Suzhou Things to Do

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Honyin Mountain Villa still has the Ming Dynasty influence of its garden. Later it become famous during Qing Dynasty as Emperor Qianlong frequent visited this Villa during his visit to the south. Other than to know the rich history of this villa, I am more interested to enjoy the quiet moment in this beautiful Ming garden. The trees, fish pond, the ancient walkway really brought me back to the ancient history of Ming. I also enjoyed the stage performance by the local at the center stage.

In Chinese: 虹饮山房 (Hong Yin Shan Fang)

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The first attraction from the town main entrance is "Yans Garden". This was Mr. Yan Jiagan 's residence. The residence's garden was influenced by Ming dynasty. This four season garden has an unique uneven layout as comparing to other gardens in Suzhou. The ancient doors, lamps, and halls with traditional furniture are some of the displays from the the entrance. Then, you will proceed to visit the garden with steps, walking bridge, yards with fish pond, and circle shape door.

very Impressive garden.

In Chinese: 严家花园 (Yan Jia Hua Yuan)

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Mudu ancient town is about 45-minutes city bus ride from downtown Suzhou. The town has been reconstructed as a tourist town with several attractions, food outlets, and shops. The charm of this town is the remnant of the old residences or villas with their beautiful gardens.

Attractions include:

1) Yans Garden
2) Hongyin Mountain Villa
3) Ancient Pine Garden
4) Bangyans Residence

Admission: Y60/ person to enter all four attractions above.

If you don't wish to enter the attractions, I believe you can visit the town for free. You can have small crabs snack, ride the boat on river, and take photos with tradition Chinese costume.

In Chinese: 木读景区 (Mu Du Jing Qu)

The Master of the Nets garden was first constructed in 1140 AD by the Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279) government official Shi Zhengzhi.
Among all the gardens in Suzhou, the Master of the Nets Garden is considered the most "balanced" in terms of its use of water, rocks, plants, and timber. The Master of the Nets Garden or Wangshi Yuan is among the finest gardens in China. Recognized with nine other Suzhou gardens as United Nations World Heritage sites, it demonstrates Chinese garden designers’ adept skills for synthesizing art, nature, and architecture to create unique metaphysical masterpieces.
It was well-worth the 20yuan admission fee.

Its name means the jungle of lions. I think lion means stone here since Chines use stones to make lions. So the name indicates the garden has a lot of stones.

As I previously mentioned, Wang Shi Garden is famous for "stone" arrangement. It was the favorite place to all suzhou kids because there are endless caves to explore in the garden and it expreience can seldom be duplicated.

If you ever wonder where those stones come from, they are all from the buttom of "Tai Hu" lake. They are washed under the water for thousands of years so that they are smooth and white. You cannot find similiar stones anywhere else. The great canel is built partially because they want to deliver the "Tai Hu" stones up to the captical (Beijing) to construct the royle gardens there.(However, I've been to Beijing once and visited the royle gardens, but was quite disappointed by them. ). Stones are carefully crafted (just like diamonds) and some good stones got their unique names (yeah, just like diamonds). Among all the "Tai Hu" stones, there are two pieces of stones that are most famous for the beauty of its shape. One is now in Liu Garden and the other is in my middle school (which was previously the central bureau for silk and clothing production for "Jiang Nan" area. (In the old days, woman from suzhou are considered most fashionest. Even officiant wifes in the capital will follow the fashion trends led by Suzhou woman.)

A piece of side information: It was the residence of the Pei family which produced the famous architect I.M.Pei who designed Louvre Pyramid.

Suzhou and its labyrinth of elaborate gardens is a popular getaway from Shanghai, easily connected by trains.

Zhuo Zheng Yuan or The Humble Administrator's Garden is the largest of all the gardens in Suzhou. It's a large and elaborate one, possible requiring you a good many hours to really explore the intricate beauty of the place. You don't get Chinese gardens done up in the Ming Dynasty (1400s-1600s) fashion any better than this.

Filled with sultry ponds decorated with lotus leaves and flowers, shy bridges over running riverlets, peony gardens in explosion - this is a place that could well mesmerised anyone who admires or loves Chinese architecture and the art of gardening.

Entry fee into the garden is 40RMB (circa 2002)

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.

Most famous of Suzhou's 69 preserved gardens:

* Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuozheng Yuan)
* Lingering Garden (Liu Yuan)
* Master of the Nets Garden (Wang Shi Yuan)
* Great Wave Pavilion (Canglang Ting)
* Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty
* Lion Grove Garden
* Garden of Cultivation
* The Retreat & Reflection Garden
* Couple's Retreat Garden

****more to come****