Longhua Temple at 2853 Longhua Road,Shanghai, is an ancient monastery in the south of Yangtze River. It is a tourist resort famous for an ancient pagoda, an ancient temple, nightly bell-striking ceremony and the peach blossoms. The third day of the third lunar month is the day of the temple fair and the fifteenth of the third lunar month is when pilgrims to the temple, visitors to the temple fair and tourists have the chance to admire the peach blossoms encasing the area and when Longhua, with these highlights becomes a place of great hustle and bustle.

It is said that Longhua Temple was first built in 242 AD during the period of the Three Kingdoms giving it a history of 1,700 years. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, the temple was destroyed in war but by the year 977, the temple was rebuilt and until now the restored temple also has a history of more than 1,000 years. In 1064, during the Song Dynasty, the temple was renamed Kong Xiang Temple. The name Longhua was restored during Emperor Wan Li's reign in the Ming Dynasty (1573-1620). In the early years of Emperor Tong Zhi's reign in the Ding dynasty, the temple underwent a thorough renovation and it is the structure we now see today.

Longhua Temple is a famous Buddhist monastery with the longest history in the Shanghai area. The temple was built in the Sangharama five-hall style of the Buddhist "chan" sect from the Song Dynasty. Sangharama means" the popular court", or "the monks court", which originally referred to the site of the monks living quarters but used later to describe the whole complex including the land and all the structures of the monastery. In the temple are kept Buddhist scripture, gold seals and Buddhist statues of the Tang, Five, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The five halls in the Longhua Temple are the Maitreya Hall, the Heavenly King Hall, the Grand Hall of the Great Sage, the Hall of the Three Saints and the Abbot's Hall. On the two sides facing east and west are accessory halls and a bell tower and a drum tower, one on each side. The halls have hexagonal windows, arched entryways and roofs of curved eaves. They are surrounded by walls in the shape of a perfect rectangle in accordance with traditional Buddhist symmetry. The grounds contain a small traditional garden and a carp-filled pond. Visitors sometimes encounter Buddhist monks praying in incense-filled courtyards here.

The elegant and exquisite Longhua Pagoda is the relic remaining from the Song Dynasty with seven stories, in octagonal shape, with upturned eaves, and the hanging bells on the eaves' corners. It is closed for entrance but can easily be seen from the road.

Since all monasteries have "mountain gates", this temple also had one, but it was later separated from the main building by a road and was completely dismantled during the Cultural Revolution.