Four Golden Lions
(The four golden lion column; on the street outside the Jing’An Temple gates, Shanghai – obviously I couldn’t get all four in one shot)
On our ride from our hotel to see the old longtang and lilong (old lanes of housing) that we had read about, the taxi driver asked if we were going to see the temple. Having heard nothing about one at all, Ying replied that we were just going to this street for a look around. We arrived to find ourselves peering up at a shopping centre, but with the sweeping roof of a temple poking up over it.
The invitation of these four lions was enough to pique our interest and we paid the Y20 (just under £2) to visit. I heard that much religion in China disappeared with the rise of communism; many temples seem to have become more like tourist attractions than places of worship, though many visitors were burning incense as offerings.
