With a long history of more than 400 years, the Yuyuan Garden, also known as the Yu Garden, is the most celebrated classical Chinese garden in Shanghai. The garden is located to the northeast of the old town, not far from the Bund. The garden is typical of the gardening art south of the Yangtze River and is famed as "an architectural miracle in South China".
Located on Anren Street, Yuyuan Garden was built during the Ming Dynasty (1577), 400 years ago. It is a residential garden built by Pan Yunduan, minister of finance in Sichuan Province during the Ming Dynasty. Pan built the garden to "please his parents and let them enjoy themselves in their late years". In ancient Chinese "Yu" means "pleasing", hence the name of the garden