Located at the Xuningmen Street (xú níng mén jiē 徐凝门街), Yangzhou City (yáng zhōu shì 扬州市), Jiangsu Province (jiāng sū shěng 江苏省), He Garden (hé yuán 何园) is regarded as the most important garden in late Qing Dynasty (wǎn qīng dì yī yuán 晚清第一园). It is also called Jixiao Villa (jì xiào shān zhuāng 寄啸山庄). It was first built in Guangxu reign (guāng xù nián jiān 光绪年间), Qing Dynasty (qīng cháo 清朝). With a history of more than 14000 square kilometers, the He Garden has absorbed the characteristics of the royal garden and also the western architecture, which made it the outstanding one.

He Garden can be divided into two parts, that is, the Eastern Garden (dōng yuán 东园) and the Western Garden (xī yuán 西园). Entering through the round-hole door is the Peony Hall (mǔ dān tīng 牡丹厅). The first sight leaping to your eyes is the brick carving---- Wind blowing the Peony (fēng chuī mǔ dān 风吹牡丹). It is vivid and is one of the masterpieces of the brick carving in Yangzhou. What’s more, the hall has gotten its name from this carving. The main architecture of the Eastern Garden is the Boat Hall (chuán tīng 船厅), which is shaped like a boat. The fields around it are paved with cobblestones and tiles to form the water-wave shape, conveying the feeling of living near the waters.

On the pillars in the south corridor, there are wooden couple steles hanging there. To the north, there is the rockery closely sticking to the wall (tiē bì jiǎ shān 贴壁假山), while to the south, there are five halls, with three corridors. To the east, there is a small pavilion while in the west, there are stone steps leading to the corridor of the building. The half-moon shaped flat in the corridor is a good place for one to enjoy the moon.

Western Garden is wide, with a large pond in the center. All the buildings are constructed around the pond. The building on the north side of the pond is called Butterfly Hall (hú dié tīng 蝴蝶厅), which was for the master to treat the guests. It was called Butterfly Hall because its corners are like the butterflies about to fly. It is connected with the Double-Path Cloister (fù dào huí láng 复道回廊), which is formed by building a wall in the middle of the two-floor cloister to diverge the road. One of the corridors is leading to the Butterfly Hall, and the other to the Reading Building (dú shū lóu 读书楼) which is behind the Boat Hall. The Double-Path Cloister is 1500 meters in length, running through the whole garden. The windows in the cloister are regarded as the Greatest Window. The scene that you see through the window is varied as you walk.

On the east side of the pond, there is a stone bridge, leading to the Pond-Centered Pavilion (hú xīn ting 湖心亭). The pavilion was built for the master to watch the dramas and dances, and it is the only existing stage on the water in China. Taking advantage of the echo produced by the water and the corridor around the building, there is an apparent acoustic resonance, which made the performance more enjoyable.

To the southeast side of the He Garden, there is the Rockery built with Pieces of Stones (piàn shíshān fáng 片石山房). It is the only existing copy of rockery built by Shitao (shí tāo 石涛), a great painter living at the end of Ming Dynasty (míng cháo 明朝) and at the beginning of Qing Dynasty.

He Garden
Address: No. 77, Xuningmen Road, Yangzhou City
Admission fee: RMB 40 (on season)
　　                 RMB 30 (off season)
Opening hours: 7:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Transportation: you can take bus No. 19, 61, 209 to get there