- Visit Chengdu – Home to the Giant Pandas
- Visit Chengdu – The Majestic Leshan Giant Buddha
- Visit Chengdu – Top 3 attractions in Chengdu
- Visit Guilin – Reed Flute Cave
- Visit Guilin – Plan Li River Cruise
- Day trip From Shanghai – Zhujiajiao Water Town
- Money Can buy Happiness at Shanghai Bund and Nanjing Road
- Visit Shanghai – Yuyuan Garden and Jade Buddha Temple
- Shanghai Travel : Top 5 Attractions in Shanghai
- Visit Zhangjiajie – How to Visit Tianmen Mountain
- Explore Zhangjiajie – How to Visit Baofeng Lake
- Visit Zhangjiajie – Avatar Mountains, Bailong Elevator, Golden Whip Stream
- Visit The Great Wall of China – Greatest Feat in human History
- Top 10 Must do things in Beijing – Travel China
- Travel China – Top 5 Attractions in China
Don’t listen to what they say. Go see.
Visit Shanghai – Yuyuan Garden and Jade Buddha Temple
After a great travel across Chengdu and Guilin, the cityscape of Shanghai was keeping us quite amused after a great first day at the ancient town of Zhujiajiae and a night stroll at The Bund. We were up early the next day and energised to explore more of what this city has to offer.
As with many modern cities it’s very hard to find green space midst the futuristic infrastructure but Shanghai has one such magnificence right in the heart of the city in the form of Yuyuan Garden.
Yuyuan Garden or Yu Garden of Shanghai is a pearl of classical gardens in southern area of the Yangtze River built in 1559 in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) with a history of more than 400 years. It is a private garden of Pan family. As the name implies, Yu means pleasing and peace in Chinese. The founder Pan Yunduan invited the famous designer to build this garden for his parents as the tranquil place to spend their remaining years in comfort and happiness.
A 10 min’s walk from our Hotel, we reached the buzzing market area of the Yuyuan Garden – The entry gate for which is through a shopping arcade (Entry Gate 1 and take the left at the dead end). The entry fee is 40 Yuan per person.
Yu Garden is composed of six scenic areas: Sansui Hall, Wanhua Chamber, Dianchun Hall, Huijing Hall, Yuhua Hall, and the Inner Garden. The highlights of the garden are: classical Chinese architecture, exquisite sculptures and carvings, and the busy Yuyuan bazaar. It was quite relaxing to walk through garden admiring the beautiful architecture and its layout. And of course quite few admirers – Get used to this as Chinese seem quite fond of clicking pictures with anyone who doesn’t look like them. Who doesn’t like being asked for pictures.
The true treasure of Yuyuan is the Exquisite Jade Rock. Located across from Yuhua Hall, it is one of the three famous rocks in the southern region of the Yangtze River. The rock is 3.3 meters (about 10.8 feet) in height and has 72 holes. What is interesting about this rock is that if you burn a joss stick just below the rock, the smoke will magically float out from all of the holes. Similarly, when you pour water into the rock from top, the water will flow out from each hole creating a spectacular sight to see.
The Yuyuan garden is surrounded by the Yuyuan Bazaar or Yuyuan market area. It has a great number of small streets and lanes where you can find many restaurants, tea houses, and shops. It is a good place to sample some local snacks and buy some souvenirs. We tried one of the best dumpling we have ever had – Crab meat Dumplings – This is a shop 20 metres from the exit of the garden. As with any street shopping in China knock the price by at least 80% and bargain hard. We ended up buying some souvenirs, silk and some jewellery.
After a refreshing drink of tender coconut, we were again on the Metro heading towards the famous Jade Buddha temple. Read more about how to use Shanghai Metro – Click here. A 5 minute walk from Jiangning road station we reached the venerable and famous Buddhist temple, Jade Buddha Temple. The Entry fee here is 20 Yuan per person.
In 1882, an old temple was built to keep two jade Buddha statues which had been brought from Burma by a monk named Huigen. The temple was destroyed during the revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Fortunately, the statues were saved and a new temple was built on the present site in 1928. It was named the Jade Buddha Temple.
This is an active temple with more than 70 resident monks. It was one of most peaceful places we have visited. Though located in the heart of a fast moving and crowded city, everything inside the temple had unique sense of calmness to it. Be it the monks going about chanting the prayers or the devotees burning hoards of incense sticks, everything just seemed peaceful in relative closeness to ones inner spirituality.
The Yuyuan garden and the Jade Buddha Temple are a must visit to see the other side of this buzzing city. Read more about the Top 5 must see attraction in Shanghai – Click here.
If you have any questions around this please feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you at the very earliest.
This is Aldrin and my partner Amoli. We bring you "Earths Pilgrim" - a unique insight into our travel escapades while leaving life in a cubicle. If you are looking for some inspiration to break the shackles of a regular life, then you are the right place. Read more about us- Click here.