After three years of elaborate construction, the night lighting project of the Shanghai Guyi Garden has been completed. Having the nation's largest-scale lighting among all classical gardens, it is to open during this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival with the closing time being extended from 19:30 to 20:00.

“This is the largest night lighting project in the garden since the 1950s,”said Huang Tao, an engineer responsible for the garden’s infrastructure. According to Huang, the project in Guyi Garden is much harder than ordinary outdoor night-lighting projects.

For instance, to lay circuits and optical fibers underground, the engineers have to refer to as many historical drawings and documents as possible to design a suitable construction method that minimizes damage to the ancient bricks.

Besides, since large machinery is not permitted to enter classical gardens, most pipeline projects need to be handled by people.

Huang introduced that similar to other scenic spots in Shanghai, Guyi Garden mainly adopts medium-low and intermediate color temperatures with yellow and white as the main color motifs, so as to reflect the aesthetic beauty of the pavilion at night.

When in operation, the night lighting will switch among three models (holiday, weekday and fully-open) according to the specific period and passenger flow in order to create the best lighting effect.

In the future, rich garden activities like opera performances will be organized against the lighting background to attract more visitors and boost Shanghai’s night economy.