Yuyuan Garden
Yuyuan Garden is located in the center of Shanghai's Old City, not far from the Bund. With a total area of less than 5 acres, it has more than 40 attractions in the inner and outer gardens, both built in the Ming Dynasty classical style.
The garden was finished in 1577 by a government officer of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) named Pan Yunduan. Yu in Chinese means pleasing and satisfying, and this garden was specially built for Pan's parents as a place for them to enjoy a tranquil and happy time in their old age.Built in traditional Chinese style with numerous rock and tree garden areas, ponds, dragon-lined walls and numerous doorways and zigzagging bridges separating the various garden areas and pavilions.
Upon entering the garden, you will encounter a rockery, which is called the Great Rockery. With a height of 14 meters (about 50 feet), it is the largest as well as the oldest rockery in the southern region of the Yangtze River. 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. Visitors will find curio shops in the Cuixiu Hall.
The true treasure of Yuyuan Garden 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 other two are Duanyun Feng in Suzhou and Zhouyun Feng in Hangzhou.) 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. Pan Yunduan was very fond of the Exquisite Jade Rock, and he built Yuhua Hall facing the rock so it was convenient to sit in the hall and admire it. The furnishings in the hall were made of top grade rosewood of the Ming Dynasty, appearing both natural and graceful.
The Inner Garden was a separate garden built in 1709, but is now a part of Yuyuan Garden in the south. The Inner Garden is compact and exquisite, and the rocks, pavilions, ornamental ponds and flower walls offer some of the most attractive sceneries in Yuyuan Garden.
Shanghai Old Street
Known as Fangband Road, "Shanghai Old Street" with a total of 825 metres, is adjacent to the Yuyuan Garden Bazaar Area and runs in an east-west direction from Zhonghua Road to Henan Road South, with both ends marked by decorated archways.
The street can be divided into the eastern and western section. The eastern section keeps the characteristics of residences in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican day. The houses on both sides of the street are fitted with checkered windows, shop-fronts of wooden boards, balustrades and swing doors, roofs with upturned eaves and protruding corners, laced drain-pipes and horse-shape wall tops. The western section is filled with Ming and Qing style architectures, with black tiles and white-washed walls, red columns and upturned eaves, showcasing styles of old Shanghai. The western section has a number of antique & curio shops as well as restaurants and teahouses, and the eastern sections has a variety of shops including florists, shoe and clothing retailers, noodle restaurants and specialty dealers selling Chinese tea and snacks such as "Five Fragrant Beans". There in the street you will find hundred-year old stores, Tonghanchun, Laotongsheng, Wuliangcai, Wanyouquan, Qiu Tianbao, Old Shanghai Tea House, Deshun Western Food Restaurant, Chunfeng Deyi Restaurant, Chunfeng Deyi Restaurant, Xishi Soya Beancurd Store, Dingniangzi Cloth Store, Rongshun Restaurant and Baoyintang. There are also newly opened Danfeng Tea House, Clinic of renowned traditional Chinese medical doctors and others of traditional characteristics.
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is located in Pudong Park in Lujiazui, Shanghai. The tower, surrounded by the Yangpu Bridge in the northeast and the Nanpu Bridge in the southwest, creates a picture of 'twin dragons playing with pearls'.
This 468 meters high (1,536 feet) tower is the world's third tallest TV and radio tower surpassed in height only by towers in Toronto, Canada and Moscow, Russia.However, even more alluring than its height is the tower's unique architectural design that makes the Oriental Pearl TV Tower one of the most attractive places anywhere. The base of the tower is supported by three seven-meter wide slanting stanchions. Surrounding the eleven steel spheres that are 'strung' vertically through the center of the tower are three nine-meter wide columns. There are three large spheres including the top sphere, known as the space module. Then there are five smaller spheres and three decorative spheres on the tower base. The entire structure rests on rich green grassland and gives the appearance of pearls shining on a jade plate.
There are 6 elevators within the tower-five installed in the three columns, one between the height of 250 meters and 341 meters. One of the five elevators is double-decked. Two medium-sized elevators, accommodating 30 persons each and running at a speed of 7 meters per second, cover the distance from the bottom of the tower to the highest sphere within 40 seconds.
It is amazing that this ultra-modern tower combines ancient concepts such as the spherical pearls, with 21st Century technology, commerce, recreation, educational and conference facilities. All of this and it really is a TV and radio tower that services the Shanghai area with more than nine television channels and upwards of ten FM radio channels. Truly, 'oriental pearl' is the most suitable name for this tower.
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower
Jade Buddha Temple
In the western part of Shanghai,there is a venerable and famous Buddhist temple, Jade Buddha Temple. 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 jade Buddha statues were saved and a new temple was built on the present site in 1928. It was named the Jade Buddha Temple.
The two precious jade Buddhist statues are not only rare cultural relics but also porcelain artworks. Both the Sitting Buddha and the Recumbent Buddha are carved with whole white jade. The sparkling and crystal-clear white jade gives the Buddhas the beauty of sanctity and make them more vivid. The Sitting Buddha is 190 centimeters high and encrusted by the agate and the emerald, portraying the Buddha at the moment of his meditation and enlightenment. The Recumbent Buddha is 96 centimeters long, lying on the right side with the right hand supporting the head and the left hand placing on the left leg, this shape is called the 'lucky repose'. The sedate face shows the peaceful mood of Sakyamuni when he left this world. In the temple there is also another Recumbent Buddha which is four meters long and was brought from Singapore by the tenth abbot of the temple in 1989.
Although the history of the Jade Buddha Temple is not very long, the old-time and classical architectural style makes the temple unique and inimitable in this modern city. Devajara Hall, Mahavira Hall and the Jade Buddha Tower make up the main structure of the temple and at sides are the Kwan-yin Dian Hall, the Amitabha Dian Hall, the Zen Tang Hall, the Dining-Room and the Recumbent Buddha Hall. The Sitting Buddha is in the Jade Buddha Tower and the Recumbent Buddhas are in the Recumbent Buddha Hall. More than 7,000 Dazang sutras are kept in the Jade Buddha Tower; these are all the inestimable culture relics.
Tips: No photography of the Jade Buddha is permitted, but postcards are available and photography was allowed in other rooms.