We took the train to Suzhou yesterday with Marsha and Frank, my American neighbors. Marsha said they were going and invited us along. Lots of people told us we should see the beautiful, peaceful, traditional town of Suzhou. So that sounded good. In fact, two of the gardens are UNESCO designated historical sites. We bought train tickets the day before (Marsha looked up all the details online so we did not need to use English at the ticket office.) We left at 7:30 am, took the subway to the train station, then boarded the 8:39 am train at 8:29. At 8:39 it pulls out from the station. It took 1/2 hour to get to Suzhou. We took a taxi to the first garden. Suzhou is a modern city, really. It’s only the gardens that are kept traditional. According to guide books “Suzhou is known for its handful of stunning classical Chinese gardens.”
First garden we saw:
The Garden of the Master of Nets – UNESCO
One of the four famous gardens in Suzhou, which has also won the titles of world cultural heritage site, a scenic spot of national 4A level and historical and cultural relics under state protection. The garden was built in Chunxi Year of Southern Song Dynasty (1174 A.D.) by Shi Zhengzhi after he retired from the Court. It was a private Garden with thousands of collected books, so it was also called the Hall of 10000 Volumes. The Garden of the Master of Nets standing out among the top 4 properties. It is regarded as an ideal example in all of China.
In fact, a lot of the gardens are rooms with large open-air windows where you can contemplate nature from a dry area and have tea or read or paint.
Second garden:
Lingering Garden – UNESCO
Originally it was a classic private garden and built in 1593 by XuTaishi, a bureaucrat of the Ming court, as his private residence. It is also one of the four most famous gardens in China. It is 23, 310 square meters.
Like other famous gardens in Suzhou, the Lingering Garden seeks to create stunning natural landscapes within limited space. In this garden, domiciles, ancestral temples and private gardens are included. Buildings, trees, and flowers blend harmoniously with their surroundings.
The garden can generally be divided into four parts: the central, eastern, western and northern parts according to the style of the buildings. These four parts are connected by a 700-meter (about 0.4 miles) long corridor on the wall of which calligraphy carved on the stone can be found.
This one was prettier to us, with more greenery and less rocks, but still very traditional Chinese so lots of cement and rocks and paved walks.
