Yu Garden
Pictures by: Father Tomas Del Valle-Reyes
Yu Garden is located to the south of the Bund, the old Chinese city was a walled fishing town when the
British arrived in 1843. Modern Shanghai grew up around it. It used to be a maze of tiny alleys, but the
streets have been widened in recent years and are crowded with tourists.
At the center of the Old City are
the Chenghuang Temple and the Yu Garden, in which stands the Huxining Teahouse, said to be the model for the
design on the willow-pattern plates much loved by Europeans in another era. The Bridge of Nine Turns zigzags
to make it difficult for evil spirits to get across (since, as is well known, evil spirits have problems with
corners).
The Yu Garden is a classical Chinese garden with over 30 pavilions linked by a maze of corridors and
bridges over ponds.