Shanghai Trip Part 9: Yuyuan (豫园) - Old Chinese Garden

[Introduction]

I traveled to Shanghai, China, in late May. If I had been fluent in Chinese, I could have enjoyed the trip more, but I was impressed with a fine mixture of retro and modern elements in Shanghai. In this article, I will write about “Yuyuan (豫园)” as part of Day 3. “Yuyuan (豫园)” is the area that well reproduces “what foreign tourists imagine as traditional China” compared with “Waitan (The Bund)” and “Pudong”.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Fly to Hongqiao International Airport
* Day 1: Waitan (The Bund)
* Day 1: Waitan (The Bund) (Light-up)
* Day 2: Oriental Pearl Tower
* Day 2: Jin Mao Tower
* Day 2: Shanghai Tower
* Day 2: Shanghai World Financial Center
* Day 2: Pudong (Light-up)
* Day 3: Yu Garden [This article]
* Day 3: Xintiandi, Middle Huaihai Road, Hengshan Road and Tianzifang
* Day 3: East Nanjing Road (Light-up)
* Day 4: Shanghai World Expo Museum
* Day 4: Natural History Museum, Ocean Aquarium and China Art Museum
* Day 4: Yu Garden (Light-up)
* Day 5: Great World (Dashijie), Jing’an Temple and Shanghai Exhibition Center
* Day 5: Return Home from Pudong International Airport

[Travel Date]
2018.05.23 – 27

[Main Part]

Breakfast at Sofitel Shanghai Hyland and Morning Walk at East Nanjing Road

It was the third day of my Shanghai trip. To begin with, I will have breakfast at Sofitel Shanghai Hyland where I have been staying.

As I mentioned in the previous article of the second day, breakfast was not fully ready at 6 a.m. when the restaurant was supposed be open and overall most of the staff in the restaurant was relatively unfriendly (lack of smile) compared with receptionists and doormen 🙁

Two subway stations, “East Nanjing Road (南京东路)” and “People’s Square (人民广场)”, were located within walking distance from the hotel and I moved to “East Nanjing Road (南京东路)” station today. Just like yesterday, I saw several groups who did Tai Chi around there.

A man on the right only did different movements!?

Go to Yuyuan (豫园)

In the 3rd day morning of my Shanghai trip, I will go around “Yuyuan (豫园)”, which is often featured in the guidebooks along with “Waitan (The Bund)” and “Pudong”.

To begin with, I walked around “Yuyuan Tourist Mart (豫园商城)”, a commercial district.

It was early in the morning, so there were less people and half of the stores were not open.

A Starbucks shop fitted with surrounding shops.

This was “Huxin Pavilion (The Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse)”, which was opened in 1855 as the oldest teahouse in Shanghai.

“Huxin Pavilion (The Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse)” was one of the most famous photo spots in “Yuyuan (豫园)” and I really thought it was photogenic.

Yuyuan Garden (豫园)

“Yuyuan (豫园)” was officially referred to a garden and I visited it.

“Yuyuan Garden” was developed in the late 1500s during the Ming Dynasty.

It was what most foreign tourists imagined as “traditional Chinese garden”.

Here are other snaps in the garden.

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant (南翔馒头店)

I left the garden and came to “Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant (南翔馒头店)”.

“Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant (南翔馒头店)” is a traditional steamed bun restaurant. In addition to mainland China, the restaurant has expanded its operation overseas, including Singapore, Indonesia and Japan.

Although it was quite before lunch time, the restaurant was full of customers.

The menu included photos, so it was easy to order.

I had two kinds of steamed bun.

Yuyuan Tourist Mart (豫园商城)

As time passed and the area became more lively, I will go around “Yuyuan Tourist Mart (豫园商城)” again. To begin with, “Huxin Pavilion (The Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse)”.

“Huxin Pavilion (The Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse)” was the landmark in “Yuyuan (豫园)”, so lots of tourists gathered here.

As the weather forecast predicted it became cloudy in the afternoon, I took photos with blue sky.

“Yuyuan (豫园)” was one of the representative spots in Shanghai, so I saw tourists from all over the world.

I walked around the shopping district.

There was a shop that produced portraits.

An object “I Love Yuyuan”.

There was a Taoism temple called “City God Temple of Shanghai (上海城隍庙)” and I stopped by it.

Other snaps.

Then, I left “Yuyuan (豫园)” and moved to the next destination.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about “Yuyuan (豫园)” as part of Day 3.

Compared with “Waitan (The Bund)” and “Pudong”, “Yuyuan (豫园)” is the area that reproduces “what foreign tourists imagine as traditional China” well, though it has been relatively commercialized as a tourist site. In addition, the architecture in both the garden and the commercial district was uniformed in dark red color, which made the area photogenic 🙂

In the next article, I will write about Xintiandi, Middle Huaihai Road, Hengshan Road and Tianzifang as part of Day 3.

[Map]

1 Huxin Pavilion
2 Yu Garden
3 Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant
4 City God Temple of Shanghai

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