Where Shanghai began

The street has a mix of Western architectural styles.[Photo by Gao Erqiang/Shanghai Star]

Historical Confucius

A significant cultural treasure inside the area is the 700-year-old Shanghai Confucian Temple, which used to be the highest learning institution in Shanghai. Today, it is preserved as a palace to commemorate Confucius, China's great thinker and founder of Confucian culture.

There is a temple to honor and pray to Confucius, a library and classrooms where the Confucius literary heritage is stored and exhibition areas.

It is a complex elaborately designed with pagodas, streams and gardens with stone paths and lush greenery. Many of the trees are hundreds of years old and were moved to the palace from neighboring provinces.

The Dacheng Hall, in front of which stands a bronze statue of Confucius, is a key attraction. Visitors pray to Confucius and light joss sticks. The trees surrounding the hall are overflowing with wish cards from local and international tourists, who pray for academic success.

Charlotte Hale, a tourist from Canada was reading the cards. "These wish cards are very interesting. Some people tell Confucius that they want to be enrolled in a prestigious university and some say they want to see the world. They are written in so many different languages," says the 19-year-old, who was enjoying her first day in China.

Zunjing Ge, or the library, is where the more than 200 books of Confucian classics and various schools of thinkers are preserved, including the ones that are left to the Chinese known as the Fours Books and Five Classics. It became Shanghai's first city library in 1931.

Address: 215 Wenmiao Road, Huangpu district 黃浦區(qū)文廟路215號

Opening hours: 9 am to 5 pm, daily

Ticket price: 10 yuan per person