Welcome to TRAVEL TUESDAY: PLACE, a new weekly addition to "My Beautiful, Far-Flung Life."
If you've read this blog in the past, you know a few things about me:
- I'm an American. My husband is from Ireland. Our daughter is Vietnamese. We live in Shanghai, China. (That's me...the far-flung writer.)
- I travel...a lot...often very long distances...often to pretty cool places.
- I take a lot of photographs.
- I am deeply inspired by place, so much so that much of my writing--both fiction and nonfiction--begins with a place. Not a character or a plot line or an object. A place.
Because writing about place (and journeys) is one of my writerly passions, I've decided that every Tuesday from here on out, I'm going to yak with you about that very thing: place.
Sometimes I'll introduce you to a favorite spot in Shanghai or another place to which I've traveled. Other times I'll talk about craft...how to weave a place into a novel so that it becomes a character or how to write tight, vivid descriptions that leave your reader wanting more. I'll give writing prompts. Talk about inspirational places. Review travel memoirs (which I absolutely love!). Share personal essays about places. Interview cool writers who really know how to work a place into their writing. Ask questions of you. Offer contests with fun giveaways. Look at maps. Etc.
So here we go. Grab your passport and your pen. Welcome to TRAVEL TUESDAY: PLACE!
TODAY'S PLACE: THE LONGHUA TEMPLE (SHANGHAI, CHINA)I love temples. And monks. And Buddhisty colors: ocher & red. And chanting. And statues of Buddha and the arhats. And meditation. And incense. And that oh-so-peaceful feeling that washes through me as soon as I pay my meager RMB 10 ($1.50) at the gate and pass from the chaotic streets of China onto temple grounds.
My favorite temple in Shanghai?
The Longhua Temple. It's the oldest Buddhist temple in Shanghai, built (at least the original parts though much has been destroyed and rebuilt many times since) somewhere around 247 A.D. It's always a crazy-busy place...with lots of devotees burning incense, making offerings, and saying prayers (and yes, lots of tourists snapping photos), but even so, it's peaceful. There aren't any scooters trying to run you over; there aren't any hawkers trying to sell you a fake watch or DVD; there aren't any car horns blasting in your ears. (Shanghai is a lot of cool things, but peaceful isn't one of them...finding a bit of that in a city this big is a gift.)
Many times each year, I head to the Longhua Temple to people-watch, take photographs, meditate, and "peace-out," but I always make it a point to visit during the New Year holiday.
Why?
To add my wishes to the "wishing tree," a big, beautiful, golden/reddish (fake) tree that is erected just outside the entrance to the temple. For a small fee, you buy a red silk pouch filled with four ribbons (two gold, two red). Once you buy them, you write a wish on each ribbon, then you hang them in the wishing tree, along with the thousands of other red/gold ribbons others have hung. It's a lovely tradition. (Supposedly, the higher you lob your ribbons into the tree, the more likely it is that your wishes will come true. Lots of folks--like me--simply tie their ribbons in the lower "branches," but watch out...there are folks who do some serious lobbing.)
WRITING: IMPETUSWhen I want to write a piece about a place I visit frequently (and write about frequently), I look for a unique story inspiration. Two things inspired me on this particular trip to the Longhua Temple:
- wishes
- the two small, roughly molded monk sculptures in the last photo in this blog entry (This is what I look for when I visit a place...the unexpected, the unusual. I always see the beautiful golden Buddhas, but I've never seen something like the two roughly molded monks. I found them in a back corner of the temple where few visitors go. This is the kind of thing that tweaks my storytelling vibe...the thing that starts me writing.)
Wishing Tree Ribbons...One Wish Per Ribbon
Incense burning.
Monk.
"Shanghai is a lot of cool things, but peaceful isn't one of them...finding a bit of that in a city this big is a gift." Your above remarks induced me to reminisce about the Shanghai in my childhood memory. Hailed from Shanghai 23 years ago, I remember many areas in Shanghai, including the area where you’re living (my grandparents lived near Wulumuqi road), was indeed peaceful and elegant, even though there were 7 million people lived in Shanghai. (Shanghai’s current population is over 30 million). After visits to Shanghai in recent years, I have been very sad to see that Shanghai is losing many of her distinguished characters and culture, let along her own dialect – the Shanghaiese language. In Shanghai today, children are banned to speak their mother language – the Shanghaiese dialect in School. The government has launched various campaigns to educate the mass public that speaking Shanghaiese is “uncivilized” and is an ugly custom. As a result, a whole generation of young people in Shanghai doesn’t know how to speak their mother dialect.
I miss the Old Shanghai.
Posted by: AShanghaieseinAmerica | January 25, 2010 at 06:03 PM
Thanks so much for taking the time to write a response to this post. I loved hearing your thoughts about Shanghai old vs. Shanghai new. Gosh, I can't even imagine Shanghai with only 7 million people in it. That must have been amazing (and quiet).
Posted by: Kristin Bair O'Keeffe | January 26, 2010 at 12:35 AM
It was thrilled to see your response to my comment. I have been really enjoying reading your blog. It is fascinating to read stories about living in my hometown from an American’s perspective. Thanks very much for sharing your experience and thoughts with us.
Posted by: AShanghaieseinAmerica | January 26, 2010 at 03:13 PM
Never knew such sacred things about shanghai, Thanks for sharing. :)
Posted by: camino santiago | January 03, 2011 at 03:59 AM