Winter Sun Tour in Jinze Ancient Town and Yihao Zen Temple

After a week of non-stop drizzle that suddenly plunged us into winter, the weather finally warmed up these past two days, and the sun came out bright. On a whim, a close friend and I decided to go see the ginkgo trees.

It took an hour and a half to reach Jinze in Qingpu. By the time we arrived, it was lunchtime, so we decided to fill our stomachs first. According to a well-known review site, we had locked onto a farmhouse-style restaurant across the street that got decent reviews. But once we got out of the car, we noticed local residents streaming continuously into another place next door. We were a bit surprised because its online rating wasn’t high, yet without discussion, we both decided to go with that one.

Apart from a few private rooms that were already full, there were only two so-called loose tables. One was piled with a computer and bills, likely where the boss did the accounts; the other was stacked with napkins and other supplies. The husband and wife team ran the place—the husband was the head chef, while the wife took orders, waited tables, handled the bill… The two of them were frantically busy managing the lunch rush.

After we ordered and sat down, locals kept pushing the door open to ask for tables. We secretly rejoiced—we had definitely made the right choice.

Three dishes, a soup, and a dim sum were served. The dry pot duck and the house-made shaomai were stunning. We suggested to the owners that it would be even better to add some winter bamboo shoots to the shaomai. The boss immediately responded, “Yes, in winter we should put bamboo shoots in. It’s time to add them.”

After a satisfying meal, we decided to go to the Zen temple first to have some tea.

The ginkgo leaves hadn’t turned yellow yet, and it was a working day, so the temple had few visitors. Revisiting the site after nine years, we stood before the 700-year-old Southern Song dynasty ginkgo tree again, looking forward to its full golden display this winter.

We borrowed a small stool from a staff member, used a brick with remnants of candle wax from the temple as a tea table, spread a piece of calligraphy practice paper as a tea mat, and brought out our own tea set and tea—a classic ripe Pu’er from the Xinchou year, savoring the depth of aged leaves.

In the Zen temple, wrapped in the warm winter sun, we sipped tea and chatted.

Yihao Zen Temple was once the most magnificent Buddhist monastery in the Jiangnan region. First built in the first year of the Jingding era of the Song Dynasty (1260), the Songjiang Prefecture Gazetteer recorded: “Even Hangzhou’s Lingyin Temple and Suzhou’s Chengtian Temple cannot match its grandeur.”

Life is impermanent. May our past, present, and future lives all share gifts, generosity, offerings, and fulfillment, so that we may recognize each other with a smile, our original intentions unchanged. May we be cool-headed and at ease, gaining an inexhaustible spring and an undying lamp.

Resting in the present moment is comparable to the sun; not a single moment fails to shine. Leaning against the “Endless Cloud” stone carving by Yuan dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu, I listened to the wisdom of the ancients.

Jinze Ancient Town, scarcely crowded and deeply scenic, is crisscrossed by canals and rivers. Stone bridges built in the Yuan and Song dynasties connect everywhere. Here, all is serene and comfortable. We strolled with friends, took photos, played around, and chatted with local villagers…

Many things reveal their beauty when you look at them with a calm heart. The everyday things within reach can also gleam. When your heart softens, your eyes light up.

“Even a speck of dust in this world, when the sun comes out, can sing and dance.” — Wang Anyi

On the way back, we saw local villagers selling vegetables and just had to take some home.

Ginkgo nuts picked by an old lady herself, salt-baked in the oven; wild shepherd’s purse she had pulled from the fields, turned into small wontons. Yue personally cooked the wontons in the kitchen, eating eight, then two more, then another two, exclaiming between mouthfuls, “So delicious!”