▲ Group details: Optional private tour or join-in tour. Service provided: Professional on-site guide throughout the tour. Audio guide: Includes headphones with individual receivers. Guided tour duration: 1 hour at Yu Garden - 25 minutes at City God Temple - 5 minutes for tourist area introduction followed by free time. If experiencing Chinese tea, we recommend staying until evening to enjoy the illuminated night views. Guided route: Meet at North Gate entrance on Fuyou Road - ticket check - explore Yu Garden - Shanghai City God Temple Tourist Area - teahouse - free time for shopping/dining. Language options: Mandarin Chinese/English/Russian/Korean/Spanish/German/French/Japanese available. Notes: Free admission for children aged 6 and under; minors under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.
▲ The Zigzag Bridge and Mid-Lake Pavilion are the centerpieces of Yu Garden and Shanghai City God Temple, where ancient and modern elements meet and converse.
▲ Here, you can discover typical Chinese Taoist elements—the representations of the Twelve Flower Goddesses. Oh, and it's not the sculpted goddess in the picture below! If you're curious, take a stroll on the zigzag bridge ahead, look down, and you'll find the representations of China's twelve flower goddesses, each corresponding to a different month!
▲ The dragon wall in Yu Garden.
▲ The Yuan Dynasty iron lions, with a history even older than Yu Garden, always appear in pairs as lion sculptures.
▲ Cultural details: From the "fisherman, woodcutter, farmer, and scholar" sculptures at Wanhua Tower to the "hidden eight immortals" carvings on the corridor railings, each pattern reflects the spiritual pursuits of traditional literati. Listen to the historical story of Pan Yunduan's "filial piety that couldn't be fulfilled" when building the garden, and touch upon the lives and regrets of Ming Dynasty scholar-officials.
▲ Ancient Chinese opera stage.
▲ Jiangnan famous rock: Get a close look at the jade linglong, one of the "three famous peaks of Jiangnan" alongside Suzhou's guanyun peak and Hangzhou's zhouyun peak. Witness firsthand the marvel of "water flowing through hundreds of holes and smoke rising from hundreds of pores," and understand the aesthetic standards of Taihu rocks: thinness, transparency, wrinkling, and perforation.
▲ Stand beneath the Chinese Dragon Wall and above the flowing stream on the small bridge to appreciate the beauty of artistic conception.
▲ You are not a fish, how can you know the happiness of fish?
▲ The 600-year-old City God Temple is the heart of Shanghai's Taoist culture and folk beliefs. The guide will provide in-depth insights: The concept of civil-military city protection: Compare the functional differences between the military general Huo Guang in the front hall and the civil official Qin Yubo in the main hall, understanding Shanghai's unique tradition of "civil-military city gods" jointly protecting the city. Interpret the abacus inscribed with "not by human calculation" and the couplet "virtue brings prosperity" on the ceremonial gate, experiencing the Taoist core philosophy of "encouraging good and deterring evil."
▲ If you're interested in Chinese Kung Fu tea, we recommend visiting Song Space teahouse.
▲ Tucked away on the second floor of the old street in Yu Garden, the "tile-roofed tea room" opens to a terrace with gray brick tiles, where you can look up and see the upturned eaves of Yu Garden. You can: take photos on the tiles with the Yu Garden landscape as your backdrop, capturing the retro vibe of an "old Shanghai attic."
▲ Savor aged white tea brewed in designer tea sets, paired with sweet and refreshing panda marshmallows, and immerse yourself in the fusion of art and tea aroma in a space adorned with sculptures and calligraphy.
▲ After the tea tasting, if you'd like to bring home some Chinese-style cultural creative products or souvenirs, or sample local delicacies, be sure to explore the tourist area thoroughly.