The Lingering Garden


Lingering Garden (Liu Garden) is situated outside the Chong Men. One of the largest gardens in
Suzhou, it was built during the reign of Emperor Wan Li of the Ming Dynasty by Xu Shitai who named it
Dong Yuan or East Garden. During the Jia Qing period of the Qing Dynasty, Liu Shu rebuilt it and
changed its name to Cold Green Villa (Han Bi Shan Zhuang). Emperor Guang Xu refurbished it again
and renamed it Liu Garden.

The meaning of the name is "long lasting between heaven and earth"; construction of this garden
started in the Ming dynasty; it has changed owner many times, and has seen both splendor and decay.

The Lingering Garden was listed from the first as cultural relics of  national importance in 1961. With an
area of  23,310 sq. m. it is celebrated for its artistic way of dealing with the spaces between various kinds of architectural form. Buildings make up
one third of the total area of the garden, the hall of which being the most remarkable in Suzhou. The garden is separated into the middle, eastern,
northern and western parts. The ancestral temple and the house lie to the south of the garden.

The garden comprises of four sections; its middle section was originally named "Hanbi Mountain Villa", and was the garden's quintessential part.
The layout of this section was based on mountains and ponds. It was surrounded by mountains, rocks, buildings and pavilions, and had many
long corridors and bridges penetrating its landscape. The western section was based on large rockeries; it gave a rough feeling, and it had
mountains clad with maple trees. The northern section had a view of natural mountain villages, using a bamboo picked fence enclosing a small
garden of miniature trees with many famous species. The eastern section had many magnificent and spacious halls, pavilions and corridors; it
also had large and small rockeries. All these formed a splendid garden area with alternating spaces, each with its own characteristics. This was
particularly true of the courtyard built along "the Cloud Capped Peak"- a famous rock of south-east China which makes a deep impression.

The entire garden is connected by corridors; walking along these many pavilions, verandas and terraces,
strange rocks and clear streams, famous trees and special flowers; forming many small and large
courtyards can be observed: A garden in a garden, a view in a view, making one forget to return; the Lingering
Garden is truly a famous south-eastern garden.