Yuyuan Bazaar

Yuyuan Bazaar (豫园商城, Yùyuán Shāngchéng) is the market and shopping area next to Yu Garden and the City God Temple in the old walled city. Shanghai’s 2022–2035 commercial plan names it one of the city’s 29 city-level commercial centres, about 0.4 km² with some 500,000 m² of planned shop and mall floor space. It is also one of the centres the plan groups into an ‘east international consumption cluster’ around the Bund and Lujiazui. This entry covers the bazaar as a shopping area and as a company; for the history of the garden and the temple, see their own pages.

The name has two meanings. It is the area of shops, tea houses and restaurants beside the garden, and it is also the name of a company, Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart (上海豫园旅游商城股份有限公司), that plans, builds, operates and manages the commercial complex. The company was founded on 25 November 1987 as 豫园商场股份公司 and was approved as the first joint-stock company in Shanghai’s commercial system. It listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1988. On 13 May 1992 it was reorganised as 豫园商城股份, which brought planning, construction, operation and management of the complex under one company. In 2002 the private group Fosun became its largest shareholder. The headquarters are at 269 Fangbang Middle Road.

Restaurants and shops affiliated with the company include the Shanghai Old Restaurant (上海老饭店), Lubolang (绿波廊) and the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Shop (南翔馒头店). The Huxinting Teahouse (湖心亭) stands in the garden pond and is reached by the Nine-Turn Bridge (九曲桥). An English Wikipedia caption dates the teahouse to 1855.

Yuyuan Garden station, on Lines 10 and 14, serves the garden and the surrounding streets.