Superstitious Chinese Wait for Leaf to Fall From the Buddha's Tree of Cures

The last leaves are falling from the plane trees that line the streets of old Shanghai, forming wet heaps on the pavement which keep the sweepers busy. There is one special tree whose leaves are much prized, and I have spent some time this week trying to find out why.

The former French Park, now Fuxing Park, is mostly used by elderly people from the local lanes. At its southern entrance a group of mature trees includes a gingko and a Chinese chestnut.

Oddly, the chestnut is protected by a very solid iron fence. On a previous visit I noticed a sign on it warning of a ban on "superstitious activities", but no one could explain what it meant.

This time I found the tree being watched intently by half a dozen women, all in their 70s or 80s. The eldest of them, who wore padded leggings and leaned on a knotted bamboo cane, stared at the upper branches. All the women were waiting for a leaf to fall.

"We make a special tea with them," they told me. "It's good for our aches."

One of them said that they called it the "puti" tree. She would not write down the characters when I did not understand: they were too sacred. It took me some time to figure this out: it was - so they believed - a bodhi tree of the kind under which the Buddha had attained the state of enlightenment.

The notice about superstitious activities seems to have disappeared. "We are much more open-minded now," explained an elderly man.

"It is the only tree of its kind anywhere in Shanghai: that's why they worship it. It's a kind of idealist conception."

Later I asked for help from a friend working at a botanical garden. The real bodhi tree - the pipal - cannot be grown in cold climates. He remembers reading somewhere that Buddhist temples in northern China have planted the Chinese chestnut as a substitute.

There is no doubt about the medicinal properties of this and other chestnuts. The leaves have "marked narcotic tendencies" and a standard infusion will ensure "deep, calm sleep". They may also help with chilblains, piles, and varicose veins.

In traditional Chinese medicine its seeds are believed to regulate the qi or vital essence - and to control flatulence.

It is nice to think of the senior citizens around Fuxing Park having access to such a useful remedy. The man by the tree reminded me they could not have done so "before liberation".

"This was French Park - only French people allowed in," he said. And he insisted that in this park as well as the famous one on the Shanghai bund (waterfront) there used to be a sign saying "no dogs or Chinese".

It is interesting to see how myth becomes memory: there never was such a sign. Park regulations on the bund did for a long time ban dogs and, in a separate clause, Chinese (unless they were "of respectable appearance" or looking after western children) - so it came to much the same thing.

This reminded me to have a look at the regulations at the entrance to Fuxing Park.

"Ethics and moral codes should be duly honoured," it warns. Visitors are expected not to gamble, urinate (or worse) in the open or practise medicine.

It still includes the old prohibition on "superstitious activities", though these days this is probably directed against the banned Falun Gong sect. Elderly people seeking enlightenment - or just a cure for chilblains - are left alone.