Ge Garden

个园

A private garden built by Huang Zhijun, a Qing salt merchant, known for its ten thousand bamboo stalks and its Four Seasons rockeries. It is one of China's Four Great Gardens.

Ge Garden sits on Yanfu East Road in the northeast of Yangzhou's old city. In 1818, in the 23rd year of the Jiaqing reign, Huang Zhijun, the Liang-Huai salt administrator, completed it on the site of the Ming-era Shouzhi Garden. It is named after the owner's love of bamboo, since the bamboo leaves resemble the character 'ge' (个). Together with the Summer Palace in Beijing, the Mountain Resort in Chengde and the Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou, it is one of China's Four Great Gardens. The garden's most famous feature is its Four Seasons rockeries. At the entrance, the Spring Mountain uses stone shoots among bamboo to symbolize spring shoots breaking through the soil. The Summer Mountain is built from Taihu stone, with deep caves and pools that are perfect for keeping cool in midsummer. The Autumn Mountain is built from yellow stone, about 7 meters high, with tunnels you can climb through, and red maples make its autumn colors vivid. The Winter Mountain is built from white xuan stone, and its wall has 24 wind-sound caves, so the wind howls like a winter gale. A window beside the Winter Mountain lets you glimpse the Spring Mountain, symbolizing the cycle of the seasons. North of the garden is the bamboo grove area, Zhuxi Jiachu, with more than 60 bamboo varieties. The south side is the Huang family residence, a three-section, three-courtyard salt merchant's mansion where you can see Qing-era living arrangements and a salt merchant culture exhibition. A recommended route is to enter from the North Gate on Yanfu East Road and see the bamboo grove first, then visit the rockeries in spring, summer, autumn and winter order, and finally pass through the residence and exit at the South Gate onto Dongguan Street. The whole visit takes about 1.5 hours. Admission is RMB 45 in peak season and RMB 30 in off-season. Getting there: it is on the north side of Dongguan Street and can be walked to from Dongguan Street and Dongquan Gate. Buses 8 and 45 stop at Ge Garden station. Notes: the rockery steps are steep and slippery, so be careful on the Autumn Mountain. The garden is crowded on holidays, so entering at opening time gives the best experience. There is a display of Yangzhou traditional storytelling and bamboo culture at the gate.

Ge Garden

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