Yuyuan Garden
With a long history of more than 400 years, the Yuyuan Garden, also known as the Yu Garden, is the most celebrated classical Chinese garden in Shanghai. The garden is located to the northeast of the old town, not far from the Bund. The garden is typical of the gardening art south of the Yangtze River and is famed as "an architectural miracle in South China".
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Delicate embossed gate of Yuyuan Garden |
The corridor upon water in Yuyuan Garden |
Located on Anren Street, Yuyuan Garden was built during the Ming Dynasty (1577), 400 years ago. It is a residential garden built by Pan Yunduan, minister of finance in Sichuan Province during the Ming Dynasty. Pan built the garden to "please his parents and let them enjoy themselves in their late years". In ancient Chinese "Yu" means "pleasing", hence the name of the garden.
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Mid-Lake Pavilion at night |
The dragon carving upon the wall of Yuyuan Garden |
When you penetrate deeper, it seems you are getting lost in a maze: the landscape seems to wind on forever as the gardens are purposefully designed to distort space and distance. And the elegant wood carving or engraving you come arcoss, are the obvious characteristics of the gardening style of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The more you step inside, the more you get fascinated for Yuyuan Garden, a maze of houses, grottoes, pavilions, lotus ponds, and zigzag bridges crossing streams, a maze in a Chinese way.