The Yuyuan Garden area

The Yuyuan Garden area is located a few blocks south of the Bund.Before the concessions were established in Shanghai in the mid-19th century,this area had been the downtown for several hundred years.

In the 1990s,a part of this former walled city was restored.The restored area is a bit of a Disneyland version of historical Shanghai.It is a world of cobbled paths,small shops and old gabled houses.The Yuyuan Garden area includes the City God Temple,the Yuyuan Garden,the Huxingting Teahouse and the Bridge of Nine Turnings and hundreds of shops and restaurants.

The major portion of this area is taken by more than 100 specialty shops and restaurants .The Shanghai Old Street ,a great stop for souvenir shopping ,stretches about 825 meters  from west to east.It displays the architectural and cultural evolution of Shanghai from the Ming Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty into Chinese Republican era.

Standing on the Shanghai Old Street is the City Gold Temple, a Taoist house of worship of several hundred years.Two gods are housed in the temple with Huoguang in the front hall and Qin Yubo in the back hall.

North of the temple lies the Yuyuan Garden ,the largest and best known one in Shanghai.The private garden was built between 1559 and 1587.The owner,Pan Yunduan,planned it as a retreat for his father.Covering some four hectares of land at that time,it was rated one of the best gardens south of the Yangtze River.In 1760,the garden was offered for sale by the heir.The transport merchant bought the garden and donated it to the City Temple.The former garden was open to the public and a number of guilds were settled in the garden.In that period,the garden was massively renovated with new pavilions and halls added.Since the 1950s,the garden has been renovated a couple of times and it is enlisted in the National Heritage.Occupying an area of 2 hectares,the restored garden is a pastoral world.It is a remarkable maze of pavilions,rockeries,bridges and ponds encircled by a white-washed wall.The traditional lyout of the estate has produced over a dozen gardens with gardens.

South of the entrace of the Yuyuan Garden is a lotus pond spanned by a zigzag bridge.The building in the pond is one of the most famous teahouses in China,called Huxingting ,or Mid-Lake Pavilion.

The Yuyuan Garden tops the list of traditional attractions in Shanghai.A trip to Shanghai is never complete without a visit to the Yuyuan Garden area.