Skip to content
Site Tools
Increase font size Decrease font size Default font size default color blue color green color
Home Travel in Jiangsu The Garden of Cultivation
The Garden of Cultivation

 The Garden of Cultivation
The Garden of Cultivation
(yì pǔ 艺圃) is located at the northwest of Suzhou City (sū zhōu shì 苏州市). It was originally constructed in the reign of Emperor Jiajing (jiā jìng nián jiān 嘉靖年间) of Ming Dynasty (míng cháo 明朝), and called Yaopu (yào pǔ 药圃) at first. During the early years of Qing Dynasty (qīng cháo 清朝), its name was changed to the present one, but also called Jingting Mountain Cottage (jìng tíng shān fáng 敬亭山房). The garden is small in scale but distinctive in artistic characteristics of the Ming Dynasty. And it is also a famous one among all the classic gardens in Suzhou.

Boya HallThe Garden of Cultivation covers an area of 3967 square kilometers, composed with the residential houses and the garden. The arrangement of the garden is open and simple, with buildings, ponds and rockeries laid out from north to south successively, with is the most basic method of Suzhou gardening.

The houses within the garden are designed in old and original manner. There are three entrance halls at the front gate of the Garden of Cultivation, in which there is a zigzag lane leading to the residential houses at the northern part of the garden. The first hall is the Boya Hall (bó yǎ táng 博雅堂), the pillars of which is the one of the Ming Dynasty. To the south of the hall, there is a small courtyard with corridors around it. At the south side of the courtyard, the Yanguang Pavilion (yán guāng gé 延光阁) spanning upon the pond, which is the largest waterside pavilions among all the gardens in Suzhou.

Yanguang PavilionThe pond occupies one fourth of the total area, located in the middle of the garden, which is located to the west of the residential houses. The pond is roughly rectangular shape with coves in its southeast and southwest, upon which there spanning the low, flat and small bridges. On the east and west banks of the pond, there are corridors with roofs, pavilions rockeries and trees. On the south bank of the pond, there is the rockery, whose main body is piled up by earth while the part upon the lake is pile up by limestone. On the rockery there are luxuriantly green trees, which make the pond more graceful and delicate.

Ruyu PavilionChanggu Study Buiding (chàng gǔ shū táng 畅谷书堂) is to the east of the Yanguang Pavilion. It was once the place that Jiang Anjie (jiāng ān jié 姜安节) giving lectures. The building is facing south and most part of it are upon the pond. There is a small yard in the building that used for lighting. At the south of the building, there is a small square pavilion called Ruyu Pavilion (rǔ yú tíng 乳鱼亭), which is the original one that constructed during the Ming Dynasty. On the pillars and the beams of the pavilion painted with colorful pictures.

At the southwest of the Garden of Cultivation, there is the Yuou Pool (yù ōu chí 浴鸥池), which was cut by two delicate small bridges. On the south bank of the pool, there is a flowerbed with persimmon trees and maple trees planted there. on the north of the garden, there is the Xiangyue Corridor (xiǎng yuè láng 响月廊), which connected the southern part and the northern part of the garden.

Yuou Pool
Xiangyue Corridor

The Garden of Cultivation
Address: No. 5 Wenya Lane (wén yá lòng 文衙弄), Suzhou City
Admission fee: RMB 10
Opening hours: 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Transportation: you can take bus No. 204 or tourist bus Line 1 to get there directly