The City God Temple in Shanghai was built during the year Yongle (after 1403) of the Ming Dynasty. Located next to the Yu Garden and also known today as the Yu Garden Market. Originally a temple built to honor the Han statesman Huo Guang (68 B.C.), it is a busy market today, specializing in traditional arts and crafts. Outside, however, it still looks like a temple.
One hundred years ago, as more and more pilgrims came to worship in the temple, many peddlers began to open shops near the City God Temple. Slowly, a popular, old-fashioned market came about. Today, around the temple and in a circumference of one-third of a mile there are more than one hundred small shops and restaurants, and the products the sell number 16,000 or more. It has become a tourist shopping center, combining shopping, tourism, catering and recreation into one.
