YuYuan Garden, Shanghai

The YuYuan Garden is one of the most famous gardens in Shanghai. It was built in 1559 by Pan Yunduan, son of a minister. After failing one of his imperial exams (a civil service exam system in Imperial China used to select candidates for the state bureaucracy), Pan began the construction of the garden as a haven for his ageing father. The work was put on hold till 1577 due to Pan's appointment as governor of Sichuan. Eventually, the project was restarted, unfortunately, its expense contributed to the ruin of the Pan family.

Consequently, it was inherited by the husband of Pan's granddaughter, but ended up being passed from one owner to another. In 1760 a group of merchants renovated the decrepit grounds and eventually opened the garden to the public in 1780.

The tickets to enter the garden are purchased at these two windows at the YuYuan Bazaar.

I highly recommend a visit to the garden, it is really beautiful and quiet.

We visited on a Sunday at around 4pm and found parts of the garden fairly quiet, but we did encounter a large group of tourists in another area.

We stumbled upon a concert where all the musicians were playing ceramic instruments.

This was a very lovely way to spend the afternoon. We had a lot of fun in the very busy bazaar followed by a tranquil walk in the garden.

Joanna

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