Shanghai - Garden of Natural Beauty

(Local Name: Guyi Yuan) The 6.6ha/16 acre Garden of Natural Beauty in Nanxiang, a little village 8km/5mi to the northwest of Shanghai, was laid out in the 16th C. It was extended in 1746, seriously damaged in 1937 and completely re-laid in 1959.

Today it is embellished with numerous pavilions, small villas, pagodas, lakes and flowerbeds. There is also a dagoba dating from the Song period (960-1279) and several stone pillars from the Tang era (618-907) with inscriptions from the Buddhist Sutra.

The northeastern section of the roof is missing from the rectangular Buque Ting Pavilion (bu que meaning to correct a mistake). The building was erected in 1931 during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria; the missing roof section was meant to remind the Chinese of this occupation.