Lingering Garden

留园

One of China's Four Great Gardens, famous for its architectural spatial variety and the Guanyun Peak Taihu stone. A 700-m winding corridor links four distinct scenic zones.

The Lingering Garden is on Liuyuan Road outside Changmen Gate. It was begun in the Wanli era of the Ming dynasty (1593), later managed by Liu Shu and Sheng Kang during the Qing dynasty. It is ranked among China's Four Great Gardens alongside the Humble Administrator's Garden, the Summer Palace and the Chengde Mountain Resort. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1997 and covers 2.3 hectares. The garden is renowned for its spatial design. At the entrance, a winding corridor of more than 50 m uses light and shadow, opening and closing to draw visitors into the open landscape of the central area. It is a textbook example of the Chinese garden principle of “first suppress, then lift.” The garden has four sections. The central area is built around a pond, with the Hanbi Mountain Hall, the Mingse Tower and the Wenmuxixiang Hall encircling the water. The eastern section holds the architectural highlights: the Wufeng Xianguan (“the first hall in Jiangnan,” a large hall of nanmu wood), the Linquan Qishuo Hall (a mandarin duck hall) and Guanyun Peak, which is 6.5 m tall and the largest Taihu stone in Jiangnan, embodying the four qualities of “thin, wrinkled, perforated and transparent.” The northern section features a rural landscape and bonsai, and the western section has an earth hill and maple woods. The more than 700 m of corridor is lined with over 300 historical calligraphy stone tablets, known as the “Liuyuan Model Calligraphy.” Tickets cost 55 yuan in peak season and 45 yuan off-season. Book through the official WeChat account. The garden offers free guided tour sessions, and the old opera stage hosts short Suzhou ballad and Kunqu performances, included in the admission (check the schedule). Getting there: walk about 15 minutes from Shilu Station on Metro Line 2, or take Bus 1 or Bus 3 to Lingering Garden Station. It is in the same area as Shantang Street, Tiger Hill and Hanshan Temple. Allow 1.5 to 2 hours. In the afternoon, walk from the garden to Shantang Street to see the night view. Note: the corridors get crowded on holidays, so it is best to arrive early in the morning. The garden floors are slippery, so wear non-slip shoes.

Lingering Garden

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