Feb 2008

The gardens are located in the Old Town of Shanghai (Nan Shi or Southern City), Yu Yuan is a classical Chinese garden originally built in 1559, with a maze of pavilions, pines, rocks and pools filled with carp.

Yu yuan Garden is very accessible and draws huge crowds of tourists since it is one of the big sites to visit in the city. With a total area of less than 5 acres, it has more than 40 attractions in the inner and outer gardens. It is believed to have been built in the Ming Dynasty by the Pan, a family of officials, between 1559 and 1577. The gardens are in traditional Chinese style with numerous rock and tree garden areas, ponds, dragon-lined walls and numerous doorways and zig-zagging bridges separating the various garden areas and pavilions. To the gardens themselves there is a zig-zag of walkways over ponds of carp fish. These are made this way on purpose. The idea is that spirits are not supposed to be able to cross because spirits can only move in straight lines.

There is a famous rock there with an interesting legend saying that the rock was found some 1000 years ago and it was originally one of the Emperor Huizong's private collections before it found its way in the Yu yuan Garden. The exquisite layout, beautiful scenery, and the artistic style of the garden architecture have made the garden one of the highlights in Shanghai. We thoroughly enjoyed the traditional decorations, sculptures etc in form of dragons, lions, little warriors and what not that are spread all over the park. Even though the park is fairly small, it feels big due to a smart layout of the architecture and landscaping. You always find something new and can almost get lost there.

Next to the entrance of the gardens is the Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse which once was part of the garden and now is one of the most famous teahouses in China. According to the lonely planet even Queen Elizabeth and Bill Clinton were there. Now they can add us to that list...

Love,

Fredrik and Sabrina

The Old Town is not that far from where we live. It is probably about half an hour away and is located very centrally on pretty pricey land. Still it’s an area full of old historical houses with the occasional store, office or apartment building. I guess it is shrinking rapidly as the real estate gets more and more attractive to build on but it is still quite unique. There are a lot of small shops and kind of a bazaar where you can pick up some souvenirs.

Most Chinese towns traditionally had their own town gods and a temple dedicated to worship them. As I have understood it the temples are typically Taoist but there are halls dedicated to both Buddhist and Taoist deities.

The temple has an open courtyard that is bustling with activity as many people come to burn incense, pray or just look around.

In the halls of the temple it is quieter and a bit more peaceful. The halls are decorated and there are many different and quite special statues scattered around the temple. It is really nice just to walk around and soak in the atmosphere while enjoying the art.

It is also home to the most famous dumpling restaurant in Shanghai (Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant) where people wait in long lines to get a table or even just pick up some takeaway. We haven't even tried it yet, as there were so many people waiting and it started to rain when we were there. We instead went to a vegetarian restaurant which was packed with people. We managed to order and squeezed in at a table with 5 other people. As most places it was loud and busy but we really enjoyed it, and the food was good to.

Love,

Fredrik and Sabrina