This is the Jinghai Temple, seen here nestled in magnolia trees with the the Yuejiang Tower atop Lion Mountain looking down upon it.
The temple, whose name means “Ocean Peace,” was ordered built by the Ming emperor to honor the great sea explorer Zheng He.
Zheng He was a fascinating guy. Sort of the Christopher Columbus of China. He went on seven sea voyages, traveling all around the coasts of Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and Africa. (His story is so compelling that pseudohistorian Gavin Menzies theorizes that Zheng He discovered North America in 1421 by heading east. A fun idea.)
Everywhere he went, he brought gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk to encourage diplomacy between China and these far-flung lands. He brought exotic gifts back to the emperor, too. Gifts like a motherfucking giraffe.
(It’s worth noting that the Chinese had never seen a giraffe and thought it was the mythic qilin.)
I couldn’t help but read this next sign in a dry Gene Wilder voice. 
Terms of the Treaty of Nanking — the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War between the U.K. and the Qing dynasty — were settled at the temple (before being officially signed on the H.M.S. Cornwallis anchored near the city.) The rear portion of the temple is devoted to a pretty damning museum.
It also had some fascinating early 20th century propaganda regarding all the threats to China. The symbolism is a little too on the nose, if you ask me.
To be perfectly honest, between the Treaty of Nanking and the Rape of Nanking, it isn’t at all surprising to me that China sometimes seems to have a chip on its shoulder when it comes to foreign relations. It spent the better part of a century being shat upon by foreign powers.