Classical Gardens

The Humble Administrator's Garden
First laid out in 1509AD, the garden's scenery is focused on a central pond with various buildings of pavilions, terraces, chambers and towers located by the water or on hillocks in a natural, unsophisticated, and appropriate composition.

The Lingering Garden
The garden was first laid out in 1522 AD. The whole space is artfully and appropriately handled, and arranged with exquisite petty scales. It is a typical garden of the Ming period with elegance and exquisiteness in the southern Yangtse Valley.
The Cloud-Crowned Peak in it is a treasured piece of Taihu rock noted in the region.

The Surging Waves Pavilion
First built in 1044 AD, the garden is the oldest of the existing Suzhou classical gardens. The outer part of the double corridor is over the canal's edge, while the other open to the central hill. Latticed windows on the wall supply the spatial link between the scenery inside and outside the garden, which is the typical device of "borrowed views".

 

The Garden of Quiet Meditation
Erected in 1885 AD in Tongli Township, it is a famous garden on water in the southern Yangtse Valley because its buildings are positioned so closely around the central pond that the pavilions, halls, corridors all seem to be floating on the perenially clear waters.

 

The Lion Grove Garden
Built in 1342 AD, the Garden is particularly well-known for the great quantities of its Taihu rocks that form an intriguing maze of mountian paths and varied scenes.