Located in the northern Shanghai, Yuyuan Garden is the only well-protected Ming dynasty garden in the old part of city. To its opposite, there is the ancient shopping street, like Da-zha-lan in Beijing, this street is the Shanghai’s old business street, Cheng-huang-miao.

In 1559, Pan Yunduan, a son of the local criminal official planned to build a garden in vegetable field of his residence. Yet the project was pending for years until 1577. Famous garden designer was invited and the garden project was enlarged gradually. At the completion moment, the garden contained halls, rockeries, pavilions, ponds, lakes and sightseeing halls as well as entertainment stage. The garden boasts to be a splendid pearl in southern China, showing typical architecture style of Ming and Qing dynasty.

The name of Yuyuan Garden actually meant “enjoy the senectitude peacefully ”. Experienced 400 years, the garden changed several owners. Some of the halls were dismantled and sight views were destroyed. After whole scale restoration, the garden was reopening in 1961. Most of the designs were restored as the original appearances. What’s more, some improper structures were adjusted to pursue better scenery. Beside the ancient trees and rare flowers, rockery and pavilions, there are large amount of stone inscriptions and famous poems written by celebrities. It was on the list of VIP cultural relic units

On Lantern Festival (lunar Jan 15th) and Shanghai International Tourism Festival (Sep--Oct), Yuyuan will welcome more visitors with various activities and colored lights and Street Parade. Large amount of southern snacks may attract more and more visitors from all over the country, even all over the world. Meanwhile, there will be some folk performances. This is a nice place to enjoy the southern scenery, taste the southern snack and experience the local life.