GuYi Garden 古猗园

Our last stop for the day was at Guyi garden 古猗园. This garden is situated in Nanxiang 南翔 town, Jiading district, which is to the northwest of the city of Shanghai.

Guyi garden website can be found at:
http://www.guyigarden.com:8081/cyx/news/index.html

Entrance fee is RMB12 per adult. We are not sure whether Ethan needs a ticket or not because Ethan was fast asleep in the car.

Guyi garden is about 21 kilometers from the garden to the centre of the city. It is one of the oldest places of historical interest in Shanghai and a well-known Chinese classic garden in the southeast of China.

Photo taken at one portion after the entrance to the garden

Seems that there was an exhibition of water lily in the garden during our visit.

Entrance special display - Lily & Crabs

We took the opportunity to enjoy viewing the water lily and took some close up shots.

Lily in special pot, in the pond, all over the place

Guyi Garden was built during the reign of Jiajing Emperor(1522～1566)of the Ming Dynasty. It was originally named "Yi Garden"."Yi"here means a beautiful sight of bamboo. The garden was designed by Zhu Shansong, a well-known bamboo-carving master living in the Ming Dynasty. Although the garden was originally only 10 mu in size, it had all the components characteristic of classic Chinese gardens such as the pavilions, the ponds, the twisted brooks and the artistic shaded paths. And there were reliefs of bamboo scenes on every columns and rafters and in every corridors.

In 1746 the garden was rebuilt and enlarged. And since then the garden has had the name Guyi Garden.

Up to now the garden has been added to many times, and now it covers an area of 146 mu. The garden is made up of six scenic sections. They are the Recluse Hall,the Goose Pond, the Pine-and-Crane Yard, the Green-and-Clean Garden, the Mandarin-Duck Lake and the Nanxiang Screen Wall. Each section has its distinctive layout. The garden has all the qualities typical of gardens of the Ming Dynasty, pretty, delicate, elegant but simple.

Stepping stones - one step at a time

Moreover, there are some valuable cultural relics such as the stone pillar inscribed with Buddhist scriptures from the Tang Dynasty and the pagoda built in the Song Dynasty.

Stone inscription

There is a special pavilion built during the years of Anti-Japanese War. The pavilion was built with one of its corner incomplete, which was intended to remind the visitors that a part of China's territory was then under Japanese occupation.

Beautiful Pavilion

Guyi Garden is famous for its five main features: stretches of bamboo, winding brooks, ancient buildings, couplets written on scrolls。

Bridges across the lake

Pavilions on the lake

More scenes from the garden

Some old building and tea drinking place

Few more sceneries

People resting in the garden enjoying R&R

With a history of about 100 years, NanXiang Tiny Bread 南翔小笼 is famous domestic and aboard. It was called “NanXiang Big Meat Bread” 南翔大肉馒头 originally, it is also called “GuYi garden Tiny Bread” 古猗园小笼, but now it is called“NanXiang Tiny Bread” 南翔小笼.

Behind this photo above is the restaurant that sells the 南翔小笼. Unfortunately we did not have time to taste it. Anyway it's good to know that we were so close to this famous place that produces the famous 南翔小笼. Heard that in fact 南翔小笼 is also sold in Shanghai Yu Garden.