Rocks and dumplings

Gardens seem to be a very important element of Asian cultures. An excellent example is the Kokoen gardens in Himeji, Japan, but it’s definitely not just a Japanese phenomenon. The Chinese gardens we’ve seen in our trips tend to be grander, rockier, and more complicated than their Japanese counterparts. The Summer Palace is a larger than life example, though the garden at the Forbidden City was another instance of a garden comprised of a number of pavilions, some trees, and many funny-shaped rocks.

The Chinese look at rocks the way we look at clouds: the imagination turns strange shapes into familiar objects or animals. In the Summer Palace, for example, there was a group of rocks names after the Chinese zodiac signs, though I couldn’t tell the monkey from the snake. If had had more time, however, I would have liked to try and find out.

In Shanghai, one of the major attractions is the YuYuan gardens. Unlike the Summer Palace or the Forbidden City, these were private gardens at a time, and belonged to a government official. For a garden that didn’t belong to the emperor, it is quite large. It is comprised of several sections (hence the plural “gardens”), and includes a few ponds, a zigzagging bridge, a corridor with a lane for ladies and another for gents, a theater, numerous courtyards, and, of course, hundreds of rocks.

On top of a white wall separating two of the gardens lays a grey dragon, undulating for many meters. Apparently the emperor was not amused when he heard of this dragon wall. After all, the dragon is the symbol of the emperor and not something commoners should be using to accessorize their gardens. The owner avoided this issue by giving only four claws to each of the dragon’s hands. It’s really a technicality, but since the emperor’s dragon has five claws, the dragon on the wall did not represent a threat.

Outside the gardens, there is a huge bazaar. It’s a whole neighborhood of buildings mimicking a traditional style and narrows streets packed with tourists. Most of the buildings house souvenir stores, but there is also a number of restaurants, including a very large one famous for its xiao long bao, or Shanghai-style dumplings. You can see the cooks at work folding many dumplings per minute, or you can go upstairs and try some yourself. They are very, very recommended.

Below are some views of the YuYuan Gardens.