We woke up the next day much refreshed. I looked out of our window and could see that the city had already woken up, and from our room, the people looked like busy ants hurrying to work.
Breakfast was continental with a lot of varieties of soups, noodles, and rice items. We had eggs, yoghurt and fruits—our savior diet when out of India. At the allotted time, all of us got into the 12-seater AC minivan, which was very comfortable and roomy.
Shanghai is China’s largest city and a global financial hub. It is one of the world's largest seaports and a major industrial and commercial centre of China.
The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowing through it and splitting the city into two districts, the Pudong and Puxi.
With a population of 24.28 million as of 2019, Shanghai is the most populous city in the entire world.
Though originally a fishing village and market town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to both domestic and foreign trade and its favourable port location.
It has the largest metro network of any city in the world and the second-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, as per research.
As our van swept through the Shanghai streets, the most remarkable thing we noticed was the vast number of skyscrapers.
China has the largest number of tall buildings, more than 1400 skyscrapers above 292 feet, of which 48 are
are super tall, more than 984 ft, which is no mean feat for any country.
The tallest tower in China is currently the Shanghai Tower, standing at a height of 2,073 ft; it is the second tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa in Dubai being the tallest skyscraper in the world, reaching a height of 2,722 ft.
The roads were very well laid, and there was a smooth flow of traffic; the side lanes were bustling with multiple types of cycles, scooters and E bikes.
The traffic junctions and roads were lined with beautiful greenery, artworks, and flowering plants.
We reached the famous Jade Buddha Temple nestled amidst the tall high-rise buildings downtown; it had a Song-dynasty-style architecture with precise, complex and harmonious structure.
The temple was built in 1882 and has two famous Jade statues of the Sakyamuni Buddha and various ancient sculptures, rare paintings, and Buddhist scriptures.
The 2 Jade Buddhas were imported to Shanghai from Myanmar by sea; one reclining and one sitting upright, both could be found in different parts of the temple.
The reclining Buddha was in white jade and smaller; the sitting Buddha was in green jade, 1.95 meters tall , weighing 3 tons and kept in an air-conditioned room where no photography is allowed.
The Jade Buddha was exquisitely carved, 1.95 meters tall, with a well-rounded face, crescent-shaped eyebrows, half-opened eyes looking down, a straight nose, and a closed mouth with lips up. The left hand was on the left leg, and the right hand was dropping down naturally.
We entered the Hall of Heavenly Kings, and in front of the hall, there sat Maitreya Buddha with a smiling face; it is believed that he will appear on Earth in the future.
Behind the statue of Maitreya, there was a statue of Skanda, protector of the temple, with a vajra pestle.
On both sides of the hall were the Four Heavenly Kings representing favorable east, west, north, and south.
Grand Hall was the main part of Jade Buddha Temple, with three holy Buddha statues in sitting posture: Sakyamuni Buddha in the middle, Amitabha on the left, and Medicine Buddha on the right.
All were about four meters tall with very peaceful expressions. Behind the Three Golden Buddhas, there was the statue of Avalokiteshvara, a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas.
There were Gods of the Twenty Heavens, covered in gold, lining the eastern and western sides of the Grand Hall. 18 unique golden arhats stood in two groups of nine outside of the hall.
I was particularly impressed by the peace prevailing and the clean surroundings. I even saw a cat curled up and sleeping in front of Buddha on a small bench meant for the devotees to kneel and pray.
People were lighting candles and incense sticks, praying, and buying the good luck charms being sold in the stalls; alas, no one knew what crisis year 2019 was going to bring to the world.
While we were leaving the temple premises, we found thorough cleaning being done by the workers who were busy with their work.
We were then taken to a pearl factory where we were shown how pearls are extracted from molluscs. We, being from the pearl city, had to show our expertise by selecting a pearl strand for the others.
I had to use all my tact to tell my co-travellers that the pearls were overpriced, as they usually are in such outlets.
If we go to Charminar in Hyderabad, the street vendors sell a pearl strand for 10 rupees, and shopkeepers sell them for thousands to lakhs of rupees; it is very difficult to guess the worth of pearls;,not all of us dare to perform the biting the pearl test.
Pearls are formed when irritants like sand find their way into the shell of a mollusc, which starts producing layers of nacre around the irritant.
In natural pearls, the irritant generally comes from the water it is surrounded by and most natural pearls are found in the Persian Gulf. As the majority of them have already been harvested, natural pearls are tremendously rare.
Cultured pearls are grown in a pearl farm in both salt and fresh water. Molluscs are farm-raised, and once they are old enough, a technician implants a mother-of-pearl bead.
The molluscs are then returned to the water and cared for while the pearls are allowed to form; however, not all molluscs produce uniform, good-quality pearls.
The factory also had different jades, the Chinese treasure jade, and it has evolved into an artistic tradition that has flourished for more than 3,000 years.
The name "jade" comes from the Spanish expression "piedra de ijada," literally “stone of the pain in the side.” Early Spanish explorers named it after they saw natives holding pieces of the stone to their sides to cure or relieve various aches and pains.
Jade is basically of two types: Jadeite jade and Nephrite jade, which have their cultural roots in the smoke-dimmed caves and huts that sheltered prehistoric humans.
Jadeite also symbolises prosperity, success, and good luck.
The most popular kind of jade in Chinese culture is green jade, which has an emerald hue.
Jade is important to Chinese culture because of its beauty, practical use, and social value; other colors of jade are yellow and white.
The most expensive type of jade, known as imperial jade, comes from Myanmar, but some can be found in parts of Mexico and Russia. Its cost starts at $1,000 per carat, has a deep green colour, and is very rare.
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