It was praised by Queen Elizabeth, Clinton, Lee Hsien Loong and other leaders, and is known as the first of the five major gardens in Shanghai. Yu Garden was founded in 1559 and was originally Pan Yunduan's private garden, but after the decline of the Pan family, the garden was gradually divided and sold. Garden property rights have become intricate, and they have experienced several ups and downs. The new owners restored and rebuilt it until the Qing Dynasty, and eventually evolved into a bazaar and a public temple garden.
The restoration work after 1949 slightly changed the original pattern of Yu Garden, and the "sparse" part of the garden (Green Wave Corridor, Huxin Pavilion, etc.) was assigned to the City God Temple outside the scenic area, and the "dense" part was assigned to the "new version" of Yu Garden. This may be a major benefit for visitors to the north, as the compact and varied characteristics of the Jiangnan gardens are epitomized compared to the royal gardens. If you are strict about the original appearance of the monuments, you don't have to worry too much, the scenic spots in the park are well preserved, and the restoration work tries to show the layout of the Ming Dynasty, which is highly praised in the industry.
Yu Garden forms a knife and axe shape, and there are 48 scenic spots in the park, which are marked in detail. According to the guided route, you will first see the Sansui Hall, Yangshan Hall, some tourists are confused, thinking that there is no garden at first glance should be interesting, in fact, this place echoes with the lotus pond on the south side, and it is slightly narrow after being blocked by the scenic wall. Interestingly, the two buildings were built by Qing Dynasty owners, and Sansui Hall was also requisitioned by the Qing Dynasty county government for office use, and was also used as a salon club for squires and wealthy merchants.
The big rockery, Ruxiu Pavilion and Wangjiang Pavilion on the north side are gradually revealing beautiful scenes, and many tourists regard this as a selfie background. The big rockery is also one of the most famous scenic spots, which was supervised by Zhang Nanyuan, a well-known landscape engineer in the Ming Dynasty, which is also his only surviving work. The rockery is stacked by more than 2,000 tons of Wukang Huangshi, which is magnificent, although there are subtle traces of maintenance, but it does not affect the scenery atmosphere. For the purpose of cultural relics protection, the rockery was temporarily isolated, which greatly reduced the fun of visiting the park. There are also five dragons hidden in the Yu Garden, all of which are walled and difficult to spot without careful observation. The largest Wolong is 56 meters long, it is hidden behind the mountain, due to the protective closure and isolated with the big rockery, can not be observed closely, a little regrettable.
There is a pair of iron lions of the Yuan Dynasty at the entrance of the "gradually entering the good scene" corridor in the east of Yangshan Tang, which was originally located in Anyang County, Henan Province, and was transported to Japan during World War II, and was later found to be cultural relics, and finally returned to China. When the monuments were restored, the pair of iron lions were placed in the scenic area, and new attractions were added to the Yu Garden, and it is not too much to call it cute and cute, and many tourists can't help but come forward to touch it. In contrast, the stone lion standing in front of the cloister of the Huijing Building is more serious. Huijinglou and Jiushixuan are located in the center of the scenic spot, climb the building to observe the panoramic view, all the way to the south, you can see the Yuelou, Qizao Hall, and the library pavilion. This is the area with the most abundant pond water features, and you can take a picture of it.
The Yuji Water Corridor Peak on the east side of the Library Pavilion turns around, undertaking the central and western scenic spots. The "jade exquisite" on its side is famous, known as one of the three famous stones of the Jiangnan garden, and it is also the treasure of the town garden, which is very wrinkled and hollow beautiful. It is worth mentioning that Yu Garden has experienced many wars, but this strange stone has survived, and the exhibition in the scenic spot is not a product of reconstruction.
The northeast corner is the Dianchun Hall Scenic Area, which was built by the Qing Dynasty flower and sugar merchants, and the function is a temple garden. In 1853, the "uprising" of the Little Knife Society broke out, and Dianchun Hall, which gradually became a public place, became the headquarters of the gang, so there are many historical objects on display in the hall. It is worth mentioning that the failure of the Little Knife Society incident had a significant impact on the development process of Shanghai. In order to take refuge, the Chinese poured into the concession area, the "Shanghai Land Charter" was also promulgated, and Shanghai's financial and insurance industry was also given more attention due to the riots. Embarrassingly, the incident also indirectly raised housing prices in the concession area.
The "inner garden" in the southeast corner is only 2 acres, which is a public temple garden built by the squires of the Qing Dynasty. Although it is a product of expansion, this "garden in the garden" is unified with the original Yu Garden, and its spatial sequence is compact and narrow, with Jingguan, Guanguan, ancient stage, and cloud building. The landscape hall is also known as the Qingxue Hall, the hall is opposite the strange peaks, and it is said that those with rich imagination can recognize more than 100 kinds of animal images.
The location of the entrance and exit of the scenic spot leads to the fact that the tour route begins in Sansui Hall and ends near Yu Linglong. There was no "inner garden" in the Ming Dynasty, according to the pattern at that time, the entrance was actually located on the southeast side of the Hanbi Building, when passing through the Huanlong Bridge, you could peep at the corner of the jade Linglong through the Zhaobi, and bypass the Zhaobi is the open Yuhuatang waters. Before leaving the scenic spot, looking back and turning back, it is also interesting to re-appreciate the jade and jade Huatang according to the classical route.
The beauty of Yu Garden is in the dynamic three-dimensional, one step at a time, and too many visitors can destroy the beauty, so we recommend visiting early on a weekday in the summer, and preferably wearing flat or block heels. In addition, it is necessary to plan the route and time, and the entrance of the scenic spot is located near the Jiuqu Bridge, which can be directly navigated and positioned; The opening hours of the scenic spot are 8:45-16:45, and the entrance is closed after 16:15.
