Yuyan Garden

The Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai was built by Pan Yunduan in 1577. The stories behind are as beautiful as the garden…

The ponds, rock works, trees, moon gates, and pavilions are connected by winding paths, small bridges, and the long corridor (covered walkway).

Additionally, Pan added two dragons on top of each side of the walls to please his parents. But, it almost got him into a big trouble. Because dragon was a symbol of emperor’s power, when Pan had the pair of dragons installed, someone reported it to the Emperor. Pan’s wife cleverly and quickly ordered a workman to remove two claws of each of the dragons. Because the Emperor’s dragon had five claws, Pan was able to explain that his three-claw dragons would always be the follower of the Emperor’s dragon.

Pan initially wanted this garden to be an enjoyable place for his aging parents. Unfortunately, his parents died before the garden was completed, Pan lost his desire to continue. Sadly, he built this wall to indicate that it was the end of his garden project.

Yuyuan Garden had undergone many changes since 1577, but the filial story has been told from generation to generation for more than 400 years.

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A few weeks, I did a post for t he sign says theme. The last photo of my post was a sign of a pastry store. It was the story about the special pastry… Adinparadise wanted to know more and I was as curious as she was. Having tried to locate the story from various sources, luckily, someone in China kindly responded to my inquiry…

According to legend, at around 1796, Wu was known for his filial piety in his village. When his mother was losing teeth, Wu patiently made porridge stew for her everyday. Because his mother enjoyed pastries, Wu carefully created a pastry recipe that had variety of nutritious ingredients, such as walnuts, sesame seeds, red dates, and sweet-scented Osmanthus. Due to his tender care, his mother had a happy and healthy life and was able to live to 90s. Today, pastry shops near the region of the village still make the pastry using Wu’s recipe, and called it Wu’s filial pastry.

Thanks to Frizz for his idea of the “Tagged A-Z Challenge” allowing us to share stories/photos. Visit Frizz‘ thoughts, insights, and stories and many other wonderful stories! Looking forward to reading your stories 🙂