Classical Gardens of Suzhou

I've visited the Humble Administrator's Garden in spring a few years ago, and it left a good impression. This weekend I re-visited it – apparently in peak season, according to the tickets – and, unsurprisingly, it was very crowded. Either way, this one seems to have the most reviews so I’ll focus on other gardens I visited instead. 

Nearby is the Lion Grove Garden. It is significantly smaller than the Humble Administrator’s, but interesting nonetheless. As soon as you enter, you will notice them: the rockeries. A LOT of rockeries. Clearly, they are the major landscaping feature of this garden. Unfortunately, it was impossible to make any good photos of Lion Grove, since it was very crowded, and people tend to stand on each and every rockery that can be climbed on. 

To the south is Canglang Pavilion. Apparently its layout is the oldest of all the Suzhou Gardens. Its elevation seems to vary a lot, and the garden area is partially overgrown. This garden seemed the most compact of the ones I’ve visited. The view across the lake would have been nice, if not for the group of cars parked right next to it. Directly north is the Ke Garden, and while it is not a part of the WHS, I enjoyed it as well. Its flatness and tidiness really contrast with the “wildness” of Canglang Pavilion, and it's not so crowded. It is possible to buy a combined ticket for both gardens at the same stand. 

As my last stop in China in January 2020, I visited the Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou. The people of Suzhou must have a sarcastic streak: Whoever created the garden was anything but humble. I guess "humble" was code for "hugely corrupt".

The garden is a large Chinese garden with water being the defining landscaping feature. What I enjoyed most were all the small detours and hideouts the garden offers. On an area of 5.2ha it manages to squeeze in so many viewpoints that I regularly thought I was in a new location. But then it turned out I had been there before, just on a different side with a different perspective. In total, I must have circled the garden twice to take everything in.

A pleasant surprise were the many Bonsais on display. We nowadays think of Bonsais as a Japanese art form when they actually originated in China. The same also holds true for landscape gardening in general.

Visiting in winter had the downside that many trees were not carrying leafs and the garden wasn't as green as it would have been a few months later. On the other hand, I did not need a reservation and the crowds were way less. Still, they were too many for my liking. The garden was not intended for the public, but for the rich owner to relax and appreciate the intimacy.

As had been the case for a few days now, it was raining heavily (again). …

WHS#74

China is one of those civilizations that has its own distinct spin on everything. Behind the flagship palaces, religions, languages, and designs hide the gardens. Chinese gardens, much like the neighboring Japanese gardens, have grown in popularity around the world for their exotic oriental flair. Really, it isn't the flair that makes them what they are, as these East Asian gardens are more for calming than exciting its visitors. They're known for their jagged rockeries, intricate pavilions, lotus-covered ponds, and overall more abstract and flowing layout. Chinese gardens, also like Japanese gardens, get their calming vibe from the ideals of religion. While this does make them seem less impressive than Islamic or European gardens at first glance, their beauty grows as one wonders along the winding paths while admiring the forest scenery, vista after stunning vista. It isn't an overwhelming beauty, but it pulls you in until you're in bliss. At least, that's what Chinese gardens are for. The reality is a bit harsh: since only Chinese gardens in China are authentic enough to match such expectations of beauty, these gardens are absolutely full of tourists, which somewhat negates that calming effect of the landscape. And not all gardens in China are worthy of this, mind you. I remember visiting the Yuyuan in Shanghai back in 2012, and not only was it far too crowded, but I couldn't feel the authenticity. Sure, maybe it was because I was much younger than I am now, but it never really …

During the very short business trip to Suzhou, I had only three hours in the morning for free time to explore the city, and after learned that my hotel was just 15 minutes to the old town by taxi, I did my best to visit one of the World Heritage Site listed gardens of Suzhou, the famed Zhouzheng Yuan or in English, the Humble Administrator’s Garden.

At 7.00 AM my taxi dropped me at the garden entrance, the ticket office was still closed but some tourists were already waiting! After got ticket at 7.30 I entered the gardens. The garden’s entrance was quite simple and uninspired similar to usual side or back gates of many Chinese government buildings in many cities. However, behind the gate was totally a different world, the garden was very beautiful with hundreds of trees and plants. After walked through many pools, pavilions, zigzag bridges, stone gardens, artificial mountains, bamboo groves, I started to wonder the size of the garden. The garden was quite large together with the very genius landscape design made strolling in the garden similar to walking in the large botany. The man-made landscape in the garden was unbelievable; there were many Borrowed Scenery to create garden’s many centerpieces. Every turn provided new dimensions of surroundings, a very strict concept of Stroll Garden, but with numerous playful techniques by using gates and corridors, making the views from one gate to other gate to be more in-depth by dictating eyesight with new …

I managed to visit only 3 of the gardens. It was an ultimate aesthetic experience- the pools and pavilions, lotus and lilies, koi and cicadas, bamboo and pine, Taihu rocks and paved tiles......I could only imagine how pleasant it might have been minus the milling crowds!

I wish I knew Chinese to fully appreciate the poetry.

During my trip to Shanghai I stayed deux days and a half in Suzhou.the city itself is very charming, with its numerous canals and pagodas and museums (especially the new Suzhou museum). however its fabulous gardens are what made the city famous and I managed to visit six of them : the humble administrator's garden, the lion forest garden, the lovers' retreat garden, the master of the nets garden, the canglang pavillion and the lingering garden.

the Humble Administrator's Garden is certainly the most impressive of the lot (and the largest). the sight of the lotus ponds surrounded by traditionnal buildings is very attractive. however the garden was quite crowded (with lots of tourists groups and megaphones) and that kinda ruined the experience for me. in the garden there's also a garden museum which is very informative and links the different gardens together.

Near the Humble Administrator's garden is the Lion Forest garden. now i was really disappointed by this one. it was far more crowded than the previous one and its smallest size made things worse. people were everywhere, climbing the rockeries (which btw were remarkable and the garden's main feature) or queuing in the ancient buildings. for me this was not the way to experience the garden, far from it. (it was a summer sunday afternoon, mind you, so remember never to visit this garden on this kind of day!)

A little further is the lovers' retreat garden. you can easily reach it by foot from the lion …

Out of the nine designated gardens, I visited four on a day trip from Shanghai. I choose the ones that are located near the city center of Suzhou: the Humble Administrator's Garden, the Lion Forest Garden, the Garden of the Master of Nets and finally the Canglang Pavillion. They are within reasonable walking distance from each other, about half an hour between each.

The Humble Administrator's Garden is more what I'd like to call a park rather than a garden. Although space here is delusive: when I looked at the map of the garden at the entrance, I thought I would have to walk quite some distances. But all the scenery is linked and no space is left without any form of human design.

Nearby is the Lion Forest Garden. This is for sure the weirdest of the four. A whole mountain landscape is rebuilt here with lots of Taihu rockery. A contemporary (14th century) poem reads: "People say I am in a city, but I suspect I am among thousands of mountains". Visitors nowadays can climb up, under and through these rocks, something even the Chinese grannies did with ease and pleasure. I found it quite difficult to find a way out of the 'mountains', I suppose I'm too big or too tall to fit through all the openings.

To reach the Garden of the Master of Nets, you first have to brave an alley full of souvenir stalls and some beggars. The rooms in this …

Ditto the comment by the previous reviewer. Unless you are really into the culture and history of the scholar class in Suzhou, you are not going to appreciate it from other more robust sites in China. The pagoda, which was not part of the garden, was integrated into the design to give the lake a nice vanishing point. A nice touch, but again, it was just a private garden.