On any Shanghai tour itinerary , the picturesque Yuan Garden is right up there with the bund in terms of popularity.With its ancient Chinese motif, socores of gift and antique shops and ornate spans arching over cascading streams,the garden is a natural tourist magnet,,attracting hordes of local and oversea tourists every day.Yu Garden  area is also frequented by heads of state.Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and US President Clinton have both visited the bustling area.

  The Yu Garden and the city god temple ,situated in the south  of Shanghai,stand next to each other,Yu yuan garden is one of five shanghai ‘s ancient gardens built in a style derived from Suzhou,a city of gardens in the vicinity of Shanghai.In Fact, the dragon walls .brick carving and iron lions make it a stand out among the five.

of Emperor Wanli in the Ming Dynasty(1559-1577),the garden was owned by a high-ranking official  named Pan YunDuan, a native of shanghai who once took office in Sichuan Province .Pan actually built it for his father,PanEn who had retired as a minister .”Yu” in Chinese means “safe and sound” implying Pan’s wish that his fater feel secure in the surroundings.

  Ingenious in design and exquisite in layour , the Yu garden  was in the architextural style of both Ming and Qing Dynasties and boasts an outstanding feature of leaving the impression of a large garden though its layout in a small area .Covering an area of 50.000 Square meters ,the garden was designed by Zhang Nanyang, a landscape architect,and took 20 years to complete,it is obvious that the architects assigned to design the Yuyuan Garden were masters of their art,elements of both the Norhern style and Sounthern Style of architecture and Landscaping are here happily married in to a magnificent unified whole.Due to their artistic attainment,the garden has a well-known in sountheast China for its harmony ,symmetry,proportion and balance in the layout