Yipu

Yangzhou Yipu: Located at No. 356 Dongguan Street, Yangzhou, it is a garden with a unique style. This garden was built by Li Hesheng, a salt industry broker in the early years of the Republic of China, in 1910 and took three years to complete. 'Yi' represents excellence, and 'Pu' refers to a place of fruit trees and vegetables, reflecting the garden owner's pastoral interests. Yipu is similar to Suzhou's Quyuan, both utilizing the space of curved ruler-shaped gaps for layout, but Yipu is more ingenious, forming a complex and varied landscape with multiple levels. There are four major attractions in the garden: one is the garden itself, the second is the artificial mountains, the third is the gates, and the fourth is the 'carvings'. These carvings include brick carvings that symbolize 'spring, summer, autumn, and winter' with white magnolias, lotuses, chrysanthemums, and plum blossoms; wood carvings that represent 'five blessings sharing longevity' with five bats surrounding the character for longevity; and peonies, pine and cranes, carps, magpies, pomegranates, Buddha's hands, etc., with intricate and exquisite patterns, each piece is an artistic treasure, unique in Yangzhou's gardens. Yipu currently has 55 old houses and 18 wings, covering an area of more than 2,000 square meters, with a building area of 1,445.3 square meters. In 1962, it was designated as a municipal cultural relics protection unit, and in 2013, it was selected as a national key cultural relics protection unit.