Shanghai Stories TOP3: the Bund, Yuyuan Garden, Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse by Stories Wander

Author:Stories, Wander [Stories, Wander]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Travel & Adventure
Publisher: WanderStories
Published: 2012-04-14T18:30:00+00:00

The rocks of the Grand Rockery deserve a few words themselves. They are not stacked atop one another, creating an even slope similar to those in the Alps. No; instead, they create a very asymmetrical progression. This is deliberate – the irregularity of the mountain, and the now imaginary clouds floating between the separate peaks, help cement the illusion of living stone. If there is a waterfall at the foot of the mountain, then all the better – the rockery would then be a triumvirate of perfection, offered to you by nature herself. Sadly, we cannot see the clouds, or the waterfall, but even the mountain itself is worth a visit, don’t you think?

Pan Yunduan desired to create perfection, contained within the walls of this garden. Although it was a lofty goal, he succeeded. As we visit other parts of Yuyuan Garden, you will probably agree. And there are others who agree as well – the Grand Rockery is a government protected landmark.

Today, there are very few people who are allowed to visit the Grand Rockery. The large numbers of would-be visitors would be almost impossible to contain, otherwise. We can see the stairway leading to the top of the rockery, but it is closed to tourists. If we could ascend these steps, then from the top of the mountain, we would discover the Wangjiang Pavilion, or the Pavilion for Looking at the River (No. 5). Considering the surroundings of the Grand Rockery, the name is apt. The locals say that in the 16th century, when the garden was built, the pavilion looked out on two rivers – Huangpu and Wusong. Old chronicles claim that the two rivers passing through Shanghai seemed to be so close as to be right next to the rockery. In modern Shanghai, though, the farthest one could see from the Wangjiang Pavilion is to the neighboring street. 400 years ago the Grand Rockery was a respectable hill. At one point, it was the highest place in the city. The Wangjiang Pavilion can be reached by a stone staircase that gets ever narrower as you ascend. This represents a famous technique also used in paintings – the higher something is, the smaller it should be depicted. Adhering to this technique helped maintain one of the distance effects mentioned earlier – the effect of height. If you take a close look at the rockery from the balcony of the Yangshan Hall, you notice that the Wangjiang Pavilion at the top is smaller than the Yiuxiu Pavilion (No. 6) at the bottom. In short, this is an attempt to create an illusion of distance.

Still, while the rest of the Grand Rockery is closed, there is one mountainous path that is still open for visitors. It can be found on the eastern, or right, side of the rockery. If we take this path, we will reach the Cuixiu Hall (No. 7), north of the Grand Rockery. This is perhaps the best place to really see the size of the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.