Located in Suzhou City (sū zhōu shì 苏州市), the Humble Administrator’s Garden (zhuō zhèng yuán 拙政园) is known as the No.1 of the four classical gardens of Suzhou. It occupies a very significant position in Chinese gardening history and represents the historical characteristics and achievement of gardening in the south region of Yangtze River (cháng jiāng 长江).

The garden’s site was originally a private residence of Lu Guimeng (lù guī méng 陆龟蒙), a poet in Tang Dynasty (táng cháo 唐朝), and then a temple in Yuan Dynasty (yuán cháo 元朝). In Ming Dynasty (míng cháo 明朝), it was bought by Wang Xianchen (wáng xiàn chén 王献臣), a minister of the monarchy. Wang invited the famous artist Wen Zhengming (wén zhēng míng 文征明) to design the garden, and spent 16 years to complete. The son of Wang Xianchen sold the garden after the death of his father several years later. And since then the garden has changed hands many times. The garden was once divided into three parts, and each has a different name, used as a private garden, an office, or the residence for the common people. Until the 1950s, the garden was recollected and renamed the Humble Administrator’s Garden. The whole garden covers an area of 52000 square meters, and was formed by four parts: the Eastern Section, the Central Section, the Western Section and the residence.

The Central Section is the main part of the whole garden, with one third of the area is covered by water. All the architectures are constructed beside the pond, with a unique character of the south region of the Yangtze River. The Yuanxiang Hall (yuǎn xiāng táng 远香堂) is the main building and was named after the lotus pond in front of it. To the west of the hall, there is the Yiyu Pavilion (yǐ yù xuān 倚玉轩) and the Fragrance Island (xiāng zhōu 香洲). All of them are the best place for you to appreciate the beauty of the lotus in summer. To the west of the Yiyu Pavilion, there is a corridor bridge, Small Flying Rainbow Bridge (xiǎo fēi hóng 小飞虹) leading you to the residence in the south of this section. Besides there are the Yulan Hall (yù lán táng 玉兰堂), and the Loquat Garden (pí pá yuán 枇杷园).

The Western Section is compact of its layout. Because of the rebuilt in Qing Dynasty, it is mainly exquisite instead of natural. However, the rockeries and the water are similar to that of the central section. The corridors that going across the water and the stream is a masterpiece of the gardens in Suzhou. The main building in this section is the 36 Mandarin Ducks Hall (sān shí liù yuān yāng guǎn 三十六鸳鸯馆), which was used as the treating hall. In sunny days, when you see through the window, the scene outside seems like all of the things are covering with snow.

The Eastern Section is dotted with sheer hills, green pines and grass, bamboo forests and winding streams, together with the rockeries, ponds and pavilions. On the south wall of the Shuxiang Hall (shú xiāng guǎn 秫香馆), which is the main building in this section, there is a panoramic map of the entire garden.

The Humble Administrator’s Garden
Location: No. 178, Dongbei Street (dōng běi jiē 东北街), Suzhou City
Admission fee: RMB 50 (Oct. 13th – Apr. 15th)
                       RMB 70 (Apr. 16th – Oct. 30th)
Opening hours: 7:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Transportation: you can take bus No. 529, 313, 55, 202 and tourist bus Line 1 and 2 to get there

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