Lion Grove Garden (shī zǐ lín 狮子林) is located at the Yuanlin Road (yuán lín lù 园林路), northeast of Suzhou City (sū zhōu shì 苏州市). It is one of the four most famous and representative classic gardens in Suzhou. It was first given the name of Lion Grove, as the grotesque rocks of its man-made hill resembled lions.

Lion Grove Garden was originally constructed in 1342 during the Yuan Dynasty (yuán cháo 元朝) by Monk Tianru (tiān rú 天如), taken as a temple. After Monk Tianru’s death, his disciples were dismissed. Lion Grove Garden was abandoned and became dilapidated. In 1373 of the Ming Dynasty (míng cháo 明朝), a famous painter Ni Zan (ní zàn 倪瓒) joined in the rebuild of the garden and paint for the garden and wrote a poem, which made the garden famous. After then, many scholars created their paintings or lines after being inspired by the garden. In the early years of the reign of Qianlong (qián lóng nián jiān 乾隆年间) of Qing Dynasty (qīng cháo 清朝), the garden was taken as a private garden, and was renames as “She Garden”(shè yuán 涉园), which is also called “ Five Pines Garden”(wǔ sōng yuán 五松园). In the year 1917, the garden was bought by Bei Runsheng (bèi rùn shēng 贝润生). After a nine-year expansion and reconstruction, it was then called Lion Grove Garden again. The traditional and western arts of gardening and Buddhism are integrated well, which make the garden a monastery garden.

The Lion Grove Garden covers an area of 1.1 hectares, out of which 0.88 hectares are opened to the public. In the east and south part of the garden, the main Viewing from the above, the garden appears to be rectangle, slightly wider on the east-west direction. Within the around tall walls, the twisted corridors encircle the entire garden, forming a well-protected house to live in. There are pavilions, halls, and corridors which are commonly seen in the classic gardens in Suzhou as well as the rockeries piled up by limestone. And the Lion Grove Garden is crowned as the Kingdom of the Rockeries (jiǎ shān wáng guó 假山王国). All the limestone are from the Taihu Lake (tài hú 太湖), and they are piled up skillfully and ingeniously. Most of the rockeries look like lions in different postures and verves. Some are playing, some are roaring, while some are sleeping.

The main architecture within the garden is the Yanyu Hall (yàn yù táng 燕誉堂), at the back of which is the Little Square Hall (xiǎo fāng tīng 小方厅) and the Lixue Hall (lì xuě táng 立雪堂). In the west of the garden, there is the Zhibai House (zhǐ bǎi xuān 指柏轩), which is a two-storey building with rooms around. To the west of the Zhibai House, there is the Ancient Five Pines Garden (gǔ wǔ sōng yuán 古五松园). In the middle of the west part of the whole garden, Wenmei Pavilion (wèn méi gé 问梅阁) was a place where painters and poets gathered. In addition to the plum trees around the pavilion, all the furniture and utensils inside are all decorated or carved with designs of beautiful plum blossoms. Furthermore, many rare tablets and steles, paintings and calligraphy works are kept in Lion Grove Garden.

Lion Grove Garden
Location: No. 23, Yuanlin Road, Suzhou City
Admission fee: RMB 20 (Oct. 31 – April. 15)
                       RMB 30 (April 16 – Oct. 30)
Opening hours: 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Transportation: you can take bus No. 2, 3, 5, and tourist bus Line 1 and 2.

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