Renowned for high-rise buildings, Shanghai Serviced Apartments, a bustling international port, Shanghai is the symbol of China’s rapid rise to the forefront of global economics. China’s most populated city, Shanghai is a city that never sleeps and just when you think that it’s impossible to break-away from Shanghai’s hectic cosmopolitan lifestyle, the city reveals its most-welcome surprise: the serene Yuyuan Garden.
Situated in the centre of Shanghai’s Old City near the Bund and Somerset Xu Hui Shanghai, the Yuyuan Garden is the perfect retreat from Shanghai’s traffic-ridden streets and bright neon lights. Painstakingly built for 20 years by Ming Dynasty official Pan Yunduan and gifted to his aging parents in 1577, Yuyuan Garden is a place of beauty and tranquillity. Some 400 years later, the Garden continues to be a place of refuge for those who are tired of the noise and chaos of Shanghai city. ‘Yu’ means ‘peaceful’ in Chinese and peaceful it is! The five acre garden has many beautiful attractions that include Ming Dynasty-style halls and buildings that house many antiquities like centuries-old furniture, artwork, pottery and brick carvings.
The present-day Yuyuan Garden is the work of several centuries. Following Yunduan’s death the once beautiful garden changed hands several times until Shanghai’s gentry helped expand the park during the Qing Dynasty. The Gardens were destroyed during the Opium Wars and the Cultural Revolution until finally, under Chinese Government patronage this national treasure was restored and opened in 1961. Open throughout the week, the Park showcases traditional Chinese architecture. Five curved walls decorated with a Chinese dragon divides the park into six gardens each with its own collection of ponds, halls, pavilions and rock gardens.
Among the Park’s attractions is the Sansui, Yuhua Hall, Giant Artificial Hill and the Park’s star attraction: the Exquisite Jade Rock. This beautiful a 1000 year-old, five- tonne stone from Tai Lake with its characteristic wrinkled, hole-ridden surface was once part of Song Emperor Huizong’s private collection. Beside Yuyuan Garden lies the Bridge of Nine Turning which zigzags across the ornate ponds to Shanghai’s most popular teahouse, Huxiinting Teahouse.
Chandrishan Williams is a travel writer who writes under the pen name, Caleb Falcon. He specializes in writing content based on the many exciting world adventures that await intrepid travellers. Google+
