Yuyuan Garden is located in Anren Jie in the center of Shanghai's Old City, not far from the Bund and adjacent to the Old Town God Temple. It is a classical southern style Chinese garden.
The garden covers an important space and includes a few halls, and other buildings of interest; cultural vestiges including century-old furniture, calligraphy, and paintings of famous artists, clay sculptures and brick carvings, some inscriptions and couplets.
In the garden it is possible to find zigzag paths, wonderfully decorated, on the walls dragoons of bricks that interlaces and they give the impression of being alive, the only sight of its class.
The Five-Dragon Wall subdivides one of the most beautiful gardens of China into six separate viewpoints, the Grand Rockery, Ten-Thousand-Flower Pavilion, Hall of Heralding Spring, Hall of Jade Magnificence, Inner Garden, and Lotus Pool.
The Inner Garden is a garden within the Yuyuan Garden in which pavilions, towers, hills, ponds, etc., are artificial. The Pavilion of Spring in the northeast section of the park is famous for being the headquarters of the anti-imperialist "Little Sword Society”, which in 1853 led an uprising against Qing rule and occupied Shanghai for 17 months. Weapons, coins and other objects used by the society are now housed in an exhibition hall.
The Treasure in the Universe consists of ingenuous and exquisite Jade Stone, Accumulated Water Veranda, Jade Hall, Dragon Winding Bridge and other building. The exquisite and ingenuous Jade, located across from Yuhua Hall, is one of the three well-known stones in the south of China with the characteristics of wrinkle, thinness, slimness, filter and transparency.
The rock is 3.3 meters in height and has 72 holes. What is interesting about this rock is that if you burn a joss stick just below the rock, the smoke will magically float out from all of the holes. Similarly, when you pour water into the rock from top, the water will flow out from each hole creating a spectacular sight to see.
The Urban Mountain Forest is located at the west of the garden district; there are Shansui hall, Rain Swirling Tower, Grand Artificial Hill, Hall of Elegance and other scenic sights. In the Hualin Charming Valley are waterside pavilion, winding corridors, Yihang, Floral Tower and other scenic sites.
The garden is believed to date to the 16th century when Zhang Nanyang, an architect, was commissioned by the Pan family specifically by Pan Yunduan of the Ming court to build the gardens in honor of his father Pan En. The garden was reportedly first established in 1559 as a private garden, the construction took almost 20 years.
Built in traditional Chinese style with numerous rock and tree garden areas, ponds, dragon-lined walls and numerous doorways and zigzagging bridges separating the various garden areas and pavilions.
The Inner Garden was a separate garden built in 1709, but is now a part of Yuyuan Garden in the south. The Inner Garden is compact and exquisite, and the rocks, pavilions, ornamental ponds and flower walls offer some of the most attractive sceneries in Yuyuan Garden.
Over the years, the gardens fell into disrepair until about 1760, then suffered extensive damage in the 19th century. In 1842, during the Opium Wars, the British army occupied the Town God Temple for five days. Also during the Taiping Rebellion the gardens were occupied by imperial troops, and damaged again by the Japanese in 1942.
After the founding of new China in 1949, Yuyuan Garden underwent several repairs. In 1956, after Shanghai's liberation, the city government reconstructed the garden and refurbished its beauty as in the olden days. Opened to the public in 1961, and declared a national monument in 1982.
The area surrounding the Gardens makes up the Old City God's Temple Area and was known in colonial times as the "Chinese City". There are numerous antique markets and the small side streets which have yet to be renovated by the authorities. There is a great antique market just off Shanghai "Old street" and another on a small alley called Dongtai Lu.