Donglin Temple, Buddhist temple in Zhujing, Shanghai, China

Donglin Temple is a Buddhist complex in Shanghai featuring multiple ceremonial halls and a large central statue of the goddess Guanyin. The grounds are accessed through three parallel bridges leading to the main gate, and offer different areas to explore.

Founded in 1308 under the Yuan Dynasty, the temple was first called Guanyintang and later renamed Donglin Chan Temple. It was destroyed in the Zhizheng era, rebuilt in the early Ming, ruined again, rebuilt under the Qianlong emperor and repaired in 1805. Fires in 1825 and later left only the Mahavira Hall, a double-eaved building of 348 square metres listed as a city-level protected site in 1987. The temple was rebuilt from 2004 to 2007.

The temple is dedicated to Guanyin, the goddess of compassion, and visitors bring coins to eight copper fish statues to express their wishes. This practice shows how people use the place today to voice their hopes and prayers through small gestures.

The temple stands at 150 Donglin Street in Zhujing, at the corner of Renmin Road and Donglin Street in Shanghai's Jinshan District. The main gate is reached over three parallel bridges, and the Guanyin Hall lies at the back of the courtyard behind the statue of Shancai. Visitors remove their shoes before entering buildings and keep quiet during prayers and ceremonies.

The Guanyin Hall's bronze doors carry 999 relief images of Buddha, one short of a thousand. The hall itself measures 31 metres wide, 42 deep and 31 high, and the gilded thousand-armed Guanyin inside rises 27 metres from a 2-metre lotus base, with arms reaching 5 metres.