feature is the signature of both the Jade Emperor and the King of Hell.

In 2006, China's deputy minister for civil affairs, Dou Yupei, said he intended to ban at least the more extreme forms of joss paper, such as MP3 players, planes, boats and even paper condoms, paper prostitutes and Viagra.^[5]

Now we all learnt something. 

As Eliza and I walked further, we discovered the reason for this presence of joss paper and its burning. 

Yep, you guessed it, a Buddhist temple, the Dharmakara Temple, the only temple of the Tiantai School in Shanghai, don't you know. It was established in 1924. 

Looking up the stairs at the Heavenly Guardian Hall, also known as the Maitreya Chamber. The Maitreya Buddha and the Four Heavenly Guardians are enshrined here.

The main courtyard with its large incense burner

Smaller burner off to the side

There was so much ash in the air it looked like snow.

 This gives you some idea.

A prayer pillar? All I know is that prayers are written on the red cards. 

The Maitreya Buddha up close and personal

Statues to the left of the Buddha. There were the same type of statues on the right.

Detail from the ceiling

There was another building which enshrines Sakyamuni Buddha and his Two Great Disciples. 

The Nine Lion Caisson Ceiling 

Close-up of two of the lions. All of them had different expressions. Very cool.

Figures on one side of the Buddha

Close-ups

Statues on the other side

Close-ups

Now that's a belt buckle! Fantastic detail.

All this walking and gawking had built up our appetites, so Eliza and I went to the Ciguang Vegetarian Restaurant in the temple. When we ordered, they literally laughed at us. OK, so our Mandarin pronunciation leaves a lot to be desired, but it wasn't because of that. We found out that we had ordered enough food to feed six people. Oh, well. Leftovers for dinner. This is what we had:

Yep, a lot of food for the two of us.

Some kind of soup.

Some kind of dumplings.

Some kind of noodle.

Some kind of fried bread.

It was all delicious, fresh and since it was vegetarian, I'm sure it was as healthy as all get out. We were stuffed at the end of the meal. Time to walk it off. We waddled on out of the temple. 

Carving on the wall

As we made our way slowly down Fuxing Lu (remember that big lunch) we saw this:

Recycling, Shanghai style. 

Now for the best part, Fuxing Park. Eliza had never been, so she was in for a treat, not just watching the people singing and dancing, but seeing me launch myself into the inflatable water roller. 

I tell you, I haven't had this much fun with my clothes on in a long time. I think Eliza had to change her pants when she went home. 

What a great day! Thanks for playing with me, Eliza.