The Humble Administrator's Garden [Suzhou]

This garden is my personal favorite. In my opinion, it reprensents the peak development of traditional suzhou garden architecture. It is somewhat a little different from other suzhou gardens which are all pretty "hidden" and "winded", it creates a very open feeling a with a pond full of lotuses. It overcomes the "smallness" of suzhou gardens and well reserve all the "delicate" and "detailed" features of suzhou gardens. Its famous feature is the arrangement of "Water" as opposed to "Stone" in Wang Shi Garden. As a Suzhou local, I like this garden so much that I visited there pretty often. :-) My favorite visit is when it is little raining (and just before the Garden is going to close). There would be fewer tourists in the otherwise overcroweded garden. Rain matches the water scheme of the garden perfectly. The dark roof will turn darker and the green pond will be greener. Sit in one of the pavilions or covered bridge, watch the pond and listen to the rain, you can get what a Suzhou garden really means by then.

The one garden that I visited during the daytime was the Humble Administrators Garden. It was quite lovely, but what detracted from it for me was the entry cost (Y70) which was much higher than other gardens and double what the Lonely planet from 2 years earlier had said. Also, the place was swamped with tour groups galore.

The Humble Administrator’s Garden (Zhuozheng Yuan) is considered the greatest of all southern Chinese gardens. During the reign of Emperor Zhengde (1506-1521), the site was occupied by Dahong Temple. At that time, a censor named Wang Xianchen appropriated the temple and converted it into a private villa, but the Wang family could not maintain the garden and sold it a few years later. In the coming centuries the garden repeatedly changed hands and was reconstructed many times, so the garden we see today is far removed from the one enjoyed by Wang Xianchen.

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. 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.

It is the largest private garden in Suzhou and also one of the four most famous classic gardens in China (the others are: Summer Palace, Mountain Resort of Chengde and Garden for Lingering In). It was build by imperial inspector who returned to Suzhou after retiring from public service. 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 gardens main feature is a central pond around which are focused ingoing streams, bridges, islands of bamboo, pavilions, terraces, chambers. The garden ‘borrows’ a near by pagoda (built outside in the city) and incorporates the sight of it into garden layout. There is specially one really nice view of it over the pond, the bridge, the greenery and the wall. There is also a small museum that explains Chinese basic landscape-gardening concepts (most important text is translated in English). Opening hours: 8 am to 16 pm Admission fee: 50 RMB (you can also buy a multiple ticket for a 5 pack of gardens - 100 RMB for students, more expensive if there are flower shows in the gardens)

The Humble Administrator's Garden is the largest and most famous of the classical gardens of Suzhou. It was laid out in 1513 and is most remarkable for its fascinating use of water ponds. Basically half the whole garden complex is centred around a series of large ponds that filled with goldfish and ducks. Between the ponds are a cluster of islands, some with charming pavilions on them. The most famous of these pavilions is the Hall of Distant Fragrances which is named after the large lotus pond that is nearby. The hall is filled with porcelain vases and antique furniture. The islands themselves are connected by wooden bridges. Then of course there are the large rock sculptures that pop up in every classical garden in China. Here they are less noteworthy. The eastern half of the garden is more resembling of a Western garden has it is filled with large open spaces and flowers. Admission to the Humble Administrator's Garden is Y45 and it is open from 7:30am to 5:30pm.

The Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuozheng Yuan) is the largest of Suzhou's classical gardens, and one of its finest. It was established in the 16th century by Wang Xianchen, a retired magistrate. Divided into three sections, it is the central portion that is the prettiest and most popular. Here, the dominating feature is water, with an expansive section dating from the Ming era and a more intimate section dating from the Qing era. The lakes are surrounded by pavilions and halls, and are dotted with islets. Like all Chinese classical gardens, the Garden is meant to be appreciated as a series of "views". The most famous of these, the view west from the "Secluded Pavilion of Firmiana Simplex and Bamboo" is the "borrowed" view of North Temple Pagoda, seen in the distance beyond the lotus plants and willow trees. Get in line here for photography if you wish to take a picture! The western portion of the Garden houses a "penjing" nursery - "penjing" is the precursor to Japanese bonsai. There is also a small Garden Museum. Admission price is RMB70. Opening hours are 0800 to 1730 daily.

It is the largest garden in Suzhou which was built in the 15th century. It was the apartment of a poet, a politian, a governor and more others. Many builds were destoried before and re-constructed. It is the one represents the best of ancient Chinese architecture combing with art, construction, stone, water, craving, outline and more. Since 1997, this garden becomes the world culture heritage.

The Humble Administrator's Garden was first created in 1513AD, on the site of a former monastery. The middle section is the only part which is truly in the southern China garden style, as the western part has been extensively remodelled and has strong Japanese influence, while the eastern part fell into disrepair and was only returned to being a garden in recent decades - and so looks more like a suburban park. In the central area there is a good museum of garden history although it is really a museum of Suzhou garden history and focuses on the Humble Administrator's Garden. For me, the star attraction must be the "36 Pairs of Mandarin Ducks Hall" with its beautiful views through the blue and plain chequered glass. The Humble Administrator's Garden is always busy, but the day I visited it was raining heavily and the flag-following groups kept moving fast, so there were spells when sections of the garden were quiet and undisturbed.