Inside Hardoon’s Garden
Hardoon Garden, Aili Garden. Even today, the name conjures up mystery and legend. Mystery, because few photos survive of this exquisite Chinese-style residential garden that lay inside high vermilion gates. Legend, because it was the home of Shanghai’s richest man, Silas Hardoon: to paraphrase a contemporary source, a hundred legends surround him. [1] So when, through a chance Instagram encounter, Silas’ grandson offers to share some of his family photos of the famous garden, you know it’s your lucky day.
“The family story is one of which epic novels are made,” says Philip MacGregor, son of the eldest Hardoon child, Nora Hardoon MacGregor. “Unfortunately, my mother and her siblings honored their parents’ legacy by keeping their stories to themselves, and very private.”
Rags to Shanghai’s Richest Man
As mysterious as life behind the Garden gates may have been, the rags-to-riches story of Silas Aaron Hardoon is part of Shanghai lore:
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