Shanghai City God Temple

The Shanghai City God Temple (上海城隍庙, Shànghǎi Chénghuángmiào) at 249 Fangbang Middle Road is the main Taoist temple of the old walled city, set beside Yu Garden. This page covers the temple itself, not the bazaar around it. A city god is the protector spirit of a town, and this temple was where Shanghai county’s officials and people came to pray for rain, good weather and peace.

The temple dates from 1403, when a shrine to the Han general Huo Guang (霍光) was converted into the county’s city god temple. English Wikipedia calls the predecessor a Jinshan God Temple, so sources vary on the earlier shrine. Huo Guang was the original city god of the county, according to English Wikipedia. Under the Qing, the Yuan-Ming scholar-official Qin Yubo (秦裕伯, 1295-1373) came to be honoured in that role. English Wikipedia names a third city god, the Qing general Chen Huacheng (陈化成), but Chinese Wikipedia calls that a later misunderstanding: his statue was only moved into the Yuanchen Hall for safety in wartime.

The buildings have been burned and damaged more than once. British forces used the temple for five days after taking the county town in June 1842. In 1853 the Small Swords uprising made the temple’s west garden, now Yu Garden, its headquarters for about 18 months. In 1924 a fire on the Zhongyuan festival destroyed the main hall. It was rebuilt in reinforced concrete in a traditional style between April 1926 and November 1927, and it stands 16 metres high. During the Sino-Japanese War merchants built a “New City God Temple” in the International Settlement, demolished in 1972, which is why this one is called the Old City God Temple.

Religious activity stopped in April 1966 and the halls were used by shops. The temple went back to the Shanghai Taoist Association, with a restoration committee formed in 1994, and reopened on 31 January 1995. English Wikipedia describes a further restoration in 2005 and 2006, with reconsecration in October 2006.

On the central axis, look first at the front gate, a wood-and-stone archway from 1535. Its plaque “Baozhang Haiyu” (保障海隅) was rewritten in 1994 from old photographs. Opposite is a blue-brick screen wall carved with a qilin on the front and three sheep on the back. In the second gate, the Yimen, an abacus is carved “Bu you ren suan” (不由人算), meaning roughly “beyond human calculation”. Behind the main hall, the Yuanchen Hall holds sixty Taisui statues arranged by zodiac animal, and the City God Hall behind it holds the figure of Qin Yubo. That figure is a “clothes-rack” statue, with only the head carved in wood, so it could be dressed and carried in processions.

No official page for opening hours or ticket prices was found, so check on arrival.