Visit Shanghai for the Longhua Temple Fair - AsiaRooms.com

AsiaRooms.com can reveal that people using Shanghai hotels in March may like to experience the Longhua Temple Fair, a traditional event taking place at one of the city's most ancient religious sites.

The festival is held every year in the third lunar month and coincides with the blossoming of the famous peach trees in Longhua Park.

According to legend, dragons pay a visit to the temple at some point during this month to help grant people's wishes.

During the fair, the temple is decorated elaborately and becomes a hive of activity, with many stalls set up for the sale of food items and traditional Chinese crafts.

The history of the Longhua Temple can be traced back to 242 AD, when King Sun Quan is said to have obtained Sarira relics - cremated remains of the Buddha - and ordered the construction of 13 pagodas.

As well as being the oldest, Longhua is also the largest temple in Shanghai, covering an area of 20,000 square meters.

It is perhaps most famous for its spectacular seven-storey pagoda, which is the only remaining pre-modern structure of its kind in the Chinese city.

Although the wooden parts of the pagoda have been renovated many times, the base and body date back to the Song Dynasty.