More than 400 years ago, the owner of Yu Garden Pan Yunduan had a square pavilion constructed in the lotus pool. Later as the Pan’s declined in their fortune, the cloth tycoon Zhu Yunhui and others built a hexagonal pavilion on the site of the square pavilion in the 49th year of Qianlong Emperor (1784). Named “Pavilion in Lake Center”, it served as a venue for cloth businessmen to gather and talk. In the 5th year of Xianfeng Emperor (1855), it was converted into a tea house, which was successively named “Yeshi Tea House”, and “Wanzai Tea House. Finally restored to the name of “Pavilion in Lake Center”, it is the oldest tea house in Shanghai.

(Address: No. 257, Yu Garden Road   Telephone: 63736950   Business Hours: 8:30～22:00）