The Yuyuan Garden is one of the treasures of gardens art in Jiangnan (south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River). It was built by Pan Yunduan, who was born in Shanghai and later became an official of Sichuan during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), to please his father Pan En, who was a high-ranking official in the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty. Its name Yuyuan Garden has a meaning of make parents comfortable and happy. The construction of the Yuyuan Garden lasted from the thirty-eighth year (1559) of the Jiajing reign to the fifth year (1577) of the Shenzong Wanli reign in the Ming Dynasty. It occupied over 70 mu (1 mu = 1/15 hectare) at that time. In the mid 1600s, the descendants of the Pan Family declined gradually, as well as the garden. In the twenty-fifth year (1760) of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the local people collected money to buy part of the garden and had it settled. During the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1821-1850), because the Yuyuan Garden was in disrepair for long, the local government ordered people of the same trade to manage one out of the total 21 sections and made it a meeting place. Finally, there were 21 sorts of business, with each responsible for the repair of one section. In the twenty-second year (1842) of the Daoguang reign, during the Opium War, the British army invaded Shanghai City, living in the Town God Temple for five days, so the garden was seriously damaged. In the tenth year (1860) of the Xianfeng reign, with the collaboration of the Qing government and imperialists to suppress the revolution of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, British and French allied forces plundered the Town God Temple again, and caused much more damage. After the founding of new China, the Yuyuan Garden underwent several repairs. Now over 2 hectares of the views in the garden are restored.

Today's Yuyuan Garden can be divided into six scenic spots, with each having its special scene. A large vivid rockery with springs and waterfalls can be seen soon after one enters the garden. Zhang Nanyang, a famous rockery maker from south of the Yangtze River, piles up the rockeries with Wukang Yellow Stones. Located at the east foot of the rockery, the Cuixiu Hall is the main construction in the rockery section and faces the mountain. A stele that reads Enjoying the Rivulets and Mountains written by Zhu Zhishan in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) is located on the mountain path behind the Cuixiu Hall and the flower corridor. On a platform at the mountain peak, one can have a panoramic view of the garden.

Corridor, brooks, and mountain stones, etc, lie between the Yuhe Pavilion and the Wanhua Building. The Dianchun Hall Scenic Area is composed of the Hexu Hall and the Treasure Storing Building and so on, with garden and pavilions setting off each other, windowed verandas and corridors, and green plants and springs. Liu Lichuan, the head of Xiaodao Organization of Shanghai City, used to establish the headquarters in the Dianchun Hall in the third year (1853) of the Xianfeng reign of the Qing Dynasty. Yulinglong, the stone apex in front of the Yuhua Hall, is said to be moved from the Zhushangshu Garden in Wunijing.

The Inner Garden, originally named the Eastern Garden, once being an integrated one, now is a part of the Yuyuan Garden. Covering an area of only two mu, it was first built in the forty-eighth year (1709) of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty. It contains rockeries and ponds, halls and storied buildings, pavilions and platforms. Flower walls and small corridors in the garden are arranged at random. The Qingxue Hall is the principal structure in the garden, and has a splendid decoration and exquisite structure. A rivulet east to the hall, together with corridor pavilion and flower wall, forms a small yard. In addition, there are the Center Pavilion of the lake, nine-fold bridge and a lotus pond outside the garden gate; they are also grand views of the Yuyuan Garden.