There is a proverb which is said “Up above is heaven, down below are Suzhou and Hangzhou”, it means that Suzhou and Hangzhou are as charming as heaven. The difference between them is that Hangzhou is with its famous Lake, and Suzhou is the classical garden.
Suzhou Classical Garden —— A City of Gardens
Suzhou has hundreds of gardens, the influence from Suzhou has a huge effect on Chinese gardens all over the country, that is why it is said that Suzhou gardens are the sample of gardens in China. If you are interested in Chinese gardens, Suzhou must be the city you should not miss.
The designer who aligns local conditions to build up different gardens have an unconventional thinking process, they design the garden seek one word: no matter where you stand in it, there it forms a prefect picturesque landscape in your eyes. In order to reach this goal, they devote particular care to the arrangement of pavilions, rockery, ponds, flowers and trees, considering the distance far and close. All in all, if it feels like you are standing in a landscape while you are visiting, that is what the designers are going for, and they would be successful in their goals.
There were more than 170 gardens in Suzhou
The Classical Garden of Suzhou began in the Spring and Autumn (ChunQiu Zhanguo) Period From 476 BC, matured in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. By the end of Qing Dynasty, there are more than 170 Gardens in Suzhou. At present, there are over 60 gardens completely preserved and 19 gardens are open among them, including Surging Wave Pavilion, Lion Groves Garden, The Humble Administrator's Garden, Lingering Garden, Master-of-Nets Garden and ect. All of them have their own features.
Here are my 2 recommended gardens to visit:-
1. The Humble Administrator's Garden—— A classical garden with the largest area
The Humble Administrator's Garden is recognized as one of the four famous gardens in China and it is the largest one. This garden was divided into three parts, including the eastern part, the central part and the western part.
The central is the main and the elite of the garden, it has strong characteristics in the South of the Yangtze River, the designer construct a relaxing and peaceful atmosphere by using ponds, pavilions and bridges: the stream flows underneath the exquisite bridge, bubbling along by the interconnected ponds one by one.
Name: Humble Administrator's Garden
Opening Times: 07:30-17:30
Location: 178 Northeast, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province
Ticket: 70RMB(Apr.16-Oct.30); 50RMB(Oct.31-Apr.15)
Best Time to Visit: All year. It also has Rhododendron Festival in Spring, Lotus Festival in Summer and Chrysanthemum Exhibition in Autumn.
2. Lingering Garden——one of the most well-preserved gardens in Suzhou
The Lingering Garden is one of the Four Famous Garden’s in China, including the Humble Administrator's Garden, the Summer Palace and Chengde Summer Palace, it features exquisite architectural layout and exotic stones. This garden is famous for its unique style, natural exquisite architecture, and the perfect combination of corridors, artificial hills, stones and streams.
This garden has four areas: architecture, mountain-forest, garden and countryside.
The whole garden is divided into four parts, striking architecture is mainly in the eastern part, scenery with hills and water in the central part, rockery in the western part and countryside in the north, thus it has formed four distinctly themed areas: architecture, mountain-forest, garden and countryside.
Name: Lingering Garden
Opening Times: 07:30-17:00
Location: 338 Liu Yuan Road, Jin Chang District, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province
Ticket: 45RMB(Apr.-Oct., Except June); 55RMB(Dec.-Mar., June)
As the most famous Classical Garden in Suzhou, the Humble Administrator's Garden and Lingering Garden are the typical gardens from Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, besides, Surging Wave Pavilion is the typical of Song Dynasty and Lion Groves Garden is of Yuan Dynasty. As we all know, there are over 170 gardens in Suzhou so that will take much time to visit these classical gardens, and if you’re interested working in Suzhou or other parts of China, check out http://findworkabroad.com/direct-employers; why not come and enjoy the wisdom of Chinese ancient people?
