The Origin of Shanghai Yuyuan Garden

Pan Yunduan, the owner of Yuyuan Garden, was the son of Paine, a senior minister of Ming Dynasty. In the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing (1559), Pan Yunduan began to build a garden on a large vegetable field in the west of Shichuntang, a family in the northwest corner of Shanghai Chenghuang Temple (now Wu Tong Road and East Mayuanlong, Anren Street). In the forty-first year of Jiajing, Yun Pan became an official and had no time to build a garden. His "Yu Yuan Ji" said: "I have been doing it for twenty years and I have achieved nothing."

In the fifth year of Wanli (1577), Pan Yunyun returned to his hometown after being dismissed from the post of Chief Secretary of Sichuan, and then devoted himself to the management and expansion of the garden. "Every year, it is all Harunosuke that cultivates and harvests", and hired Zhang Nanyang, a famous gardener, as the designer and overlapping mountains. From then on, the bigger the garden, the wider the pool. It was completed at the end of Wanli, with a total area of more than 70 mu. The whole park has pavilions, winding paths, strange peaks and rocks, ponds and streams, towering old trees, large scale and beautiful scenery.

The middle and late Ming Dynasty coincided with the heyday of Jiangnan literati gardening, and there were thousands of private gardens near Shanghai. The scenery, layout and scale of Yu Garden are no less than those of Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden and Taicang Garden. Mountain garden is comparable, and it is recognized as the "crown of famous gardens in Southeast China".

Pan Yunduan noticed in Yu Yuan Ji that "Yu Yuan was written on the plaque to please the elderly". "Yu" means "Antai" and "Peace". It shows that the purpose of Pan Yunduan's garden is to let his parents spend their old age in the garden. However, due to the long delay, Paine died when the garden was just built, and the Yuyuan Garden actually became a place where Pan Yunyun lived in seclusion and enjoyed himself. Pan Yunduan often holds banquets in the garden, invites fairy goddesses to tell fortune, celebrate birthdays and worship ancestors, writes songs and books, plays cricket, flies kites, buys and sells antique calligraphy and paintings, and even punishes servants with shackles. Monks and nuns, fortune tellers, prostitutes, three religions and nine streams, as well as diners frequently go in and out of Yu Garden. The family business has declined due to long-term profligacy and gardening expenses. When Pan Yunduan was alive, he made a living by selling fields and antiques. After Pan Yunduan died, the garden became increasingly deserted. At the end of Ming Dynasty, Pan Shi Yuyuan Garden once belonged to Zhang Zhaolin (son-in-law of Pan Yunduan), a member of the General Political Department. In the early Qing Dynasty, Yu Garden changed its owners several times, and its address was also divided by foreign names. In the early years of Kangxi, some gentry in Shanghai converted several halls of Yu Garden into Qinghe Academy, dedicated to the memorial of Zhang Shengqu, the magistrate of Songjiang. Before the academy was built, Zhang Shengqu was demoted and stopped working immediately. Gardens and pavilions in the garden are strewn at random, the grass is full of ponds, some places have become vegetable fields, and the beautiful scenery has become desolate.

In the forty-eighth year of Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (1709), Shanghai gentry bought more than 2 mu of land on the east side of Chenghuang Temple, and used it for public activities to build a temple garden, that is, a cemetery, also known as East Garden (now Inner Garden). In the twenty-five years of Qianlong (1760), some wealthy gentry and businessmen raised funds to buy a large piece of old land in Yuyuan Garden in the north and northwest of the temple to restore the garden style of that year. It was completed in forty-nine years (1784) and lasted for more than twenty years. Because of the existing "East Garden" and the complex garden in the west, it is called "West Garden". The garden base was originally called a vast area of more than 70 mu, but it was less than 37 mu in the seventh year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1868).

The restored West Garden and East Garden are not private gardens in essence, but temple gardens where gentry and gentry meet and play gracefully in the city. However, the scale layout is still in accordance with Pan Shi Yuyuan Garden, and the style of the literati garden is clear and elegant. Le Shou Tang, which was originally near the lotus pond, has been in disrepair for a long time. When the West Garden was rebuilt, a tall, gorgeous and spacious Sansui Hall was built on the original site.

Yu Garden was destroyed in the Opium War. In the 22nd year of Daoguang (1842), on the 11th day of the fifth lunar month, the British army entered from the north gate, stationed in Yuyuan Garden and Chenghuang Temple, and its headquarters was located in the pavilion in the middle of the lake. Yu Garden is picturesque, and the spring stone is colorless. In the fifth year of Xianfeng (1855), the Xiaodaohui uprising failed, and the Qing army entered Yu Garden. Xiangxue Hall, Dianchun Hall, Guihua Hall, Deyue Building, Huashen Pavilion and Lianhua Hall were all damaged. In the tenth year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Army moved eastward, and the Qing government invited the foreign guns to enter the city to defend. Yu Garden has also been used as a barracks, "the West Garden is full of rocky mountains" and western-style barracks have been built.

During Jiaqing and Daoguang years in Qing Dynasty, Shanghai's commerce developed rapidly, and some commercial guilds set up trading houses in Yuyuan Garden as places for sacrifice, discussion, banquets and sightseeing. In the seventh year of Tongzhi, Xiyuan was divided into various trade offices, each of which raised funds to repair it. Since then, teahouses and pubs in the garden have sprung up one after another, and vendors are in groups. In an open space in the southwest of the lotus pond, some Jianghu artists, such as physiognomy, selling pear paste and Latin films, set up stalls here, gradually becoming a fixed temple fair market, and later evolved into a shopping mall. In the first year of Guangxu (1875), there were beans, rice, sugar, cloth, etc. 2 1 In the Yuyuan Garden, the industry and commerce set up offices, and some offices also set up schools. The historical sites of the past are gradually disappearing. During the Republic of China, Yuyuan Garden was divided into north and south by an east-west path (now Yuyuan Road). The ancient buildings are dilapidated beyond recognition, and some of them have been transformed into private houses. Ninghui Pavilion, Qingfen Pavilion, Haolefang and Lubo Gallery became restaurants, dim sum shops and teahouses respectively. Xiangxuetang was burned down by the Japanese army in the Battle of Shanghai and Shanghai on August 13th. Except for the exquisite rockery in front of the hall, there is only a clearing left. Fortunately, some important parts of the garden, such as Dianchun Hall, Sansui Hall, rockery, pavilions, ancient and famous trees, are still preserved.

After liberation, Yu Garden was properly protected. 1956 with the approval of the municipal government, special funds were allocated, and the municipal cultural bureau directly organized a special team to hire architectural experts and craftsmen from Shanghai Civil Design Institute and Tongji University to comprehensively restore the Yuyuan Garden. Over the past five years, it has invested millions of yuan to restore and rebuild the destroyed ancient buildings such as Sansuitang, Yuhua Hall, Huijinglou and Jiushixuan, dredge the silted ponds, plant a large number of trees and flowers, and put the Yuyuan Garden.

The restored gate of Yuyuan Garden moved from Anren Street in the east to the southwest of the garden. In addition to Lotus Pond, Hu Xinting and Jiuqu Bridge, there are 48 scenic spots in the whole park, which can be roughly divided into four parks: East, West, China and Inner. Yu Garden has restored its beautiful and elegant style. 196 1 September, Yu Garden officially opened to the outside world and became a favorite tourist and entertainment place for people from all walks of life at home and abroad.

After opening to the outside world, Yu Garden continued to be repaired. During the overhaul period of 1956 ~ 196 1 year, due to the limitation of financial and material resources at that time, although the buildings such as Yuhuatang and Huijing Building were restored in Yulinglong Scenic Area, the park still appeared to be relatively empty and unbalanced, and it was deeply tortuous with the whole Yuyuan Garden, and it was uncoordinated. In addition, during the Cultural Revolution, the Dragon Bridge of the Ming Dynasty was demolished and the surrounding Quchi was destroyed. 1982 The screw hole of Hu rockery in front of the big rockery and the flower wall of the small rockery in front of Wanhua Building are in danger. With the approval of the district government, two dangerous walls were demolished and repaired as they are. At the same time, it changed the cement pavement that is not in harmony with the ancient garden style, adjusted the layout of flowers and trees, and expanded the gate of East Garden. A total of 23 large and small renovation projects and hundreds of sporadic small projects were completed.

1In March, 1986, the district government decided to invest more than 6 million yuan to transform the Yuyuan Garden in three phases. Cai Dafeng, a professor and doctoral student of landscape architecture, was invited to give design guidance by referring to the layout of Yu Garden in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty and combining the characteristics of classical gardens in the south of the Yangtze River. The first and second phases of the project are mainly to transform the eastern scenic spots of Yuyuan Garden, including Yulinglong, Yuhua Hall, Huijinglou and the scenic spots around Jiushixuan. This area has always been seriously damaged, and the restoration project is relatively large. Demolition of air-raid shelter, reconstruction of Qingshi Ring Dragon Bridge, expansion of water surface, construction of Juyu rockery, Huan Yun rockery, Yulinglong zhaobi, and 100m Juyu promenade. The first and second phases were completed on 1987. The third phase of the project will restore the ancient stage in the inner garden. Because the surrounding residents live in the inner garden, the ancient stage has been locked for a long time and cannot be opened to the outside world. With the support of the Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee, the district government moved 13 households and 2 enterprises, and began to restore the ancient stage from the end of 1987 to1August 988.