Yu Gardens, Yuyuan Marketplace, Crowds

Must-sees on everyone's list are the Yu Gardens set amidst the Yuyuan Marketplace, an area of restored buildings and streets in downtown Shanghai.

The beautiful old buildings have truly been restored to their glory.

The area is so popular that I guess it's inevitable that it's also quite the tourist trap, full of hawkers, beggars, people trying to get you to go with them (for what??), and bad street food. Can't tell you how many times we were approached.

Fried dough is popular in Shanghai, we've seen, both sweet and savory.

Allen figured when in Rome...

Turns out they were pretty oily shrimp fritters, Allen hates shrimp, so, after tasting, it was easy to walk away from them.

The marketplace is just huge, everything from wigs and watches to pearls and iPhone covers, and so crowded. But we pushed through because this is also the way to famed Yu Gardens, built in the 600's by a district ruler who wanted to create a retirement home of peace and contentment for his parents. 

This (not my photo) zigzag bridge leading to the gardens, built this way because ghosts can only travel in a straight line.

It was madness trying to navigate it! I hate crowds, just saying.

But the humongous koi were lovely to see.

The entirety of Yu Gardens is imported from elsewhere in China. We read that it wasn't really the buildings nor the landscaping that were most prized. Instead the rocks and how they are chosen, then placed, are what is considered noteworthy.

Our favorite parts of the gardens were this beautiful wall topper....

...and the sculpted warriors atop roofs. We were surprised and delighted every time we looked up. These were pretty small, maybe 18 inches tall, so detailed.

Several buildings, all open to the elements, were furnished. I loved these wooden chairs, not sure it they were carved or that the wood possibly grew that way??

The surprisingly small gardens were extremely crowded, so it was good to get back outside and see the calm of "regular" streets. I love the juxtaposition of the modest street against Shanghai Tower in this photo.

I swear I honestly couldn't tell if they were washing noodles or fabric strips.

Just liked this calm scene.

On an off note, "dispensaries" are traditional drug stores on one floor or in one area, and Eastern medicine on the other. There is all manner of roots, veggies, animal parts, etc., packaged and displayed beautifully in the latter, with well-lighted and -arranged display counters that are well-staffed, and we've seen dispensaries as stand-alones and as part of a shopping complex or grocery store.

This weekend marks the beginning of Qingming (or Ching Ming) Festival, tomb-sweeping day.

From wikipedia: 
A traditional Chinese festival on the first day of the fifth solar term of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. This makes it the 15th day after the Spring Equinox, either 4 or 5 April in a given year. Other common translations include Chinese Memorial Day and Ancestors' Day.

Qingming has been regularly observed as a statutory public holiday in China. In Taiwan, the public holiday is now always observed on 5 April to honor the death of Chiang Kai-shek on that day in 1975. It became a public holiday in mainland China in 2008.

In the mainland, the holiday is associated with the consumption of qingtuan, green dumplings made of glutinous rice and barley grass. In Taiwan, the similar confection is known as caozaiguo or shuchuguo.

And here's the line of folks waiting for their green dumplings, sweet picnic food to take to the cemetery next Tuesday.