Legend of Gardens: Yuyuan Garden and Old Town Culture
2 min readMid-lake Pavilion and Bridge of Nine Turningsin the Yuyuan Garden in the early 21st century For most local Shanghainese, Yuyuan Garden is no more than a vague geographical concept most of the time. Sometimes, it is regarded as an individual garden hidden in the temple of the town god.
Other times, it refers to the gate that bears the inscrintion of its name and a large area beyond the wall.
When Yuyuan Garden was built, it covered a larger area than it does today. Over the past 400 years, it has seen all the prosperity and exhaustion. It has been torn down during wars and rebuilt in different dynasties. Today, it is not only a well-known tourist spot, but a symbol of the history and civilization of Shanghai.
Like other exquisite , Yuyuan Garden was private. The owner of the garden, Pan Yunduan bega Ming Dynasty(1559). Over the next ten years, he made a few cha hieved much. The real large scale construction started in 1577, when huan. After the project was eventually finished, he named it Yuyuan Garde:Covering more than 70 an Garden is an artistic masterpiece of famous Ming Dynasty architect Zhang Nanyang, which boasts exquisite settings and beautiful views. However, after its owner passed a clined since his descendants could not afford the huge sums of By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Yuyuan Garden was sold, not a property of the aperiod of 1662-1722, during the Qing Dynasty, the garden was opened to the public as a gathering place Later, Yuyuan Garden was being renovated by a rich Shanghailocal. The renovation took 24 years to accomplish(from 1760 to 1784). At that time, Yuyuan Garden regained its origin a (over 70 acres) and was maintained by a Taoist priest based in the old town god temple. The Yuyuan became the west garden of the temple opposite the east one. Hence,Yuyuan Garden began its long relationship with the old town god temple. In the minds of ordinary people, Yuyuan Garden and the old town god temple complemented each other with their radiance and beauty. By this time, Yuyuan was no longer a private garden. Instead, it has become a tourist spot for ordinary ring the First Opium War and ensuing Taiping Rebellion in 1840s, Yuyuan Garden was damaged. In 20 ye entire garden was changed beyond recognition Starting from 1867, Yuyuan Garden had different owners. It was packed wit stores. tea caurants and opera hou ses.
3, 1932, the garden was robbed, leaving only a few of its new life when the war ended in 1945. In late 1956,ned it to the public in September, 1961. During the 1986 to 1988, the eastern part of the garden was rebuilt ac-ording to the to the Ming Dynasty. The neglected trees and flow-ers in the old garden were revived, a sple Yuyuan Garden
