Yuyuan Garden: A Serendipitous Encounter
Travel mode: self-drive
Time: April 2021
Route: Yuyuan Garden in Shanao Village, Lishui → Guoxing Manor
Address: Shanao Village, Fujiabian, at the southern foot of Wuxiang Mountain, Lishui
I came to Yuyuan Garden because I happened to see a travel photo on Ctrip. Surprised, I realized that due to the on-and-off work stoppages from the pandemic, I had time to explore Nanjing thoroughly. Even if I hadn't been, I should have heard of it—so why was Yuyuan unfamiliar? I set off, navigating to Yuyuan Garden. Looking at the map, wasn't it in Shanao Village, Lishui? In 2017, I'd passed through this village while touring Wuxiang Mountain with my parents, driving around without knowing of Yuyuan Garden. With these questions, I arrived; the navigation was precise. Cars were parked along the road, so we pulled over too. The surrounding barriers showed the area was still under construction and improvement.
Nestled deep within Wuxiang Mountain, Shanao Village now boasts the beautiful Yuyuan Garden. Its centerpiece is a pond, encircled by antique-style buildings: paifang (memorial archways), mansions, shops, folk houses, an opera stage, pavilions, corridors, towers, and bridges. The architecture is rich in variety and form. Surrounded by low hills, these structures blend seamlessly with green mountains, streams, and historic tales, showcasing Shanao Village’s natural scenery and traditional architectural art. The pond mirrors green trees and hill shadows, its glistening ripples gleaming, framing the white walls and dark-tiled roofs by the water's edge—just like a natural light-color ink wash painting.
On the south side of the lake, a zigzag bridge connects its north and south shores. At the eastern end of this bridge stands Jimei Pavilion (Plum-Blossom Pavilion). To the west of the lake lies a flagstone road paved with bluestone, with a commercial street on one side and two waterside corridors on the other. The wooden corridors have overlapping eaves and exquisite carved patterns—the craftsmanship of the carpenters is truly astonishing.
To the south of the waterside corridor is a waterside pavilion, an ideal spot to rest by the water. Its railings, known as 'beauties' rests,' offer visitors a place to relax and admire the view. On the north side of the corridor stands a pavilion with two upturned eaves, clearly from a different era than the waterside corridor. After strolling around Yuyuan Garden, I gradually realized it's not an ancient village but a crafted garden—yet not purely an artificial one. It serves as a vessel for both old and new architecture, perhaps even a new architectural model. The builders collected valuable old structural components and materials from various parts of Jiangnan, mainly Anhui, and incorporated them into newly built traditional-style buildings in the village. By restoring and innovatively reusing these traditional elements, they created a 'traditional ancient village' of Jiangnan.
Whitewashed walls and dark-tiled roofs, Huizhou-style folk houses with upturned eaves resemble an elegant ink painting. The pure white walls reflect kind and simple hearts, telling tales of ordinary past times.
Between the two parallel waterside corridors lies a broad viewing platform flush with the water's surface. From the platform, the scenery is panoramic. Row upon row of Huizhou-style houses line the pond, with rugged rock formations artfully arranged, a small pavilion overlooking the scene, and trees dotted about—all reflected in the water, creating an exquisitely simple elegance.
The commercial street running north-south through Yuyuan Garden bears an evocative name—Xihua Street (Brook Flower Street). Lined with two-story Huizhou-style wooden buildings featuring single-eave upturned corners and exquisite woodcarvings, the street stretches northward. Between the stone-paved lanes, a clear brook babbles continuously from top to bottom, with small stone bridges crossing it from east to west. The gurgling water lends Xihua Street, still quiet and under development, an air of antique charm and liveliness.
With Peach Blossom Pond on Wuxiang Mountain as the upper water source and Shenshan Lake in Shanao Village as the lower outlet, living water flows through Xihua Street, creating a waterside village layout where 'a stream threads the village, while the settlement is encircled by water.'
Here stands an imposing Tanhua Fang Memorial Arch (Proclaimed Scholar Arch). This arch was originally built in 1902 by Nie Jigui, Governor of Anhui Province. Through the preservation and relocation of old architectural elements, it was moved to Shanao Village.
The Wuxiang Mountain residence uses a splayed-wall archway-style brick-carved gateway, with double-layered eight-arch construction, upturned eaves, and sweeping grandeur. Stone elephant sculptures flank the entrance, symbolizing wealth and good fortune. From the stone selection to the carvings, this gateway demonstrates the artistry of Huizhou-style gate towers. In the same space, there's a brightly lacquered memorial arch and an imposing, exquisite stone gateway—both likely old structures preserved through relocation. If so, it's a delightful surprise. When I traveled to Huangshan before, I often saw such architectural transplants: builders would completely move valuable traditional buildings from remote mountain areas, where they were hard to protect, to urban sites for restoration. This 'ex situ conservation' fuses the old with the new, giving historic buildings a new lease on life while adding historical depth to new constructions—truly a win-win.
Now, this building houses a shop selling souvenirs, desserts, coffee, and drinks. Along Xihua Street, the stepped horse-head walls (matou qiang) rise and fall in layers, resembling a string of musical notes.
Wooden carved windows carry the patina of age, creating a fleeting sense of time travel. Many houses line the street, but most are closed, with only a few operating as businesses. Yuyuan Garden seems to be in its infancy, so commercial amenities are not yet hurried. During our visit, we saw many tour groups—mostly seniors, groups of 30–40 people, led by guides visiting various residences. It appears Yuyuan Garden is a highlight of Lishui's rural tourism. As a new attraction, this is probably an excellent way to promote it. As long as you avoid the groups, strolling here remains quiet and pleasant.
Midway along Xihua Street, a stone-paved path branches eastward around the lake. On a small hillock by the lake, a hexagonal pavilion with upturned eaves occupies the highest point, offering a bird’s-eye view of Yuyuan Garden. Rocks of various sizes and thicknesses are piled up, seemingly both intentionally and unintentionally, to shape the scenery along the way. Graceful silhouettes of pavilions, terraces, and towers, upturned eaves, sturdy pillars—you can wander through the corridors, sit for a while, and soak in an atmosphere of ancient serenity and Zen.
Within the rock formations lie hidden wonders, creating layered scenes through the art of rock stacking. I climbed to the pavilion and, from a slightly elevated angle, photographed the core landscape of Yuyuan Garden. This garden layout echoes typical Huizhou villages, which often center around a pond. Here, Yuyuan Garden features a larger central lake. Surrounding rocks and vegetation frame the scenery. A pool of jade-green water is encircled by traditional structures: an ancient opera stage, the Zeng Family Mansion, Zhou Bangyan Memorial Hall, Jimei Pavilion, Lanyue Tower (Moon-Embracing Tower), and more.
The wooden waterside corridor on the western shore is tranquil and elegant, like a painted pleasure boat quietly moored by the lake. Alongside the street, white walls, dark tiles, and horse-head walls of Huizhou-style houses are reflected neatly in the water, creating layer upon layer of shimmering illusions.
On the north side of the lake stands a complex of buildings: the grand Zeng Family Mansion. The mansion centers on the main hall 'Chengjing Tang' (Hall of Sincerity and Tranquility), with other structures spreading outward from its sides. In front of its main gate stands a spirit screen (yingbi) carved with the characters '思诚' (Contemplate Sincerity) and '慎独' (Be Cautious When Alone), important Confucian concepts of self-cultivation, most likely serving as family precepts for the Zengs.
Starting from the gateway of Chengjing Tang, one finds abundant brick, wood, and stone carvings. Chengjing Tang is a massive structure built of brick, stone, and wood, consisting of three courtyards with two skylights and two central halls, its layout fully preserved. The compound follows a longitudinal axis with symmetrical wings. All beams and pillars are centuries-old gingko, cypress, ironwood, and red-heart camphor.
Like most architectural elements in Yuyuan Garden, these were badly weathered. To restore them to their original state, the builders consulted multiple architectural and cultural institutions to verify the age and content of the carvings, then invited master carvers from various regions to carry out the restoration.
Flanking Chengjing Tang are Baizi Hall (Hall of a Hundred Sons), Xiangfei Tower, and Yuxiu Tower. On the west side, Baizi Hall has a modest facade, but the stone elements on the door are intricately and artfully combined. Despite its small entrance, stepping inside reveals a spacious, open interior.
Sunlight streams through the skylight, warming the mansion. Baizi Hall was where the men of the family lived, so most of its wood is cypress over a century old. Although the building is new, many of its interior and exterior decorations and structural components were transported directly from Huizhou-style buildings in southern Anhui, preserving an authentic antique charm.
An unknown plant with patches of red leaves seems to warm up the cold, quiet white walls and gray tiles. Xiangfei Tower was the women’s quarters; its gate was closed, so I couldn’t go inside. Yuxiu Tower also housed female family members.
The Zeng Family Mansion is composed of nineteen buildings of varying styles and over thirty courtyards, fully showcasing the grandeur of a wealthy estate. The complex combines official-style halls, vernacular houses, and Suzhou-style gardens, with elements of Beijing siheyuan and even a family ancestral hall in the southern Fujian style. The overall effect is imposing yet exquisite, revealing deep courtyards, strict clan hierarchy, and clear demarcations of gender and seniority.
This is the side entrance of the mansion facing the water—the Zhou Bangyan Music Workshop. The narrow side door bears the pleasant name 'Autumn Chrysanthemum.' The main mansion is the Zhou Bangyan Music Workshop. Zhou Bangyan was a renowned ci poet of the Northern Song Dynasty, well-versed in music, and once served as the magistrate of Lishui. This building was originally a Hunan Guildhall built by Zeng Guofan in Anhui.
The mansion faces a beautiful waterscape and mountain view, a feast for the eyes. Step inside, then look back—the gateway frames the garden scenery like a picture window.
This skylight is unusual—not the common square shape but a polygonal, nearly elliptical one. White clouds drift past a corner of a horse-head wall; sunlight spills through the skylight, filling the interior with a dreamy, time-warped atmosphere.
Every architectural detail is exquisite. In the skylight, a well covered with moss adds an ancient ambiance. The mansion is a central-axis layout of five entryways, four skylights, and three independent yet interconnected courtyards. Materials are carefully chosen, and the carvings are extremely fine. Each courtyard has two stories and numerous rooms.
No two window carvings are alike. Gaze out from a second-floor window, and imagine yourself as the young lady of the mansion.
Looking through the side door named 'Autumn Chrysanthemum,' you catch a glimpse of the Zeng Family Mansion. I especially liked the two stone lions at the entrance—mild in expression yet radiating authority.
Stepping out, the central water scenery comes into view. To the north end of the lake is the Zeng Family Mansion we just passed. April is the season of azaleas. Looking up, I see the wooden gate tower built onto the outside of this building—a four-pillar, three-opening structure with two tiers of six-corner upturned eaves, as if about to soar into the sky.
Each figure and story painted and carved on the beams recounts bygone prosperity and heroic gallantry. In front of the Zhou Bangyan Music Workshop, Yuyuan Garden resembles a Jiangnan water-town style architectural garden, or perhaps a Huizhou ancient town accidentally dropped into Jiangnan. Embracing mountains and water, with lush trees and flowers, here you can enjoy wildflowers, gaze at forested hills, admire rippling blue waters, and watch smoke curling from chimneys.
A few more steps bring you to an ancient opera stage—a large, double-sided stage, a rarity in China. Also known as a 'fair-weather stage,' performances could be watched from both the front and back. This is the side facing the water.
The ancient stage features black pillars and red beams, decorated with colorful carvings, giving it a magnificent look. The theater is a five-bay, nine-ridge double-sided stage with upturned eaves: the exterior stage is used on sunny days, the interior one on rainy days. According to Baidu, the materials are exquisite: the two redwood pillars over 60 cm in diameter in the central hall are made of wenge (chicken-wing wood), while the stone base supporting the central pillar is carved from the famous Yixian bluestone with fine relief decorations. 'The entire stage comprises over 200,000 components, the oldest dating back over 700 years. It took more than 100 craftsmen three years and eight months to complete.'
Standing on the stage itself, your vision expands and your heart opens. You can imagine famous opera actresses of old, with their graceful figures and flowing water sleeves, singing long, melodious arias that mesmerized countless audiences and stirred deep emotions.
From the stage, the views are wide, and every building showcases traditional Chinese architectural techniques like carving. Different angles offer varying experiences.
The front and rear stages are separated by carved doors and windows; slip through here, and you enter the inner stage. This is the courtyard-facing side of the double-sided stage. The stage's ceiling, both inside and out, follows a square exterior with a round interior pattern, unique in style. The beams and dome are decorated with exquisite, lifelike carvings.
The inner stage’s structural components are even more elaborate, with colorful paintings making it resplendent. Look at that magical ceiling beneath the gilding. I sat quietly on the stage, silently contemplating the courtyard before me for a long while.
The stage is distinctive; 'theater building' would be a more fitting name. The entire structure has three courtyards and two skylights. The front courtyard is open, affording excellent sightlines for the audience, with two-story viewing pavilions and wing rooms on both sides, all built in traditional timber construction with abundant carvings of figures and flowers, delicate and lifelike—ancient, luxurious, and elegant.
Opposite the stage, in the viewing pavilion, rows of seats wait in respectful silence, as if the star performer is about to appear. The second courtyard is the audience area, with grand pillars of rare timber supporting a majestic hall. Here, you can clearly see that some pillars are centuries-old historical components, reused during reconstruction. While preserving the original framework, they were adapted to local cultural features and modern experiential needs—protecting and inheriting ancient architecture while innovatively repurposing it.
Over a hundred carved panels depicting theatrical scenes adorn the theater inside and out, meticulously carved and luxuriously decorated. Every detail—hanging fascia boards, diagonal bracing, bracket sets, lattice windows—is finely crafted. The overall effect is grand, splendid, and breathtaking.
Sunlight floods the building, and those creaky stairs, intricate wood carvings, and mysterious skylights—gazing at them, you unexpectedly come face-to-face with bygone days. I climbed the wooden stairs, their groaning underfoot, to the second-floor corridor and looked down upon the theater. The second floor, entirely of wood with dark-colored latticed windows, may be new or perhaps a relocated old structure; I’ll treat it as a timeworn house. Now, only we were in the theater, and all was silent. The ancient stage seemed as if a performance had just ended, with lingering melodies still echoing through the mountain hollow. In a daze, I thought: if I were dressed in traditional Hanfu, I’d surely have traveled back to another era.
Leaving the bewitching stage behind, I returned to the present. To its south stands a large Hundred-Blessings spirit wall, with a huge “福” (fortune) character in the center, surrounded by a neat array of different calligraphic renditions of the same word. The base features brick carvings of bie’an (mythical beasts). The opposite side has a hundred-crane brick carving, flanked by designs of wealth and honor. Look closely, and you’ll find the character for happiness, and hidden symbols for 'lu' (prosperity), 'shou' (longevity), and 'cai' (wealth)—thus combining the five blessings: fortune, prosperity, longevity, happiness, and wealth—a prayer for abundant good luck for all.
On the south side of the pond stands the double-eaved Jimei Pavilion with upturned corners. Between it and the opera stage there’s a steeply arched bridge. The foreground pond embraces both pavilion and bridge, while the background green hills and the pavilions atop them create richly layered scenes. So, with the pond at the center, we enjoyed a 360° scenic appreciation.
Yuyuan Garden is neither a naturally ancient village nor an authentic Jiangnan garden; I’m not sure how to define it. It rests subtly at the southern foot of Wuxiang Mountain in Lishui, a site nestled against hills and by water. By relocating and restoring old structures like paifang, music workshops, and opera stages from various places, and then innovatively reusing them, it resembles a traditional Jiangnan village. The garden feels very new, yet as you walk among it, the upturned eaves, bracket sets, carved beams and painted rafters, wood and stone carvings exude deep antiquity. However, pairing these aged components with a freshly built garden creates a somewhat jarring sensation. It’s not a real village; its artificiality is too obvious—it’s purely a place for sightseeing. Perhaps this new model is exactly what Yuyuan Garden aspires to be.
My travel companion dismissed the place with contempt, calling it a hodgepodge and not worth visiting. I listened quietly, keeping my thoughts to myself, but inwardly I was indignant. How could someone be so dissatisfied with a place that has mountains, water, architecture, and sentiment? Regardless of Yuyuan Garden’s positioning, it’s still a beautiful landscape painting and provides Nanjing residents with a weekend getaway. During our two or three hours here, we saw several tour groups of elderly Nanjing citizens following guides—a testament to people’s acceptance and appreciation of Yuyuan Garden.
As I drove away, the scene confirmed I had indeed been to this village before. Memory gradually returned, and by intuition I drove to Changtangqiu Reservoir in Shanao Village. To support tourism, one side of the reservoir now features a public square.
On the drive back, despite the beautiful scenery, the differing opinions with my companion left a tinge of regret. In travel, the destination isn’t what matters most—what matters is whether your companions are interesting and compatible. While writing this travel note, I revisited a May 2017 trip recorded as 'Nanjingers See Nanjing – Lishui Wuxiang Mountain.' Sure enough, there was a clear record: 'On the road, we stumbled upon a village—the first phase of the Yuyuan project in Lishui, a traditional village preservation project. The old memorial arch by the roadside immediately drew us to stop, and we turned into the village. At the entrance stood the village archway for Shanao Village, and inside were folk houses with horse-head walls, white walls, and gray tiles in Huizhou style.'
Keeping a travel journal is really a good habit—it helps record and savor life. So, back in May 2017, Yuyuan Garden was already under construction in the village, and that old memorial arch had been relocated from an ancient dwelling in Anhui. It turns out I’ve been watching Yuyuan Garden grow! I hope it continues to flourish and, haha, that it remains free of charge!
