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Old Town Yuyuan Gardens
AKA Old City
Shanghai, China
See also: Old Town Buildings and Zigzag Bridge
On this page, below:
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These
gardens were constructed over the course of 18 years (1559-1577) by Pan
Yunduan. As the administrative commissioner in the Ming government for
Sichuan Province he built these private gardens for his parents.
The gardens were severely damaged in the Opium War (1842) and British officers were barracked here. Then during the Taiping Rebellion they took a battering from French troops. Largely what is seen today is thanks to much needed restoration that began in 1956 and culminated with their opening to the public in 1961. The gardens cover an area of around 5 acres and incorporate the rock and water features of classical Chinese gardens. |
Entrance Entrance gate. Three details below:  Entrance gate - detail. Flying eaves ... Statuary on roofs "Sweeping [roofs]: Roofs with a sweeping curvature that rises at the corners of the roof [flying eaves]. The types of roof construction are usually reserved for temples and palaces although it may also be found in the homes of the wealthy. In the former cases, the ridges of the roof are usually highly decorated with ceramic figurines." - Wikipedia: Chinese Architecture (Online Dec. 2013)  Entrance gate - detail. Flying eaves ... Statuary on roofs including dragon  Entrance gate - detail. Fisherman ... Tile-ends  Entrance. One of the pair of guardian lions: lioness restraining a playful cub that is on its back (representing nurture).  Entrance. Playful cub on its back  Entrance. One of the pair of guardian lions: lion resting his paw upon an embroidered ball (in imperial contexts, representing supremacy over the world). |
Rocks Eroded limestone rocks  Buildings ... Rocks ... Water ... Detail below:  Eroded limestone rocks  Eroded limestone rock     |
Buildings Jar-shaped moon gate neatly frames a view  Round-shaped moon gate neatly frames another view    Fretwork ... Flying eaves |
Dragon Walls "Dragon wall" - Details below:  Note baby under the dragon's mouth (detail below) and three claws. 4 claws are reserved for the emperor's buildings.   Two dragons guarding celestial orbs  Celestial orb |
| Roof details "Sweeping [roofs]: Roofs with a sweeping curvature that rises at the corners of the roof [flying eaves]. The types of roof construction are usually reserved for temples and palaces although it may also be found in the homes of the wealthy. In the former cases, the ridges of the roof are usually highly decorated with ceramic figurines." - Wikipedia: Chinese Architecture (Online Dec. 2013)   Flying eaves ... Tile-ends        Note monkeys - detail below:  |
