dulemba

Yu Garden

As I wrote in an earlier post, Yu Garden or Yuyuan Garden or Garden of Happiness was first built in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty by Pan Yunduan as a comfort for his father, the minister Pan En, in his old age. I'm so glad he did - it was just breathtaking.
The entrance was quite crowded, but I believe the large stone might have been Jade and basically says "Yu Garden" on it.

The gate itself was impressive. Supposedly, the higher a threshold you have to step over to get into a place, the higher the owner was in the social hierarchy.

So you literally step into a garden like this. I need to just let you walk around soaking in the images for a sec, like I did...

The pagodas were also amazing.

Things that stood out to me were the stories that unfolded on the roofs.

And the cobbles. Apparently designs were specific to certain families, only that particular family was allowed to do this design of stones.

There were carvings and ancient writings on walls (that I didn't get a picture of, sadly) that were revealed behind plexiglass.

Scenes of the garden were framed by intricate windows and doorways.

What I found most ironic was that some of the path made me feel like I was in Rock City - but without the kitsch. There was even an equivalent to the "Fat Man's Squeeze"!

Before we left, I had to have my photo taken with this amazing dragon...

Enough! One can only take so much beauty in one day, can't they? HA! It was off to lunch next...

To read about my journey in order, follow these links:
01 - Shanghai!
02 - A Mall and Grocery Store
03 - Custom Dress
04 - The Long Museum
05 - The Quay on the Yangtze?
06 - Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District
07 - Old Shanghai
08 - Dumplings for lunch!
09 - Yu Garden
10 - Storyland
11 - Hot Pot at Cloud Nice Shopping Mall Changning Branch
12 - The China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
13 - Art Exhibitions at the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
14 - Workshop: Gel Printing
15 - The train to Hangzhou
16 - Speaking at China Jiliang University
17 - Hangzhou - Our personal fall-apart party
18 - The Teahouse Garden in Hangzhou
19 - China wrap-up

Dumplings for lunch!

After Yu Garden, we were hungry. It just so happened that one of the best dumpling restaurants in the city sits in the middle of Old Shanghai.

There was a bit of a wait, but with a view like this, I didn't mind!

We dove right in, so I almost didn't get the money shot - here was our lunch!

It was made up of shrimp balls (imagine shrimp wrapped in tater tots and deep fried).

More of the honeyed lotus root stuffed with rice, an obvious favorite here.

The amazing dumplings themselves.

So good! Shushu somehow got us the best table!

But the star was this dumpling—it's filled with broth. The trick is to stick a straw into it and drink the broth before eating the dumpling itself. Very fun!

It made me appreciate this sculpture we came across a little later.

There was the cutest little girl at the next table over. She kept staring at me and giggling. I'd been told this would happen. I looked very different to her! So, I just smiled and waved. How could I not? What a cutie. And she loved the sweet dumplings filled with sugared egg yolk and made to look like little piggies!

To read about my journey in order, follow these links:
01 - Shanghai!
02 - A Mall and Grocery Store
03 - Custom Dress
04 - The Long Museum
05 - The Quay on the Yangtze?
06 - Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District
07 - Old Shanghai
08 - Dumplings for lunch!
09 - Yu Garden
10 - Storyland
11 - Hot Pot at Cloud Nice Shopping Mall Changning Branch
12 - The China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
13 - Art Exhibitions at the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
14 - Workshop: Gel Printing
15 - The train to Hangzhou
16 - Speaking at China Jiliang University
17 - Hangzhou - Our personal fall-apart party
18 - The Teahouse Garden in Hangzhou
19 - China wrap-up

Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District - Puffy Art!

Much like Edinburgh used light to decorate a city made of ancient architecture, the Chinese use light and puffy art.

It's a rather brilliant idea. It adds a fun addition and doesn't hurt anything.

The artwork was the invention of ... I can't read his/her name, can you?

But the designs were based on their furniture designs.

I thought they were quite wonderful!

Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District

It turned out that Shushu Li, a friend from my PhD days at the University of Glasgow, teaches at the Normal University and is based in Shanghai. So she took a day to show me around. We headed straight for Yu Garden. But before we went into the garden itself, there was the city of Old Shanghai that surrounded it! This is what we westerners typically think of when we envision China.

I loved this classic photo op with Shushu and me.

Here's Wikipedia's description:

Yu Garden or Yuyuan Garden (traditional Chinese: 豫園; simplified Chinese: 豫园; pinyin: Yù Yuán, Shanghainese Yuyoe Wu Chinese pronunciation: [ɦy.ɦɥø], lit. Garden of Happiness) is an extensive Chinese garden located beside the City God Temple in the northeast of the Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District, Shanghai. It abuts the Yuyuan Tourist Mart, the Huxinting Teahouse and the Yu Garden Bazaar...Yu Garden was first built in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty by Pan Yunduan as a comfort for his father, the minister Pan En, in his old age.

I wasn't able to go into the temple, but I certainly saw plenty!

Old Shanghai is a tourist destination for locals too.

Vendors sell shwag galore.

I purchased some more souvenirs, but mostly just enjoyed looking around.

Shushu insisted I try a favorite treat there - candy covered fruit. They were much like our candied apples, but were strawberries and lychee fruit instead.

We had no idea what this was all about...

But wait - there was more!!!

To read about my journey in order, follow these links:
01 - Shanghai!
02 - A Mall and Grocery Store
03 - Custom Dress
04 - The Long Museum
05 - The Quay on the Yangtze?
06 - Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District
07 - Stan in Old Shanghai
08 - Dumplings for lunch!
09 - Yu Garden
10 - Storyland
11 - Hot Pot at Cloud Nice Shopping Mall Changning Branch
12 - The China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
13 - Art Exhibitions at the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
14 - Workshop: Gel Printing
15 - The train to Hangzhou
16 - Speaking at China Jiliang University
17 - Hangzhou - Our personal fall-apart party
18 - The Teahouse Garden in Hangzhou
19 - China wrap-up

The Quay on the Yangtze?

I wasn't sure what to call this area, but read that

The final stop going down the Yangtze is Shanghai. There are two famous landmarks that every traveler must see in Shanghai – the Bund and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. [I saw them from a distance.] The Bund is the waterfront area, and while you may think that the river is the Yangtze, it isn’t – it’s the Huangpu River. At night, the Shanghai skyline is lit up and is worth a second visit.

Whatever it was called, it was a lovely respite after the museum.

People were jogging, walking their dogs, skateboarding, and generally having a lovely time. There was even a Starbuck's truck (the airstream in the background), where I got a Dragonfruit drink (my new favorite fruit).

The amazing ships that went by created a show of their own. This one looked straight out of a Hayao Miyazaki animation.

This was a lovely slice of Shanghai life to observe.