Yu Garden or Yuyuan Garden (,

Shanghainese The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the City of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan langua ...

''Yuyoe'' , lit. ''Garden of Happiness'') is an extensive

Chinese garden The Chinese garden is a landscape garden style which has evolved over three thousand years. It includes both the vast gardens of the Chinese emperors and members of the imperial family, built for pleasure and to impress, and the more intimate ...

located beside the City God Temple in the northeast of the Old City of Shanghai at

Huangpu District, Shanghai Huangpu District (), makes up the eastern part of Shanghai's traditional urban core and is today the most central of Shanghai's 16 districts. Huangpu district is the seat of municipal government, includes key attractions such as The Bund and the ...

. It abuts the Yuyuan Tourist Mart, the Huxinting Teahouse and the Yu Garden Bazaar. This garden is accessible from the

Shanghai Metro The Shanghai Metro (; Shanghainese: ''Zaon6he5 Di6thiq7'') is a rapid transit system in Shanghai, operating urban and suburban transit services to 14 of its 16 municipal districts and to Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. Served as a part of Shang ...

's Line 10 and Line 14 Yuyuan Garden station. A centerpiece is the Exquisite Jade Rock () a porous 3.3-m, 5-ton boulder. Rumours about its origin include the story that it was meant for the Huizong Emperor (

Northern Song Dynasty Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

from 1100 to 1126 AD) at the imperial garden in

Bianjing Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Nor ...

, but was salvaged from the Huangpu River after the boat carrying it had sunk.

History

Yu Garden was first built in 1559 during the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

Pan Yunduan Pan Yunduan (Chinese: , Pān Yǔnduān) was a Ming-era governor of Sichuan from Shanghai. He constructed the original Yu Garden for his father, Pan En Pan En (Chinese: , Pān Ēn) was a Ming-era government official from Shanghai. He served under t ...

as a comfort for his father, the minister

Pan En Pan En (Chinese: , Pān Ēn) was a Ming-era government official from Shanghai. He served under the Jiajing Emperor. His son Pan Yunduan constructed the Yu Garden Yu Garden or Yuyuan Garden (, Shanghainese ''Yuyoe'' , lit. ''Garden of Happiness ...

, in his old age. Pan Yunduan began the project after failing one of the imperial exams, but his appointment as

governor of Sichuan The politics of Sichuan Province in the People's Republic of China is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China. The Governor of Sichuan is the highest-ranking official in the People's Gove ...

postponed construction for nearly twenty years until 1577. The garden was the largest and most prestigious of its era in Shanghai, but eventually its expense helped ruin the Pans. The garden was inherited by

Zhang Zhaolin Pan Yunduan (Chinese: , Pān Yǔnduān) was a Ming-era governor of Sichuan from Shanghai. He constructed the original Yu Garden for his father, Pan En Pan En (Chinese: , Pān Ēn) was a Ming-era government official from Shanghai. He served under t ...

, Pan Yunduan's granddaughter's husband, and then passed to different owners. A section was briefly organised by

Zhang Shengqu Zhang Yuming (Chinese: 張羽明), courtesy name Shengqu (), was a Chinese official of the Qing Dynasty. Zhang Yuming passed the second stage of the imperial exams and received his Juren () degree. In 1665, he was appointed as the Prefect of So ...

as the "Academy of Purity and Harmony" (, ''Qīng-Hé Shūyuàn'') and the Ling Yuan (, ''Líng Yuàn'', lit. "Spirit Park"), today's East Garden, was purchased by a group of local leaders in 1709. A group of merchants renovated the increasingly decrepit grounds in 1760 and in 1780 the West Garden was opened to the general public. The gardens suffered damage numerous times during the 19th century. During the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

, the British army used the Huxinting Teahouse as a base of operations for several days in 1842. During the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It last ...

, the

Small Swords Society Small Swords Society or Small Knife Society was a political and military organisation active in Shanghai, China, and neighbouring areas amid the Taiping Rebellion, between about 1840 and 1855. Members of the society, rebelling against the Qing dy ...

ran its headquarters in the Dianchun Hall; by the time Qing troops recovered the garden, the original structures had nearly all been destroyed. They were damaged again by the Japanese in 1942 before being repaired by Liangshun Han (Rockery Han山石韩,Rockery Han, http://www.rockeryhan.com) appointed by the Shanghai government from 1956 to 1961. They were opened to the public in 1961 and declared a national monument in 1982.

Design

Today, Yu Garden occupies an area of 2

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...

s (5

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

s), and is divided into six general areas laid out in the Suzhou style: * Sansui Hall (, ''Sān Suì Táng'', lit. "Three Tassel Hall")includes the Grand Rockery (, ''Dà Jiǎshān'' ), a 12-meter-high rockery made of huangshi stone, featuring peaks, cliffs, winding caves, and gorges. This scenery was possibly created by Zhang Nanyang during the

. * Wanhua Chamber (, ''Wàn Huā Lóu'', lit. "Chamber of the Ten Thousand Flowers") * Dianchun Hall (, ''Diǎn Chūn Táng'', lit. "Heralding Spring Hall")built in 1820, the first year of the Daoguang Emperor; served as the base of the

from September 1853 to February 1855 * Huijing Hall (, ''Huì Jǐng Lóu'') * Yuhua Hall (, ''Yù Huá Táng'', lit. "Jade Magnificence Hall")furnished with

rosewood Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. True rosewoods All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated ...

pieces from the

, shares its name with a mountain near Xinye in

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Ji ...

. * Inner Garden (, ''Nèi Yuán'')rockeries, ponds, pavilions, and towers; first laid out in 1709 and more recently recreated in 1956 by combining its east and west gardens. Each area is separated from the others by "dragon walls" with undulating gray tiled ridges, each terminating in a dragon's head.

Features

Gallery

File:Huxinting Teahouse at the Yu Garden pond, Old City, Shanghai.jpg, Built in 1855, the Huxinting Teahouse at the Yu Garden pond remains in use in 2018 File:Vendor at the Yuyuan Bazaar near Yu Garden, Shanghai.jpg, A vendor at the Yuyuan Bazaar near Yu Garden, 2018 File:Yuyuan Gardens - water reflection.JPG, Crooked bridge & rounded gate File:Yuyuan Garden.jpg, Koi in the large pond File:Yuyuangardenpic2.jpg, One of the dragon wall end-pieces File:上海豫园玉玲珑-1.jpg, The Exquisite Jade Rock File:Yuyuan Garden - Rocks.jpg, One of the rockeries File:The door of dragon wall.jpg, The door of the dragon wall

References

External links