The humble administrator’s garden in Suzhou was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997. It is one of the four great classical gardens in China (the other three are the Summer Palace, the Chengde summer resort and the lingering garden). The humble administrator’s garden, located in the northeast corner of Suzhou, was built in 1509 by Wang Xianchen, a former imperial historian of the Ming dynasty. Since then, the garden has changed hands and been rebuilt. After renovation and expansion in the early 20th century, it has become a national key cultural relic protection unit.
The garden is the representative of the classical garden in the south of the Yangtze river. It is the largest classical garden in Suzhou, covering an area of 5.2 hectares (about 7 standard steps). The whole garden has a beautiful waterscape, beautiful mountains and clear waters, pavilions, flowers and trees are lush and green, forming a poetic classic picture scroll of the south of the Yangtze river. It can be divided into three parts: the eastern garden, the central garden and the western garden, each with a different character.
There are two big festivals where you can enjoy the most brilliant flowers, the rhododendron festival (march to may) and the lotus festival (June to October). During the rhododendron festival, hundreds of rare rhododendrons will be on display. While feeling the charm of the garden in spring, visitors can also experience the poetic and pictorial meaning of the humble administrator’s garden, where flowers bloom.
The Chinese use the lotus flower as a symbol of their noble sentiments. As a result, a large number of lotus flowers grew in the pool, and the lotus festival became a traditional feature of Suzhou gardens. During the lotus festival, the various aquatic plants in the garden, such as bottle lotus and intestinal lotus, give off charming fragrance and greetings.
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