suzhou

Suzhou is a fam ous historical and cultural city. Its history goes back 2500 years. During the Spring and Autumn Period (722-481BC), Suzhou was the capital of the state of Wu.Suzhou is a picturesque city with m any canals crisscrossing it and m any beautiful gardens. These gardens are considered to be the best in the south of China. Among the gardens are the Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuo Zheng Yuan), the Blue Wave Pavilion (Cang Lang Ting), the Garden for Lingering In (Liu Yuan), and the Lion Grove (Shi Zi Lin), which are the four m ost fam ous gardens in Suzhou. The Blue Wave Pavilion is the oldest one in existence. The Lion Grove was constructed in the Yuan Dynasty. The Garden for Lingering In dates from the Ming Dynasty.苏州园林Suzhou gardens狮子林Lion Grove Garden怡园Joyous Garden留园lingering Garden拙政园Humble Administrator's Garden沧浪亭Garden of Surging Wave Pavilion一，留园lingering GardenThe Lingering Garden was listed from the first as cultural relics of national importance in 1961. With an area of 23,310 sq.m.it is celebrated for its artistic way of dealing with the spaces between various kinds of architectural form.Buildings make up one third of the total area of the garden,the hall of which being the most remarkable in Suzhou. The garden is separated into the middle ,eastern,northern and western parts. The ancestral temple and the house lie to the south of the garden.Featuring man-made mountain and lake scenery in the west and garden courts in the east,the middle part of the garden is the original site of the Xu's East Garden and the Liu's Hanbi Villa,and is regarded as the best part of the whole garden. The eastern,northern and western parts are the extensions of the Sheng's Garden. The eastern part is noted for its strangely shaped limestones,the northern part idyllic scenes,and the western part the delights of woody hills.A winding roofed walkway behind the small entrance of the garden,while leading to the places of quietude,shows the masterly use of contrast between big and small,straight and zigzag,and light and shade. After strolling for about 50 meters,one can catch a glimpse of lattice-windows revealing a half visible landscape garden behind. Interestingly enough,the view is changing at every step.The middle part of the garden is centered upon a lake with man-made moutain in the north-west and a numger of attractive buildings in the southwest ,such as the Hanbi Moutain Villa ,the Pellucid Tower,the Green Shade Pavilion,the Zigzag Stream Tower,the Hao Pu Pavilion,and theRefreshing Breeze Pavilion by the lake.The mountains made mainly of yellowstones and earth,believed to be desigtned and piled up by Zhou Binzhong,look very much archaic and splendiferous.The admirable Crane House, the Small Garden of Stone Forest, the Return-to-Read Study in the east with the Celestial Hall of Five Peaks as the chief stucture are laid out in such a way that the indoor spaces have been brought into perfect harmony with the outdoor spaces. With an evocation of infinity,they are successfully made to be labyrinthine.Flanked by the Auspicious Cloud and Mountainous Cloud peaks,the 6.5-meter-high Cloud-Capped Peak, the highest limestone in the classical gardens of Suzhou, is believed to be left behind by the imperial collector of the Northern Song Dynasty,Mass of buildings, including the Old Hermit Scholars' House, the Cloud-Capped Tower,the Cloud-Capped Terrace and the A waiting Cloud Temple,are put up to give emphasis to the Cloud-Capped Tower,The northern part is now a bonsai garden in which about 500 valuable bonsai are put on display.The western part of the garden sets a fine example of good-looking earthen hills studded with yellowstones and covered with maple trees.There is a winding brook lined with peach trees and weeping willows.The number of stelae in the Lingering Garden has never been surpassed by any other gardens in Suzhou.Superbly inscribed with the works of more than a hundred calligraphers in the Jin,Tang,Song,Y uan,Ming ,and Qing Dynasties, these invaluable stelae bring to light the evolutionary course of Chinese calligraphy in the past 1,000 years.The whole garden possesses with pride 42 rooms and halls , a 670-meter-long roofed walkway,200 lattice-windows of different kinds, 44 parallel couplets and stone carvings , 373 stelae,and 17 such valuable old trees as gingkoes,southern wistaria,etc. which fall into 8 catalogues.2，拙政园Humble Administrator's GardenChina's gardens generally can be divided into two kinds: the royal garden, represent by Summer Palace in Beijing and Mountain Resort of Chengde, and the private garden, represent by private gardens in Suzhou.Located in the northeastern part of Suzhou city, Humble Administrator's Garden, with a total area of 51,950 square miles, is the largest private garden in Suzhou, as well as one of the four most famous classic gardens in China (the others are: Summer Palace, Mountain Resort of Chengde and Garden for Lingering In in Suzhou). Around 1513, during the Ming Dynasty, the imperial inspector Wang Xianchen, returned to Suzhou after retiring from public life and built his garden. The name Humble Administrator's Garden was inspired by the essay "To cultivate my garden and sell my vegetable crop is the policy of humble man".The garden is representative of Chinese classical gardens in the Ming Dynasty, which are focused on a central pond with pavilions, terraces, chambers, and towers located nearby. HumbleAdministrator's Garden is divided into three parts: the eastern, middle and western parts.The middle part is the cream of the garden with marvelous mountains, clear water, exquisite buildings and exuberant trees and flower reminiscent of the scenery in the south of the lower Y angtze River. Elaborately conceived, the designer of the garden used the architecture technique know as "borrowed view from afar" in the layout of this part, aiming to enlarge eyeshot within a limited space. Seen westward, a pagoda would be seen sitting in western garden, which actually is situated 1km away from the garden.The buildings in the western part of the garden are properly arranged by the lake, in which the Hall of the Thirty-Six Mandarin Ducks and the Hall of Eighteen Camellias are most important. Both halls are furnished with ancient furniture, paintings and calligraphies hung on the wall, embodying the leisurely life of the master. To the end of west garden lies a bonsai garden, where about 700 bonsais are put on display, which is worthy of visiting.Humble Administrator's Garden is a typical example of the art of horticulture south of Y angtze River as well as a treasure house containing arts of architecture, calligraphy, carving, paint ing, and bonsai. It was listed as cultural relics of national importance in 1961.三，狮子林Lion Grove GardenLion Grove Garden (Shizilin) is located on 23 Y uanlin Road, in the northeast of Suzhou-a city with profound cultural background and convenient developmental advantages. Lion Grove Garden is one of the four most famous and representative gardens of ancient classical style in Suzhou City. The other three are Blue Wave Pavilion (Canglangta), Lingering Garden (Liuyuan) and Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuozhengyuan).Built in 1342 during the Y uan Dynasty (1279-1368) by Monk Tianru and a group of Zen Buddhist disciples as a memorial of their master-Monk Zhongfeng, Lion Grove Garden has changed hands and renamed a number of times. Its changeable history is because Monk Zhongfeng had once apperceived the Buddhism sutras at Lion Cliff on Mountain Xitianmu in Zhejiang Province. Also there was many rocks grotesque in shapes in the garden resembling lions. It was first given the name Lion Grove, this name was changed to Bodhi Orthodox Temple (Puti Zhengzong) in 1342. Lion Grove Garden had been a popular center of literati's and Buddhism activities. Many paintings and poems were inspired by the garden at this time.After Monk Tianru's death and the disbandment of the disciples, Lion Grove Garden grew more dilapidated day by day. In 1589 of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Monk Mingxing asked for donatives to rebuild the garden and temple, which were separated during the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Huang Xingzu, the governor of Hengzhou, bought the garden and renamed it She Garden. His son, Huang Xi repaired and decorated the garden and gave it a new name - Five-Pine Garden in 1771. Good times don't last long-Lion Grove Garden was again left to ruin due to the Huangs'downfall and purchased by Bei family in 1917. After the national liberation, Lion Grove Garden was donated to People's Republic of China. From then on, the garden entered a steady and well-protected period.Covering an area of about 10,000 square meters (two and a half acres), Lion Grove Garden is an ideal sightseeing site as it has richly ornamental pavilions and towers in different styles; each has its own history and story. True Delight Pavilion (Zhenquting) is said to be the most magnificent in Lion Grove Garden due to its royal style and Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, who visited the gardens six times, in 1765, wrote its plaque. The name of Standing-in-Snow Hall (Lixuetang) came from a Buddhist story about a pure-hearted Zen adherent standing in snow for a whole night to worship his master. Pavilion for Greeting the Plum Blossoms (Wenmeige) was a place where painters and poets indited. In addition to the plum treesaround the pavilion, all the furnitures and utensils inside are decorated or carved with beautiful plum blossom designs. Furthermore, many rare tablets and steles, paintings and calligraphies are kept in Lion Grove Garden , including precious artwork "Panoramic V iew of" by Ni Y unlin, also called Ni Zan, and the "Twelve Scenic Spots in Lion Grove Garden" by Xu Ben, both were famous painters from the Ming Dynasty.However, as the representative garden of the Y uan Dynasty, the most noted and attractive scenery of Lion Grove Garden is the labyrinthine rockery, which was mostly made of the limestone from Taihu Lake in Wuxi City. Reputed as the "Kingdom of Rockery", the rocks were piled up skillfully and ingeniously, and most of them look like lions in different postures and verves: playing, roaring, fighting, sleeping, or even dancing. It is said that looking north from Small Square Hall (Xiaofangting), one can see nine stone lions standing in a row and that is the Nine-Lion Peak. Due to the changes and ravages of the time and climate, the peak now only bears little resemblance to the lines. There are altogether 9 paths and 21 caverns cross among the steep peaks, sharp crags and narrow valleys made up by countless grotesque rocks. Walking through those numerous winding pathways and caverns of the anfractuous stone forest, one could easily lose one's way. With the old pines and cypress trees, the whole landscapes represent scenes of real mountains and forests.The whole structure of Lion Grove Garden shows a flavor of Zen Buddhism and is an apotheosis of the gardens' constructions. A part of the Imperial Summer Resort of the Qing Dynasty in Chengde of Hebei Province was a mimic of Lion Grove Garden. The garden occupies a very important place in history, representing the diversity of cultural and architectural development in Suzhou over the years.四，沧浪亭Garden of Surging Wave PavilionSurging Wave Pavilion, one of the oldest gardens of Suzhou, lies near Sanyuanfang in the south of Suzhou City. Surging Wave Pavilion is simple and unadorned in structure, and elegant and lively in patterns of windows which are not identical at all and come out first of Suzhou's famous gardens. As the garden is a place for public activities, it is open and outward, 苏州园林Suzhou gardens狮子林Lion Grove Garden怡园Joyous Garden留园lingering Garden拙政园Humble Administrator's Garden沧浪亭Garden of Surging Wave Pavilion一，留园lingering GardenThe Lingering Garden was listed from the first as cultural relics of national importance in 1961. With an area of 23,310 sq.m.it is celebrated for its artistic way of dealing with the spaces between various kinds of architectural form.Buildings make up one third of the total area of the garden,the hall of which being the most remarkable in Suzhou. The garden is separated into the middle ,eastern,northern and western parts. The ancestral temple and the house lie to the south of the garden.Featuring man-made mountain and lake scenery in the west and garden courts in the east,the middle part of the garden is the original site of the Xu's East Garden and the Liu's Hanbi Villa,and is regarded as the best part of the whole garden. The eastern,northern and western parts are the extensions of the Sheng's Garden. The eastern part is noted for its strangely shaped limestones,the northern part idyllic scenes,and the western part the delights of woody hills.A winding roofed walkway behind the small entrance of the garden,while leading to the places of quietude,shows the masterly use of contrast between big and small,straight and zigzag,and light and shade. After strolling for about 50 meters,one can catch a glimpse of lattice-windows revealing a half visible landscape garden behind. Interestingly enough,the view is changing at every step.The middle part of the garden is centered upon a lake with man-made moutain in the north-west and a numger of attractive buildings in the southwest ,such as the Hanbi Moutain Villa ,the Pellucid Tower,the Green Shade Pavilion,the Zigzag Stream Tower,the Hao Pu Pavilion,and the Refreshing Breeze Pavilion by the lake.The mountains made mainly of yellowstones and earth,believed to be desigtned and piled up by Zhou Binzhong,look very much archaic and splendiferous.The admirable Crane House, the Small Garden of Stone Forest, the Return-to-Read Study in the east with the Celestial Hall of Five Peaks as the chief stucture are laid out in such a way that the indoor spaces have been brought into perfect harmony with the outdoor spaces. With an evocation of infinity,they are successfully made to be labyrinthine.Flanked by the Auspicious Cloud and Mountainous Cloud peaks,the 6.5-meter-high Cloud-Capped Peak, the highest limestone in the classical gardens of Suzhou, is believed to be left behind by the imperial collector of the Northern Song Dynasty,Mass of buildings, including the Old Hermit Scholars' House, the Cloud-Capped Tower,the Cloud-Capped Terrace and the A waiting Cloud Temple,are put up to give emphasis to the Cloud-Capped Tower,The northern part is now a bonsai garden in which about 500 valuable bonsai are put on display.The western part of the garden sets a fine example of good-looking earthen hills studded with yellowstones and covered with maple trees.There is a winding brook lined with peach trees and weeping willows.The number of stelae in the Lingering Garden has never been surpassed by any other gardens in Suzhou.Superbly inscribed with the works of more than a hundred calligraphers in theJin,Tang,Song,Y uan,Ming ,and Qing Dynasties, these invaluable stelae bring to light the evolutionary course of Chinese calligraphy in the past 1,000 years.The whole garden possesses with pride 42 rooms and halls , a 670-meter-long roofed walkway,200 lattice-windows of different kinds, 44 parallel couplets and stone carvings , 373 stelae,and 17 such valuable old trees as gingkoes,southern wistaria,etc. which fall into 8 catalogues.2，拙政园Humble Administrator's GardenChina's gardens generally can be divided into two kinds: the royal garden, represent by Summer Palace in Beijing and Mountain Resort of Chengde, and the private garden, represent by private gardens in Suzhou.Located in the northeastern part of Suzhou city, Humble Administrator's Garden, with a total area of 51,950 square miles, is the largest private garden in Suzhou, as well as one of the four most famous classic gardens in China (the others are: Summer Palace, Mountain Resort of Chengde and Garden for Lingering In in Suzhou). Around 1513, during the Ming Dynasty, the imperial inspector Wang Xianchen, returned to Suzhou after retiring from public life and built his garden. The name Humble Administrator's Garden was inspired by the essay "To cultivate my garden and sell my vegetable crop is the policy of humble man".The garden is representative of Chinese classical gardens in the Ming Dynasty, which are focused on a central pond with pavilions, terraces, chambers, and towers located nearby. Humble Administrator's Garden is divided into three parts: the eastern, middle and western parts.The middle part is the cream of the garden with marvelous mountains, clear water, exquisite buildings and exuberant trees and flower reminiscent of the scenery in the south of the lower Y angtze River. Elaborately conceived, the designer of the garden used the architecture technique know as "borrowed view from afar" in the layout of this part, aiming to enlarge eyeshot within a limited space. Seen westward, a pagoda would be seen sitting in western garden, which actually is situated 1km away from the garden.The buildings in the western part of the garden are properly arranged by the lake, in which the Hall of the Thirty-Six Mandarin Ducks and the Hall of Eighteen Camellias are most important. Both halls are furnished with ancient furniture, paintings and calligraphies hung on the wall, embodying the leisurely life of the master. To the end of west garden lies a bonsai garden, where about 700 bonsais are put on display, which is worthy of visiting.Humble Administrator's Garden is a typical example of the art of horticulture south of Y angtze River as well as a treasure house containing arts of architecture, calligraphy, carving, paint ing, and bonsai. It was listed as cultural relics of national importance in 1961.三，狮子林Lion Grove GardenLion Grove Garden (Shizilin) is located on 23 Y uanlin Road, in the northeast of Suzhou-a city with profound cultural background and convenient developmental advantages. Lion Grove Garden is one of the four most famous and representative gardens of ancient classical style in Suzhou City. The other three are Blue Wave Pavilion (Canglangta), Lingering Garden (Liuyuan) and Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuozhengyuan).Built in 1342 during the Y uan Dynasty (1279-1368) by Monk Tianru and a group of Zen Buddhist disciples as a memorial of their master-Monk Zhongfeng, Lion Grove Garden has changed hands and renamed a number of times. Its changeable history is because Monk Zhongfeng had once apperceived the Buddhism sutras at Lion Cliff on Mountain Xitianmu in Zhejiang Province. Also there was many rocks grotesque in shapes in the garden resembling lions. It was first given the name Lion Grove, this name was changed to Bodhi Orthodox Temple (Puti Zhengzong) in 1342. Lion Grove Garden had been a popular center of literati's and Buddhism activities. Many paintings and poems were inspired by the garden at this time.After Monk Tianru's death and the disbandment of the disciples, Lion Grove Garden grew more dilapidated day by day. In 1589 of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Monk Mingxing asked for donatives to rebuild the garden and temple, which were separated during the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Huang Xingzu, the governor of Hengzhou, bought the garden and renamed it She Garden. His son, Huang Xi repaired and decorated the garden and gave it a new name - Five-Pine Garden in 1771. Good times don't last long-Lion Grove Garden was again left to ruin due to the Huangs'downfall and purchased by Bei family in 1917. After the national liberation, Lion Grove Garden was donated to People's Republic of China. From then on, the garden entered a steady and well-protected period.Covering an area of about 10,000 square meters (two and a half acres), Lion Grove Garden is an ideal sightseeing site as it has richly ornamental pavilions and towers in different styles; each has its own history and story. True Delight Pavilion (Zhenquting) is said to be the most magnificent in Lion Grove Garden due to its royal style and Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, who visited the gardens six times, in 1765, wrote its plaque. The name of Standing-in-Snow Hall (Lixuetang) came from a Buddhist story about a pure-hearted Zen adherent standing in snow for a whole night to worship his master. Pavilion for Greeting the Plum Blossoms (Wenmeige) was a place where painters and poets indited. In addition to the plum treesaround the pavilion, all the furnitures and utensils inside are decorated or carved with beautiful plum blossom designs. Furthermore, many rare tablets and steles, paintings and calligraphies are kept in Lion Grove Garden , including precious artwork "Panoramic V iew of" by Ni Y unlin, also called Ni Zan, and the "Twelve Scenic Spots in Lion Grove Garden" by Xu Ben, both were famous painters from the Ming Dynasty.However, as the representative garden of the Y uan Dynasty, the most noted and attractive scenery of Lion Grove Garden is the labyrinthine rockery, which was mostly made of the limestone from Taihu Lake in Wuxi City. Reputed as the "Kingdom of Rockery", the rocks were piled up skillfully and ingeniously, and most of them look like lions in different postures and verves: playing, roaring, fighting, sleeping, or even dancing. It is said that looking north from Small Square Hall (Xiaofangting), one can see nine stone lions standing in a row and that is the Nine-Lion Peak. Dueto the changes and ravages of the time and climate, the peak now only bears little resemblance to the lines. There are altogether 9 paths and 21 caverns cross among the steep peaks, sharp crags and narrow valleys made up by countless grotesque rocks. Walking through those numerous winding pathways and caverns of the anfractuous stone forest, one could easily lose one's way. With the old pines and cypress trees, the whole landscapes represent scenes of real mountains and forests.The whole structure of Lion Grove Garden shows a flavor of Zen Buddhism and is an apotheosis of the gardens' constructions. A part of the Imperial Summer Resort of the Qing Dynasty in Chengde of Hebei Province was a mimic of Lion Grove Garden. The garden occupies a very important place in history, representing the diversity of cultural and architectural development in Suzhou over the years.四，沧浪亭Garden of Surging Wave PavilionSurging Wave Pavilion, one of the oldest gardens of Suzhou, lies near Sanyuanfang in the south of Suzhou City. Surging Wave Pavilion is simple and unadorned in structure, and elegant and lively in patterns of windows which are not identical at all and come out first of Suzhou's famous gardens. As the garden is a place for public activities, it is open and outward,Suzhou is a city on the Yangtze River widely renowned throughout the country for its silk industry and natural beauty. In fact, there is a well-known saying in Chinese that roughly translates to “Up there, you have heaven. Down here, you have Suzhou and Hangzhou,” Hangzhou being the name of a nearby city also known for its scenic attractions. Today, Suzhou continues to live up to the old proverb. The city is filled with gardens, parks and all sorts of traditional decorations such as pagodas or arched stone bridges that attract vast num bers of tourists each year. The city’s silk and other m anufacturing industries are not slouching either; Suzhou, along with the nearby cities of Shanghai and Nanjing, m ake up one of the fastest-growing regions in the country.Besides silk crafts, Suzhou is also known for many other arts, am ong them Chinese opera, wood and jade carving, embroidery, painting and calligraphy. If you want to bring back a souvenir, samples of such works are widely available from local markets and sm all shops. It is relatively cheap to buy artwork from someone who crafts it while you watch, but be prepared to haggle for goods from small store vendors. This is both beneficial for you and expected by the sellers. If som ething does not have a tag, the price is negotiable.。