The Lingering Garden covers an area of about 23,000 square meters, which is much more exquisite than the Chengde Summer Resort, which is also one of the four famous gardens in China and covers an area of 5.64 million square meters. As the smallest of the four famous gardens, the most amazing thing about the Lingering Garden is its extremely ingenious artistic treatment of architectural space, and there are still many garden lovers and garden designers who go to observe and learn. Although the overall appearance is not as atmospheric as the Humble Administrator's Garden, but only in terms of garden design, the Lingering Garden can be called "the crown of Wuxia Famous Garden".
In the twenty-first year of Wanli (1593), Xu Taishi, who had served as the Shaoqing of Taifu Temple and the director of the Ministry of Industry, began to build the Lingering Garden. At that time, the Humble Administrator's Garden had been built for decades, and its elegant and simple style attracted the attention of the Suzhou scholars. But as an official of the Ministry of Industry, Xu Taishi pursued a garden with an aristocratic atmosphere and no royal style. Xu Taishi, who had sufficient funds and a foundation in architectural design, set a high-profile tone for the Lingering Garden, which was called the East Garden at that time. In the second year of Jiaqing (1797), Liu Shu, the original fourth-grade Hanchen who returned home from illness, purchased the abandoned East Garden from the descendants of the Xu family. He spent decades repairing and upgrading the East Garden, and now the middle of the Lingering Garden, which is known for its landscapes, is Liu Shu's proud work. At that time, the East Garden had already been renamed Hanbi Villa, but Suzhou people only called it "Liu Garden". After decades, Hubei political envoy Sheng Kang bought this garden for the elderly, and changed its name to the Lingering Garden, one is to commemorate the original owner, but to take the meaning of "long stay between heaven and earth" (there is still a stone plaque of "long stay between heaven and earth" in the park). Shengkang only built the Nanmu Hall and the Linquan Senior Citizen Hall, and the others remained in their original appearance. Until 1954, when the state repaired the garden, the layout of the Lingering Garden remained relatively intact, and we were able to see this garden masterpiece created over several generations.
Although the area is the lowest among the four major gardens, compared with ordinary gardens, the scale of the Lingering Garden is still huge. It is worth noting that the garden area of the Lingering Garden is almost twice that of the residential area, which is diametrically opposed to the common classical garden design proportions. Because once the owner of the garden is in financial difficulty, the garden is the first point of abandonment. The number of pavilions built in the garden is not small, which shows that the garden utilization rate of the Lingering Garden at that time was not low. It is not surprising that such gardens can be recognized by many garden designers. The whole park is mainly divided into four scenic spots: middle, east, north and west, which are separated by white walls and penetrate each other through empty windows, leaky windows and cave doors. Even if it is just the entrance to the Lingering Garden, its artistic treatment is extraordinary. The zigzag walkway is more than 50 meters long, and through the design of space size and light and shade, it creates a sense of rhythm of three retractions and three releases. When tourists arrive at the "green sprout" place, looking at the beautiful garden scenery, they will have the feeling of "coming out after a long time".
Central Landscape Scenic Area
When visitors stand at the "green sprout", outside the window is the central area of the main landscape landscape, that is, the core of the Lingering Garden. The buildings in the park are basically located in the southeast, echoing with the rockery in the northwest, which is a typical model of "south hall and north mountain, facing each other across the water" in Jiangnan garden. In the middle of the south side are the main buildings, the Hanbi Mountain House and the Ming Se Building, which are combined to form a boat boat, which perfectly makes up for the lack of a stone boat in the park. Hanbi Mountain House faces north, and you can see the northwest landscape in the distance. At that time, Xu Taishi invited the famous craftsman Zhou Shichen to imitate the heroism of Dayu Mountain and make this northwest rockery group. The rockery stretches and is powerful, and the top is slightly flat. There is a small pavilion with a spire on the rockery, which weakens the sense of mediocrity of the rockery, like the finishing touch. The small island in the middle of the pond is called "Xiao Penglai", which connects the southeast and north shores through the wisteria corridor, making it form two parts with different scenery. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the wisteria corridor was originally a flat bridge, in line with the common "fiber bridge" shape in the south of the Yangtze River, and the current design has actually caused a lot of controversy. But Xiao Penglai does enrich the scenery of the park, and many tourists will take photos here to commemorate it.
Eastern Courtyard Scenic Area
The eastern park is separated from the central part by a window leakage wall, and the scenery on both sides penetrates each other, which can be called a classic demonstration. In the east, there are mainly four courtyards in the Wufeng Xianguan District, the Stone Forest Courtyard, the Reading Office and the Guanyunfeng District. The density of buildings is high, and the corridors are perfectly integrated with the buildings, enclosing all the courtyards. A total of more than 700 meters of corridors, such as corridors, climbing corridors, and curved corridors, connect each scenic spot in series, and the columns extend the indoor space, reaching the realm of indoor and outdoor space integration, showing the highest level of classical Chinese garden design.
Because the area of the courtyard is not large, the attention of tourists will generally focus on the rockery and stone placement in the courtyard. After Zhou Shichen finished designing the rockery group in the central park, he thought that only "Ruiyun Peak" was enough to match it, so he brought this Taihu Lake stone full of Jiangnan to the East Park. After several tosses, Ruiyunfeng is now located in Suzhou No. 10 Middle School, and the star of the eastern courtyard has become Guanyunfeng, which Liu Shu transported later. Guanyun Peak is majestic and tall, and the wall stands in the air, which is quite eye-catching. In order to set off Guanyun Peak, there are two Taihu Lake stones next to it as a foil, named Ruiyun Peak (not the one from Suzhou No. 10 Middle School) and Xiuyun Peak. These three Taihu Lake stones are also known as the "Three Peaks of the Lingering Garden".
Pastoral scenic spots in the north
The northern park was originally used by the owner as farmland and village houses, and after liberation, it became a fruit tree area, and now it is a bonsai area. It is a simple place that contrasts sharply with the eastern courtyard. There is a small courtyard between the two areas as a transitional area, which shows the careful thinking of the designer. Therefore, after passing through the high-density eastern courtyard, visitors can have a high tolerance for the simple pastoral style and feel fresh.
Western mountain forest scenic spot
The western mountains and forests are a scene of mountains and forests covering the sky and the sun, and the sky is full of fragrant leaves. There are few buildings here, and there are no lake stones, and some only have gentle streams and trees on both banks, which is quite a sense of paradise. It's surprising that such a natural and secluded environment can be coexisted with a beautifully designed courtyard.
The design of the Lingering Garden is like a beautiful piece of music, and the design of ups and downs, climaxes, and endings is impressive. It is recommended that visitors visit the Lingering Garden in the order of the subheadings of this article to get the best visual experience.
Information Reference
Entrance fee to the Lingering Garden:
55 yuan/person (April 16 - October 30)
45 yuan/person (October 31-April 15)
Opening Hours:
07:30-17:30 (March 21-October 31)
07:30-17:00 (November 1 - March 20)
