Penglai Road (East) // 蓬莱路东段

Penglai Lu 蓬莱路 (“Heavenly Garden Road”) was named after the Taoist Monastery of the Heavenly Garden, or Penglai Monastery 蓬莱道院, created in 1666 by a group of former Ming government officials, who chose monastic vows over the service to the new Qing Dynasty, established in 1644.

The intersecting Tingqiao Jie 亭桥街 (“Pavilion Bridge Street”) marks the location of the covered bridge across Penglai Creek, which led to the monastery.

“A decorative plaque above the gate of No. 25 Penglai Road reads “May you have many good sons.” The house has a curved roof gable, termed “Guanyin’s bonnet” – once a common architectural feature, now rarely seen. The courtyard’s floor is tiled with oxidized green chips laid in triangular patterns – the last authentic example of this kind of surface in Shanghai.”

2010

2022

2018. A pair of old ginkgo trees marking the location of the northern gate of the disappeared Penglai Monastery.