Yuyuan
Garden is situated at the south district of Shanghai. It was built in
the Ming dynasty. The Garden is a representative of the classical architectural
style and is acknowledged as an architectural miracle in the region southeast
of the Yangtze River.
Yuyuan began as a private garden created by Pan Yunduan, who spent almost
20 years, to build a garden in order to please his parents in their old
age.The
Garden is typical of Suzhou style. Each pavilion, hall, stone and stream
in the garden expresses the essence of South China's landscape design
from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Covering 20,000 square meters, Yuyuan
Garden has more than 40 scenic spots, which is divided into six parts
by five boundary walls, including Grand Rockery, Flower Pavilion, Hall
of Heralding Spring, Hall of Jade Magnificence, Inner Garden, and Lotus
Pool. The Grand Rockery is the most elaborate, venerable and glorious
rockery in southeastern China. Each part of the park, although divided,
has a balance and harmony creating a unity of expression.
The
bounding wall in the garden, decorated with dragon's heads and paved by
scalelike tiles on top, looks like a huge wandering dragon. The dragon
was designed with only four claws, not five like the dragons in the royal
palaces, as a way of avoiding irreverence and rebellion in the feudal
society.
The
surrpounding bazaar is packed with traditional and modern shops, restaurants
and temples.
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