Garden of Contentment (Yu Yuan Garden)

The Yuyuan Garden, also named the Garden of Contentment, is famous in Shanghai as one of the finest Chinese Gardens in China. It is located in the heart of Shanghai's Old City, one of the few existent old tourist places in Shanghai.
Close to the gardens is Shanghai's bazaar, a great number of small streets and lanes where vendors sell their products and food stuffs to the tourists and local people. It has been said that the garden was first established in 1159 by Pan Yuan, a government officer of the Ming Dynasty. He used almost 20 years and all of his savings to construct a garden in an attempt to please his parents in their high ages.
In the past over 400 years, Yuyuan Garden was restored and reopened several times. It was once in a mess. Because of the downside of Pan's family after Pan Yuduan's death, Yuyuan was slowly out of use. Although later the garden was renovated by the local rich people, several civil wars in the mid-19th century caused huge damage. In 1956, after Shanghai's liberation, the city government rebuilt the garden and recovered its elegance and beauty as in the old days. Yuyuan Garden was at last reopened to the public in 1961. The government declared it a national monument in 1982. Now Yuyuan Garden attracts a huge number of visitors at home and abroad each year.
Yuyuan Garden covers an area of 20,000 square meters. The attractions of the garden, such as the pavilions, halls, rockeries, ponds and cloisters all have unique feature. There are six main scenic areas in the garden including Sansui Hall, Wanhua Chamber, Dianchun Hall, Huijing Hall, Yuhua Hall and the Inner Garden. Each area features several scenic spots within its borders.

The main attractions in Yuyuan Garden are as follows:

Sansui Hall
Built in 1760, the Sansui Hall was constructed with five spacious rooms in Qing Dynasty style to entertain his guests. Later it became a place to hold ceremonies for the gentlemen and bookmen. It is the largest and most capacious building in the garden.

Exquisite Jade Rock

The Exquisite Jade Rock locating from the Yuhua Hall is one of the three most famous rocks in the southern region of the Yangtze River of China. The other two are Ruiyun Rock in Liu garden, Suzhou and Zhouyun Rock in Hangzhou. The Exquisite Jade Rock is about 4 meters high and has 72 holes. It is a piece of featuring rock from Lake Tai in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. It is featured by its wrinkled appearance, slender shape, transparent nature, and lots of holes due to the eroded by water.

Big Rockery

The Grand Rockery, a famous rockery artist in Ming Dynasty, is regarded as the best treasure of the Yu Garden as well as the best and oldest rockery in South China. On the top of the rockery, you can get a bird's eye view of the garden. Cuixiu Hall sits at the foot of the rockery. It is a quiet and elegant place surrounded by old trees and beautiful flowers.

Stone City

It is a stone exhibition show holding a great number of stone sculptures and engravings. It is loved by tourists for its visual arts and human values.