YUNXIANG TEMPLE

The origins of the temple of this temple date back to the beginning of the century. The legend reports that a farmer working his field exhumed a stone of 10 m ². As she was too heavy to be moved, he decided to leave it to where he found it, and noticed that two white cranes, symbols of longevity, often came to perching on the stone. The presence of birds was enough to make the stone sacred, and a monk began building a temple on the site. Once the temple was finished, the two cranes moved south, giving their name to the village (flying south). The temple has 18 statues of Arhats, the Buddha disciples, as well as a representation of the Buddha of Mercy with its 1 000 hands with a eye. The current structure (dating from the early 2000 s) is in fact a reconstruction of the original temple, which was destroyed by the numerous wars that shook the region over the centuries.
A few metres from the temple you can also see brick pagodas built in the th century. 10 metres high each is the oldest pagodas in the Shanghai region. Between the two is a small stone bridge covered with dark blue bricks.