Water Towns and Gardens in China

I: Zhujiajiao

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 10:31:02 -0700

left: A beautiful watercolor by the local artist Wu Wenjuang. We bought this painting from her showing the village in the spring.

Zhujiajiao literally stands for the Zhu-family corner. Overzealous fans call this town “The Venice of Shanghai”. This charming, small, water town is about an hour’s drive from the Shanghai city border and it is a popular tourist destination. People living in Shanghai often come here for relaxation and for the food. The town was established some 1700 years ago.

There are 36 stone bridges in town, some only a yard wide. The most famous bridge is the Fang-sheng bridge shown above. Through the opening of the center arch you can see the restaurant on the left bank where we had lunch.

Yes, there were a lot of people in town; it is, after all, an interesting tourist town. You wouldn’t complain if Disneyland was full, when you were there.

right: One of the narrow streets in town. Today was not a very busy day.

There are many waterways and a major part of the traffic is by boat. The town itself is about 3 square km, with the main streets very touristy with bars, restaurants, coffee houses, food shops, and tourists shops. But there are still many ancient buildings, dating back to the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing Dynasties.(1644-1911)

right: The best way to get an overview of the town is by a tourist boat, which can only hold 6 passengers maximum.

left: From the boat is a nice view of the activities on the adjacent streets.

right: And this is where the boat journey ends, at the other end of town and conveniently in front of a very enticing souvenir shop, where some of us loaded up.

left: There is a lot of good shopping and finger foods in the narrow streets.

right: There are many take-out food stalls in town, this one sticky rice packages with meat inside.

left: Those are quail eggs in the small stone oven

right: Pork feet are a major delicacy here. Don’t worry about cholesterol.

The Arts and Crafts shops often offers very interesting locally produced handicraft. Look at the dragon below, constructed just out of bamboo leaves.

left: An amazing dragon constructed out of bamboo leaves.

Regretfully, in 2012 a large shopping mall and entertainment complex has been built at the entrance of this town. It is a bit jarring piece of modern development, because it takes away a lot of the charm and the “authenticity” of the town.

II: Tongli Water Town and Tuisi Garden

Mon, 16 Mar 2015 11:49:16 -0700

a: Tongli Water Town

right: In Tongli town you can find a shop where they will dress you and make you up as a lady of an ancient imperial court. Nice surroundings for a photoshoot.

Tongli, a town in Wujiang county, is over 1000 years old and has only recently been converted into a tourist attraction. The town has stone bridges and well-preserved ancient architecture, including private gardens, temples and houses. In ancient times, it was a favorite place for poets, painters, Confucian scholars and government officials. There are still many well-preserved buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The town still has many of the features of an ancient Wu region town. it has been given the nickname "Venice of the East” by some overly exuberant advertising copywriter.

Located on the eastern shore of Taihu Lake, it is just 18 kilometers (11 miles) from Suzhou City. Taihu Lake is famous because of the weird porous stone masses recovered from the lake bed and used everywhere as natural decorative sculptures.

The 49 stone bridges, in a variety of styles, join the seven islands created by fifteen rivers and five lakes upon which Tongli stands. Each bridge has a poetic name. The most notable are Peace and Tranquility (Taiping) Bridge, Luck (Jili) Bridge and Lasting Celebration (Changqing) Bridge. These are known as Ternate Bridges as they cross three rivers at their confluence and form a natural ring road. Ternate Bridges are propitious symbols in the eyes of the local residents and they walk over them for good luck during weddings or birthday parties. Which we also did to ensure that we too will partake of any good luck floating around.

left: This is one of the Ternate Bridges, bringing good luck to those who cross them. Underneath you can see a scow with the cormorants described later. Under the arch you can also see, on the left, the second bridge,

right: And this is the same area from a different angle. The scow with the cormorants is in the middle of the picture.

left: And here is the scow with the cormorants, with a rope around one of their legs attached to the boat.

For a fee the fisherman will drop the birds in the water, where they will dive to catch fish. But there is a ring around their neck just where the neck meets the body, and larger fish will get stuck there in their gullet.

The fisherman pulls the bird back on the scow and he then massages its neck upward, in that process disgorging the fish out of the bird. You can see in the picture the fish the man has just “caught”. An easy way to catch fish!

2: The Tuisi Gardens

A notable attraction is the Retreat & Reflection Garden (退思园), once a private garden owned by Ren Lansheng. It was built in 1885-1887 during the Qing dynasty and it has been recognized with other classical Suzhou gardens as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its other name is Tuisi Gardens, which means “resign and reflection,” derived from a sentence in the commentary “Zuo Zhuan" by Zuo Qiuming, created in the Eastern Zhou period (770 BC - 221 BC):’ “Be loyal to the emperor when in office, consider remedying one’s faults while out of office”

right: The interior courtyard of the house adjacent to the Garden. This is the standard layout to maximize light and yet maintain privacy of the inhabitants, whose living quarters are on the top floor.

Ren Lansheng was an imperial officer of the third grade (which was pretty high), who was impeached and removed by the emperor after 30 years of service. So he went back to Suzhou where he built his residence with a beautiful adjoining garden, designed by Yuan Long, a famous painter. Here he was to retire and to reminisce about his military service. He was said to have spent 500,000 Liang (about 500 kg of silver) on the construction. From the name he gave the garden it was clear he was still loyal to the throne. It is not clear from the second part of the saying whether he would try to amend’s his own or the emperor’s fault related to his impeachment.

left: The pond in the garden as seen from the unmarried daughters room on the second floor shown above.

But in less than one year after the garden was completed, he was summoned back by the emperor, who needed him for a special assignment. On this tour of duty he accidentally fell from his horse, fractured his hip, and died a few months later. He was around 54 years of age and he did not enjoy his garden very long. He was definitely not very lucky.

right: More views of Tuisi Garden. You can see the goldfish happily swimming around

left: Courtyard at exit. Note the large Taihu Lake rock on the right.

Another notable attraction, which was recently removed to another location far away is the Sex Museum, which displayed sex-related articles over the last few centuries in China. Too bad; more people would have been reading this blog.

III: Wuzhen

Sun, 15 Mar 2015 21:48:29 -0700

1: Ancient Wuzhen

This ancient water town is located between Suzhou and Hangzhou and it is a very popular destination for tourists. There is a huge parking area for tour buses, and when we were there, there were also lots of tour buses parked there. From the entrance there is only one recommended path through the village parallel to the canal, so for about a km this path is teeming with tourists, as about everyone is funneled through this one narrow corridor.

Some 6000 years ago a tribe used to live here, called the “Wu Dun”, one of the earliest civilizations located in China. In the Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 476 BC), the “Wu Dun” was the frontier between the “Wu” kingdom and the “Yue” kingdom, two of the three kingdoms covered in the Chinese classic “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. These two kingdoms were often at war with each other and so this area changed hands often..

In the Song dynasty (420-479 BC) Wuzhen was split into two towns, one with allegiance to the Wu kingdom, called Wu, and the other belonging to the Yue kingdom, called “Qing”. So Wuzhen became the center of two different provinces with different customs.

Currently there is an Eastern area of Wuzhen, which is older and considerably busier, and where everybody goes to. The buildings are old and original and there is not much room. This is the area of our visit.

There is also the Western area, less crowded and more spacious where the buildings are more modern but having been rebuilt in the original style. Here are also more modern amenities, more modern landscaping and Western hotels, so it may be anathema to purists. Some consider this as just another Disneyland with an “ancient China” theme. There is also a steep 120 RMB entrance fee to get in there. We have not been there, but we wouldn’t be surprised if there was a merry-go-round there.

Since neither we nor our guide knew any better, we joined the masses and stayed in the Eastern side only. And by the time we were finished, there was not much energy left to explore the Western area.

left: Map of Eastern Wuzhen. The town is elongated and built along the Grand Canal.

The entrance of the town in on the left bottom of this picture. You walk on the shore of the small lake at the bottom of the picture to the right and then walk up the narrow street.

There is actually only one main path for all the visitors, from the bottom all the way to the top, jostling for space for about one km. Coming back you can walk back along the other bank of the river or take a boat.

Since this is the path taken by everybody and since there are busload of visitors that day, it is very crowded.

right: It is very crowded going up the main street. There was just this temporary lull to allow me to make this picture.

To make things more interesting, there were a number of museums on our path North. The first one was a museum of beds from the Qing dynasty to somewhat more modern times. So everybody pushes his/her way into the museums for a better look.

left: But first there was the guy selling hot crispy pancakes. They were good, especially on a chilly morning when breakfast was already several hours ago.

right: Maquette of people enjoying Moon Appreciation night, which is traditionally held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. See further description below

left: Indigo is big in this area to color a wide variety of materials blue.

There are other displays, such as an ancient apothecary, a rice wine factory, and an area where indigo is used to color clothing blue. There is a display with cute maquette of the more important festivals of the region.

right: This is a display of an altar to honor your ancestors. Note the fish suspended over the altar. Its eyes are taped shut to make the fish believe it is still in the water. This way the fish will stay alive longer.

left: This still on display is to distill rice wine out of the mash. The vapors go through the tube and condense in a container on the other side of the building, probably cooled in a vat of water.

And this is where we picked up a boat to float back south to get to the entrance of the village.

right: Looking down the canal from the bridge shown above i the top of this chapter..

2: Festivals in Wuzhen.

Below is the list of the important festivals held in Wuzhen.

(a) Fire Drill Day is on the 20th day of 5th lunar month. The dragon kings go to their respective administrative areas to create rain that day. Public fire departments hold up fire hoses to the sky while playing the drum to create large “white dragons” in the sky, helping to create the illusions the dragon kings are doing their job.

(b) The Dragon Boat Festival is on the 5th day of 5th lunar month. People make pyramid-shaped dumplings to give to friends and relatives. This is done in memory of a Chinese poet who lived during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) The ancients believed that on that day the air is not clean, so they counteract this by putting up Taoist magic. They hang Chinese mugwort, calmus, branches of the peach tree and garlic to exorcise evil spirits.

(c) Beginning of Summer. People celebrate by eating broad beans, salty eggs, plums and cherries. Farmers use malt, herbs, and rice flour to make cakes to give to friends and relatives. Children dig bamboo shoots, pick broad beams, make salty pork and collect firewood to make dinner outside.

(d) Tomb-Sweeping day. People go out to sweep the tombs of their ancestors. Farmers go to the Puji Temple to pray for a good silkworm harvest.

(e) Lantern Festival is on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Natives go in groups of 3-5 people to cross at least 10 different bridges at dusk carrying jars with medicinal herbs, believing that this will promote health and ward off the plague.

(f) Spring Festival or Chinese New Year is on the first day of first lunar month. This is time for family reunions and to pray to the Fortune God and to the Kitchen God for an auspicious and prosperous New Year. The first day is to worship the deities of heaven, ancestors and visit senior members of the family. On the 2nd to 15th day people visit relatives and friends.

(g) The Twelfth Month of the Lunar Year is called “Layue”. In Wuzhen every street has an appointed man to walk along the street to shout: ”The weather is dry, so beware,”. He does this in a singsong tone as if he is reading a poem. In winter the weather is indeed dry and there is a large danger of fire.

(h) Winter solstice. This festival is as important as the Spring Festival. Every family makes sticky rice balls to offer to their ancestors. Some people will sweep the graves.

(i) The Double Ninth Festival, on the 9th day of 9th lunar month. On this day people climb high mountains and take cornel along to improve strength. Cornel chinensis, sometimes called black fruit cornel, is also known as Dogwood. Cornel prevents disasters. Around Wuzhen there is no hill, so people climb pagodas instead. But you can also make a rice cake from red beams and sticky rice. A small flag is planted on the cake and when you have eaten the cake, it means you have climbed the hill and the flag stands for the cornel.

(j) Moon-Appreciation in Autumn Festival is on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, when the moon is at its roundest. The round moon is a symbol for family reunion, and on that day family members get together to give presents to each other and to eat moon cakes, In traditional families, an altar is set up in the courtyard to appreciate the bright moon. Besides moon cakes, offerings may include melons, taro, lotus root, water chestnuts, peas and seasonal fruits and vegetables. A special incense is burned. See picture above.

(k) Exposure to Sun Day, which is the 6th day of the 6th lunar month, which in general is also the hottest day of the year. A saying goes that a duck’s egg will be boiled if placed in the sun that day. Scholars take their books out to expose them in the sun. Monks and nuns carry Buddhist scripts from the temple to place them in the sun. Dogs and cats are give baths to delouse them. Water buckets are placed in the sun, and when the water is warm it is used to wash the kids and the women’s hair.

(l) Ghost’s Day is on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month. Taoist and Buddhist will get together to make magic and to offer sacrifices to their ancestors. Since the South Soong dynasty (420-589 AD), people would put burning lanterns to float on the river. Lanterns can be made of wood and paper with a candle inside, or made from colored paper shaped like a boat with oil inside. Buddhists believe this will “drive people in misery to a world of bliss” and the Taoist believe this will help “guide the way in the underworld”

IV: Master of Nets and the Liu Lingering Gardens

Sat, 14 Mar 2015 21:32:34 -0700

1: The Master-of-Nets Garden.

The Master of the Nets Garden 網師園; Wǎngshī Yuán in Suzhou is, according to their brochure, one of the finest gardens in China. The complex was first constructed by Shi Lang (an ancient Chinese official title) Shi Zhengzhi after he retired from the Court. It was a private abode where he collected thousands of books. That was why the residence was called the Ten Thousand Volume Hall at that time.

Shi Zhengzhi was the Deputy Civil Service Minister of the Southern Song Dynasty. (960-1279). After his death the garden passed through numerous ownerships and subsequently fell into disarray until around 1785, when it was restored by Song Zongyuan, a retired government official of the Qing Dynasty. He made extensive changes and additions to the Garden. He often referred to himself as a fisherman and renamed it the Master of Nets Garden, an allusion to the simple life of a fisherman. It is said that in a moment of frustration with bureaucracy he declared that he would rather be a fisherman than a bureaucrat.

The most striking feature of Garden is its use of space. It is one of the smallest in Suzhou, only 1/10 of the size of the Humble Administrator's Garden, but nothing appears cramped. Among all the gardens in Suzhou, the Master of Nets Garden is considered the most "balanced" in terms of its use of water, rocks, plants, and timber. It is obviously also on the list of the Unesco World Heritage Sites.

The 5,400 m² garden is divided into an east and a west section. The eastern part consists of residential quarters, while the gardens are located in the west. The buildings are laid out close to the water to give the Rosy Clouds Pool the illusion of great size. Small buildings are set on rocks or piers directly over the water while large buildings are separated from the pool by trees to obscure their size.

The inner garden which is only about 660 square feet, has the distinction of being used as the model for the Ming Hall Garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It has been miniaturized for an exhibit in the Pompidou Center in Paris in 1982. This garden is reputed to be the most well-preserved one in Suzhou. It is off the map above to the left.

The housing/residential area was built based on strict theory rules of its time. The front door is shows the unique decorations indicating the owner’s rank in court. Inside are various halls, lined up along a north-south axis as was common in China, each with a link to the central garden. The landscape and main garden area has a large central pond ringed with verandas and walkways.

left: This is the interior of the “Women’s Private Sitting Room”, situated in the rear of the owner’s living quarters. Here the ladies can sit in elegant surroundings to discuss important affairs with each other.

right: View from the bottom of the painted map (see above) over the pond.

To the left in the picture is a structure of yellow rocks, called the “Barrier of Clouds Rockery”, placed there to resemble a bank of fog. To its right is the “Washing Ribbon Pavilion over Water”.

Names of the structures in the Garden are usually poetic and derived from ancient poetry. This one is from a verse by Chu Ci in ‘The Fishermen’: "If the water of Canglang River is clean I wash my ribbon, if the water of the Canglang River is dirty I wash my feet".

The building has a three-bay terrace with a hipped gable roofline and flying eves. The doors are decorated with carvings which depict scenes from the Chinese classic, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”.

left: And this is another view of Rosy Clouds Pool in the Garden from the left side (Based on Painted Map above)

Note the beautiful reflection in the pool and imagine a cloudy day at sunset, and you will understand why this is called the Rosy Clouds Pool.

right: This is the inner garden, which is only about 660 square feet. It has the distinction of being used as the model for the Ming Hall Garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It has been miniaturized for an exhibit in the Pompidou Center in Paris in 1982. The location of this inner garden is on the left (not visible) on the printed map above.

left: In the entrance hall of the building is this magnificent, old mahogany sedan chair, a high-class transportation vehicle with helmet top and exquisite carvings. It belonged to the owner of the Garden during the Qing dynasty. It weighs over 500 kg and so, even with 8 carriers, it is a pretty heavy vehicle.

right: rock garden

left: A pavilion on Rosy Clouds Pool.

2: The Lingering Garden 留園; Liú Yuán,

This is another famous classical garden in Suzhou. The Chinese word Liu means “stay”, so this is a garden to stay and to linger in. It is one of four gardens in Suzhou recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The garden was built during the reign of Emperor Jia Jing (1522-1566) of the Ming Dynasty. It was commissioned in 1593 by Xu Taishi (徐泰时), an impeached and later exonerated official. Later it went through several different owners and actually fell in disrepair during WWII. The Suzhou government then took over and renovated the garden. It was reopened to the public in 1954.

Liu Yuan, covering about 3 hectares in area, may be divided into four scenic areas: the central area is characterized by limpid waters and quiet, secluded hills; the eastern area by double-eaved buildings, winding corridors and small courtyards; the western area by natural scenery; and the northern part by rustic scenery. Most buildings are connected by a 700 m long winding and twisting corridor, skirting courtyards, ponds, hidden nooks, etc.

The garden is entered through a twisting narrow passage and soon afterwards, you pass this courtyard where is planted two trees symbolizing jade (Magnolia soulangia) and gold (Osmanthus fragrans), signs of prosperity. There is a tablet inscribed by Deputy Prime Minister Zhu Boqi which reads, "Paradise on Earth”. To a prime minister, paradise is obviously a place full of gold and silver.

left: An Osmanthus and a Magnolia tree, signs of prosperity in the first courtyard after entry.

right: This artistic rock is the famous Guan Yun Feng, or Cloud-crowned Peak. It is 6.5 m high and estimated to weigh 5 tons. In the back to the right is the “Cloud-capped pavilion”, a freestanding hexagonal building with flying eves.

This rock is “scholar” stone from Taihu Lake, and it is considered a national treasure. It has all the four features required of Taihu rockery, i.e., it is lean, wrinkled, hollow and perforated. It was said that Zhu Mian of the Song dynasty originally intended to give Guan Yun Feng to the emperor for the imperial garden. But because it was too heavy, it remained in Suzhou.

Beside Guan Yun Feng stand two other rocks, one called Rui Yun Feng (Auspicious Cloud Peak) and the other, Xiu Yun Feng (Mountain Cloud Peak). The three rocks are known as the "Three Peaks of Liu Garden."

“Scholar stones” or “viewing stones”, are naturally occurring or shaped rocks which are traditionally appreciated by Chinese scholars. Scholars rocks can be any color; and contrasting colors are not uncommon. The size of the stone can also be quite varied: scholars rocks can weigh either hundreds of pounds or less than one pound. The term also identifies stones which are placed in traditional Chinese gardens.

left: Rocks from Taihu Lake.

On our travels we often see and admire these unusually shaped, porous and hollow rocks, which all come from Taihu Lake. As far back as in the Song dynasty, more than 1,000 years ago, stone masons living by Taihu Lake harvested the limestone rocks from the surrounding mountains and chiseled them into different shapes. The rocks are then placed in the lake where the waves eventually rubbed them smooth and created these holes in them. They had more patience in those ancient days than we have now.

And there is the collection of bonsais in what used to be the vegetable garden.

right: A beautifully crafted bonsai in the Northern part of the Garden, where there are some 500 specimens on display

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left: An exquisitely formed miniature rock garden, often created to mimic an existing famous landscape. The tallest rock in this landscape was about 50 cm high

right: Of interest are also the ornaments in the pavements. They usually are figures of deers, cranes, a five-bat longevity motif, etc., or the one the right, which I have not been able to recognize for what it depicts.

3: Is this a genetically modified pear?

left: In front of the entrance to the Lingering Gardens, there are sellers of very fresh looking fruits, such as cherries, oranges, strawberries, and pears, etc.

right: Are these pears, and have they been modified to look like dolls? I should have bought one. It seems they may be real pears, but grown with a mold around them.

V: Humble Administrator and Couple's Retreat Gardens

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 22:17:47 -0700

1: Humble Administrator Garden

The Humble Administrator's Garden (拙政園) Zhuōzhèng Yuán, is another renowned Chinese garden in the list of well-known gardens in Suzhou. In 1997, Zhuozheng Yuan, along with other classical gardens of Suzhou was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is nothing humble in the size of the garden; at 12.9 acres, it is the largest garden in Suzhou and is considered by some to be the finest garden in all of southern China. Basically, for any of these Chinese gardens, there is always somebody, usually the attached copywriter(s), I suppose, who proclaim their garden to be the best in the City, in the Province, in China, or even in the world. The latter occurs if their remuneration is big enough to better withstand the ribbing of their colleagues.

On this site a garden was started during the Shaoxing period (1131-1162) of the Southern Song Dynasty. In subsequent years the ownership changed several times.

In 1510 Wang Xiancheng, an Imperial Envoy and poet of the Ming Dynasty retired to his native home of Suzhou at the occasion of his father's death. He had experienced a tumultuous official life and gave up his last official post as magistrate of Yongjia county in Zhejiang province to work on the garden. The garden was named after a verse “An Idle Life” by the famous scholar official of the Jin Dynasty, Pan Yue,, "I enjoy a carefree life by planting trees and building my own house...I irrigate my garden and grow vegetables for me to eat...such a life suits a retired official like me well.” It took him 16 years until 1526 to complete the project at the staggering cost of 600,000 silver taels. At that time an officer in the army would earn only 50 silver taels/year.

Besides being obsessed in building this beautiful garden, he was also trying very hard to find the elixir of eternal life. He concluded that this potion must be a combination of several herbs, so he was trying many different combinations. Unfortunately, one of his combinations did not bring him eternal life, but early death.

Later on, after Mr Wang’s death, his son (spoiled kid from a rich family) lost the garden to pay gambling debts. Since then it has changed hands many times. The garden was finally taken over by the Chinese government, restored and subsequently opened to the public in 1952, In 1997 the garden was given UNESCO World Heritage status. In the introductory chapter I have touched upon an interesting story of General Wu Sangui and the beautiful entertainer Chen Yuanyuan.

The garden contains numerous pavilions and bridges set among a maze of connected pools and islands. It consists of three major parts set about a large lake, which occupies about 20 % of the area.

Cao Xueqin, author of the “Dream of the Red Chamber”, lived at the garden during his teenage years. Among Chinese scholars, it is believed that much of the garden in his famous novel was inspired by the scenery of the Humble Administrators Garden.

right: This is the main lake; it is huge. In the distance you can see the Tiger Hill Pagoda

left and below: Another views of water, pavilions and a single boat. In the back to the left is the “Pagoda Reflection Pavilion, because you can see the Tiger Hill Pagoda in the distance reflected in the water. Note that all pools in the garden reflect beautifully the landscape above.

right: another view of the garden. The pavilion on the left is the “Green Ripple Pavilion”. It is a square pavilion with flying eves, open an all 4 sides and sited over the pond to enjoy the reflections of the willows in the water.

left: This square pavilion, with hipped gable roofline and flying eves, is called the “bamboo pavilion”. Each of the four sides have a large moon gate in the walls.

Its name is derived from the Chinese folk expression, “Where there are bamboo groves, there are houses”. This is OK, even though I was not able to see any bamboo groves nearby. In front of the pavilion is a Parasol tree (Firmiana simplex) which will assure the house will be visited by the phoenix and receive good fortune.

right: Not only is the garden huge, even the bonsais are huge.

left: And the sedan chair looks hugely expensive with all the carved woodwork around.

2: The Couple’s Garden Retreat

The Couple's Garden Retreat, 耦园, Ŏu Yuán, is recognized with other classical Suzhou gardens as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There seems to now so many gardens as Unesco World heritage Sites, that I should also try to submit my garden, full of indeterminate weeds, as one.

The word “ou” means “a couple”, and its use here is derived from a quote from a work written in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.): “To till together with my spouse”, suggesting that the couple, husband and wife, were both living here in seclusion.

The original garden was built by Lu Jin, prefect of Baoning district, in 1874. It was purchased by Shen Bingcheng, the magistrate of Susong. who rebuilt it in its current form. He also changed the name to the Couple's Garden Retreat. This name refers to the garden's two parts and alludes to a couple. The small, 0.33 ha garden, is divided into an east and west section by the residential core in the middle; an unusual composition for a classical garden. This is also another interpretation on why the garden is so named; because there are two complimentary parts.

left: The Garden is surrounded on three sides by water. You can see a wall of the garden across the moat.

right: the Garden has many moon gates,

left: including this one

left: and decorative windows in the walls to peek into the adjacent garden

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left: The “Among Mountains and Water Pavilion” in the East Garden. It has an open hall and a full porch where you can sit and enjoy the views of the water.

There is actually very much more to see in this garden but it was getting late and cold, and we were getting tired. Life is too short to be able to see and enjoy all.