Shanghai Buddhist Lay Buddhists' Lin

　　Shanghai Buddhist Lay Buddhists' Lin, formerly known as Nanguo Grand Buddha Temple, is a traditional Chinese temple building with red wooden doors and windows featuring exquisite carvings. The lower floor serves as a Buddha hall, and the upper floor as a lecture hall, embodying traditional Chinese characteristics. In 2005, it was listed in the fourth batch of Shanghai's Outstanding Historical Buildings Protection List.

　　Shanghai Buddhist Lay Buddhists' Lin is located within Jueyuan at No. 418 Changde Road, Shanghai, and is one of the most important Buddhist lay organizations in the city. Established in 1918, it was initiated by lay Buddhists Wang Yujie (Xianzhou) and Shen Hui (Xinshi), with Wang Yujie elected as the first Lin leader. The western building is of brick-and-wood structure supported by imported pine wood columns and joists, with the wooden columns resting on stone drum bases. The ground floor was originally a Buddha hall, hence featuring an open space without partition walls. The west façade of the building serves as the main entrance, complete with a front porch and two primary entrances on the east and west sides. The east entrance has a traditional Chinese-style gatehead, while the entrance façade features floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded by glass-paned wooden windows. The window lattice is diamond-shaped, and the wooden beams above the windows are adorned with carved floral patterns encircling the building. Below the ground-floor windows are cement-partitioned walls.

　　The entrance floor is covered with cement. The second-floor exterior is fitted with glass-wood windows and fir wood skirting boards. The central clerestory also has wooden windows. The three buildings of the eastern section present the appearance of classic Chinese architecture when viewed from a distance. To the southwest of the western building is a two-story auxiliary building, accessible via an imported pine staircase through a connecting corridor leading to the second floor of the western building. The first floor of the auxiliary building’s stairwell has a terrazzo floor, while the second-floor connecting corridor has a wooden floor. The ground floor of the western building has colored tile flooring, and the entire second floor is covered with imported pine wood flooring. The interior walls of the second floor in the western building are coated with yellow sand-cement plaster, and the flat ceiling consists of lath-and-plaster construction with European-style plaster moldings. The ground-floor ceiling has no false ceiling, allowing the wooden joists to be visible from outside the windows.

　　Transportation

　　Address: No. 418 Changde Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai

　　Transportation: Huqian Special Line, Bus 21, Bus 15, Bus 927, Bus 939, Bus 921