Overview
Pan Yunduan spent nearly twenty years building it, and the garden was ruined and rebuilt repeatedly — by the Small Swords Society in 1853, by foreign troops in 1860 and 1942. Six areas divide the two hectares with walls, so it feels larger than it is: rockeries, ponds, halls and the Exquisite Jade Rock, a Song-dynasty pierced stone. The surrounding bazaar is a modern rebuild, not part of the garden.
Highlights
Go at opening, before the bazaar crowds arrive; by mid-morning the garden’s narrow corridors are single file. The Exquisite Jade Rock and the dragon walls are the pieces to find. Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant in the bazaar is the original xiaolongbao house, with a long queue for the ground-floor takeaway and none upstairs.