Humble Administrator Garden

 

(Zhuozheng Yuan)

  is the first name in classical gardens at Suzhou. It is located on Dongbei Street in the Old City District, the actual gardening area is about 4 hectares. The construction began in 1509 during the reign of Zhengde Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The master of the garden was changed several times so it was sometimes being neglected. As a result, the whole garden is divided into three parts, of which each of them has very different characteristic.

 

The Eastern Garden

  It was formed in 1631, this section comprises beautiful pavilions, crystal-clear pools and elegant corridors. The Lanxue House in the north of the central pool, the Xianqingchi, is prettily fenced by bamboos, osmanthus and plum trees. On the south of the pool, there are a lot of man-made hills with tiny caves which you can go into. You may feel that you're in a different world ! In the west, there are dense bamboo and phoenix tree forests with small rivers flow.

 

The Western Garden

  The basic layout of it is established in 1877 and called the "Supplementary Garden" (Bu Yuan). You can imagine the tranquil atmosphere of these places by their beautiful names : the Pagoda Reflection Pavilion (Taying Ting) and the Lingering Sound House (Liuting Ge) are the main buildings in this section. The 18 Camellias Hall (Shiba Mantuoluohua Guan) and the 36 Pairs of Mandarin Duck's Hall (36-Yuanyang Guan) are newly built attractions.

 

The Central Garden

  This section is the essence of the Humble Administrator Garden. Although its face was changed a lot during the turbulent China's modern history, it was still maintained the essential characters of Suzhou gardens - pools and small rivers are all around, elegant bridges, as well as the scenes of "hills" in the middle of lakes, very interesting. The great artifacts such as "The Picture of the Humble Administrator Garden" and some others from the Qing Dynasty are displayed here.

 

Spend a day or half touring the Humble Administrator Garden, seeing the ancient Chinese architecture and verdant tree, as well as pretty, swimming goldfish in ponds, is a great and unforgettable experience.