| Yuyuan
Garden, located in the center of the Old City in Shanghai, China, is considered
one of the four finest Chinese gardens. The garden was reportedly first
established in 1559 as a private garden created by Pan Yunduan, who spent
almost
20 years building a garden to please his father Pan En, a high-ranking
official in the Ming Dynasty. Over the years, the gardens fell into disrepair
until about 1760 when bought by merchants, then suffered extensive damage
in the 19th century. In 1842, during the Opium Wars, the British army occupied
the Town God Temple for five days. During the Taiping Rebellion the gardens
were occupied by imperial troops, and damaged again by the Japanese in
1942. They were repaired by the Shanghai government from 1956-1961, opened
to the public in 1961, and declared a national monument in 1982. |
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