Yu Garden, Shanghai

Yù Yuán (豫园), in the heart of Shanghai's old city, is the best place in Shanghai to see a classical garden, if you can get past the crowds.

A red pavilion and willows reflected in a pond in Yu Garden

History

Pan Yunduan, a Ming-dynasty official, began the garden in 1559 for his elderly parents. Yu means peace and contentment. It took about twenty years to build and was the largest garden of its time in Shanghai. After the family's decline it passed to a temple and to merchants' guilds, was damaged during the Opium War and the Taiping rebellion, and was restored from the 1950s.

What to look for

  • The Exquisite Jade Rock (Yu Linglong), a famous porous limestone rock. Legend says that if incense is burned beneath it, smoke rises from all of its holes.
  • Dragon walls: the tops of several walls are shaped as undulating dragons, with dragon heads at the ends.
  • The Great Rockery, built in the Ming dynasty from yellow stone, once the highest point in Shanghai.
  • The Inner Garden, a quieter section in the south.

The bazaar and the teahouse

The garden is surrounded by the busy Yuyuan bazaar of shops and restaurants in traditional style. The Huxinting teahouse stands in a pond outside the garden, reached by the famous zigzag Bridge of Nine Turnings. The zigzags are often said to keep evil spirits away, as spirits were believed to travel only in straight lines.

Visiting

Go early on a weekday. Around the Lantern Festival (the 15th day of the first lunar month) the area is decorated with spectacular lantern displays and is extremely busy. Allow one to two hours for the garden.