Temples, Mosques & Churches

Temples

Not known for its temples, Shanghai's most popular Buddhist shrine with visitors is the Jade Buddha Temple (Yufo Si). The Longhua Temple is also on the route of some tourists; its pagoda is the most interesting one in Shanghai. Shanghai also has several active Christian churches and an Islamic mosque where foreign visitors may worship or visit. But what really sets religious Shanghai apart, at least in China, is its Jewish legacy, most powerfully evoked by the reopening of the Ohel Moshe Synagogue as a museum and study center.

Jewish Shanghai

As China's most international city, Shanghai experienced several waves of Jewish immigration, each leaving its mark. The first to arrive, in the late 1840s, were the Sephardic Jews. Businessmen who made their fortunes in opium and property, they built large estates and as many as seven synagogues, and were responsible for some of Shanghai's finest architecture. The Sassoons, who emigrated from Baghdad in the mid-19th century, were the first Jewish family to make a fortune in Shanghai, and both the Peace Hotel on the Bund and the villa estate next to the zoo (now the Cypress Hotel) were their creations. Silas Hardoon was a later Jewish real estate baron whose great estate was razed to make way for the Sino-Soviet Shanghai Exhibition Center on Yan'an Xi Lu (south of the Portman Hotel). Meanwhile, the Kadoories' legacy, the stunning "Marble House" on Yan'an Xi Lu, is today the city's most popular and impressive Children's Palace.

The second wave of Jewish emigrants comprised Russian Jews fleeing the Bolsheviks at the beginning of the 20th century. They were followed in the 1930s by a third wave of European Jews who were fleeing Hitler, and who landed here only because Shanghai was the only city in the world at that time willing to accept these "stateless refugees." Just before World War II, the numbers of Jews in Shanghai topped 30,000. In February 1943, to appease the Germans who wanted the Japanese to implement the Final Solution in Shanghai, the occupying force of the Japanese army forced the "stateless Jews" into a "Designated Area" in Hongkou District (north of the Bund), marked by today's Zhoujiazui Lu in the north, Huimin Lu in the south, Tongbei Lu in the east, and Gongping Lu in the west. Tens of thousands of Jews lived cheek by jowl in this "ghetto," where the local synagogue became the center of their material and spiritual lives until the end of the war.

Travelers interested in the Jews in Shanghai can still visit that center, the Ohel Moshe Synagogue (Moxi Huitang), Changyang Lu 62, Hongkou (tel. 021/6512-0229 or 021/6541-6312). Built in 1927 by the Ashkenazi Jewish community of Shanghai, it no longer serves as a synagogue, but as a museum devoted to the Jews in Shanghai. The third floor has displays, period photographs, a list of Shanghai Jews, and a small bookstore. Visitors are welcome on weekdays from 9am to 4pm. Tickets cost ¥50 ($6.25). If you visit, there's a good chance you'll encounter a Mr. Wang Faliang of the synagogue, who can recount many stories of how the Chinese and Jewish refugees lived together under Japanese occupation.

The best way to visit this synagogue, Huoshan Park (Huoshan Gongyuan), where there is a memorial to Jewish refugees, the Marble Hall, and the nongtang (lane) row houses of Hongkou that formed Shanghai's "Little Vienna," is on the wonderful "Tour of Jewish Shanghai" conducted by appointment with Dvir Bar-Gal (tel. 1300-214-6702; www.shanghai-jews.com).

The tour will also pass by Ohel Rachel Synagogue (Laxier Youtai Jiaotang) at Shanxi Bei Lu 500, behind the Portman Ritz-Carlton Hotel; now home to the Shanghai Education Commission. It was built in 1920 by Jacob Sassoon in memory of his wife Rachel, but except for the occasional VIP visitor (namely Hillary Clinton in 1998), the synagogue, now considered one of the world's 100 most endangered monuments, is usually closed to the public.

Travelers interested in learning more about the Jewish community in Shanghai, attending Shabbat dinners, or participating in religious services, should contact the Shanghai Jewish Center, Hongqiao Lu 1720, Shang-Mira Garden Villa no. 2 (tel. 021/6278-0225; fax 021/6278-0223; www.chinajewish.org).

Mosques & Churches

In addition to the two cathedrals listed here, other major Catholic churches include Boduolu Tang (St. Peter's Church), Chongqing Nan Lu 270, Luwan (tel. 021/6467-0198), originally built in 1933 but rebuilt in 1995, and which now holds services in English at 5pm Saturday, and 10:30am and 12:30pm Sunday; Sheng Ruose Tang (St. Joseph's Church), built in 1860 at Sichuan Nan Lu 36, Huangpu (tel. 021/6328-0293 or 6336-5537); and Junwang Tianzhu Tang (Christ the King Catholic Church), also called the Good Shepherd Church, Julu Lu 361, Jing An (tel. 021/6217-4608).

Other active Protestant places of worship that open their doors to foreign worshippers include Huai'en Tang (Shanghai Grace Church), opened in 1910 at Shanxi Bei Lu 375, Jing An (tel. 021/6253-9394); Jingling Tang (Youag John Allen Memorial Church), built in 1923 at Kunshan Lu 135, east from Sichuan Bei Lu, Hongkou (tel. 021/6324-3021 or 5539-1720), the place where Chiang Kai-shek wed Soong Mei-ling; and Zhusheng Tang (All Saints Church), Fuxing Zhong Lu 425 at Danshui Lu (tel. 021/6385-0906), a lively church in the French Concession that recently began holding services again.

For the locations of additional cathedrals, churches, mosques, and places of worship and the times of services, inquire at your hotel.

She Shan Cathedral -- For those who can't get enough of Shanghai's European-style churches, one of the best is located in Songjiang County, a 40-minute trip from Shanghai. Situated on the western peak of She Shan (She Mountain), She Shan Cathedral (She Shan Tang) was originally built by the Jesuits in 1866 as the Holy Mother Cathedral, and rebuilt between 1925 and 1935 as the Basilica of Notre Dame. Laid out in the shape of a cross, this majestic brick structure has a 38m-tall (125-ft.) bell tower on top of which stands a replacement bronze Madonna and Child statue (the original was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution). Catholic pilgrims from neighboring areas flock here on Sundays and holy days, many of them making the trek up the hill via the south gate. Along the way are a number of shrines and grottoes. Alternatively, you can take a cable car (¥40/$5 round-trip, ¥30/$3.75 one-way). The church (tel. 021/5765-1521; daily 8am-4pm) holds Mass Monday through Saturday at 7am (6:30am in summer) and at 8am on Sunday (7:30am in summer). Behind the church is an astronomical observatory (tel. 021/5765-3423; daily 7:30am-5pm), founded in 1900 by the French Catholic Mission. The eastern half of She Shan consists mostly of a Forest Park, various recreational theme parks, and a tourist resort where the luxurious Le Meridien She Shan hotel (Linyin Xin Lu 1288, tel. 021/5779-9999) has newly opened. To reach She Shan, take bus no. 1B (¥10/$1.25; 12 buses 7:45am-4:30pm) from the Shanghai Stadium Sightseeing Bus Center. Return buses run 7:20am to 4:30pm.