Travelogue of the Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou

Yesterday I went on a package tour to Suzhou as a reward for my hard work last month. It turned out to be quite an exciting and educative journey.

We started our trip early in the morning and arrived at the destination -the Humble Administrator's Garden at 9:00.

The Humble Administrator's Garden is regarded as one of the four most famous gardens in China, and it also represents the gardening style of the Yangtze River Delta. The garden was inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO in December, 1997. After these brief introductions made by the tour guide, we couldn't wait but to ask "Why was it named so?" The tour guide told us since the garden was built by a disappointed official called Wang Xiancheng, who tried to convey his intension to retire from the bureaucratic jungle through the name. He got lots of help from Wen Zhengming, one of the four most talented scholars at that time, when building the garden. All their great efforts made the garden a masterpiece in Chinese classic gardening for its well-spaced building, clear water, elaborate artificial rockwork, and various elegant plants.

Covering an area of 4 hectares, the garden is divided into four sections: the eastern, central, western and the southern parts, of which I love the central section the most. There you can find a winding pond of peaceful water and many ancient cypresses standing near the bank. Opposite is the Hall of Distant Fragrance ("Yuanxiangtang").Its unique beauty attracted me to linger in it for a really long time.

I also found many couplets on the pillars with impressive calligraphy on in the garden. It's a nice place to go to know the classic gardening of China. I learnt a lot about both architectural aesthetics and traditional Taoism culture from this trip. It's really a place worthy of visiting.