Yu Garden, a classical garden in downtown Shanghai. Originally built in 1559 as the private garden in the Ming Dynasty, Yu Garden has a history of more than 400 years and boasts the glory of the most beautiful garden south of the Yangtze River.Yu Garden is also a paradise of shopping and leisure full of the fascinating Chinese traditional culture. It is the very good venue for specialist Chinese goods ranging from clothes, small articles, local crafts, jade wares and gold and silver jewelry.
Yu garden is reputed to be the most beautiful garden south of the Yangtze River. Built beside the Temple of the City God and covering only fives acres, it follows the Suzhou garden design of a world in microcosm, with 30 pavillions linked by corridors, artificial hills, bridges over lotus pools, groves of bamboo and walls occupied by stone dragons.Each pavilion, hall, stone and stream in the garden is expressing the quintessence of South China landscape design from Ming and Qing Dynasty. Over forty spots, divided by dragon walls, wound corridors and beautiful flowers, form an unique picture featuring “one step, one beauty; every step, every beauty.”
Yuyuan Garden occupies an area of 20,000 square meters (about five acres). However, the small size is not a representative of the attractions of the garden. The pavilions, halls, rockeries, ponds and cloisters all have unique characteristics. There are six main scenic areas here: Sansui Hall, Wanhua Chamber, Dianchun Hall, Huijing Hall, Yuhua Hall and the Inner Garden. Each area features several scenic spots within its borders.
The Inner Garden was a separate garden built in 1709, but is now a part of Yuyuan in the south. It is compact and exquisite, and the rocks, pavilions, ornamental ponds and flower walls offer some of the most attractive sceneries in Yuyuan.