Lingering Garden
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Lingering Garden (; Suzhou Wu: Leu yoe, ) is a renowned classical Chinese garden, dating back to 1593. It is located at 338 Liuyuan Rd. Suzhou,
Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
province, China (留园路338号). The garden is divided into 4 themed sections connected by covered walkways. The central garden encircles a pond and a grotto constructed of yellow stone granite. It was created by the noted artist Zhou Binzhong. In 1997, the Lingering Garden was recognized as a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
, along with seven other Classical Gardens of Suzhou. The garden also contains two UNESCO Intangible World Heritage Arts; Pingtan () and
Guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and Scholar-bureaucrats, literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinemen ...
music.


History

Lingering Garden is located outside the Changmen gate () of Suzhou,
Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
province. It was commissioned by Xu Taishi (), an impeached and later exonerated official in 1593 CE. Stonemason Zhou Shicheng () designed and built the ''East Garden'' () as it was initially called. The East Garden became famous in its day when the magistrates of Wu and Changzhou County both praised the design of Shi Ping Peak, a rockery constructed to resemble
Tiantai Mountain Tiantai Mountain (also Tí Taî in the local language) is a mountain in Tiantai County, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Its highest peak, Huading, reaches a height of . The mountain was made a national park on 1 August 1988. One of nine ...
in Putao. Ownership passed to Liu Su, another official in 1798 CE. After extensive reconstruction, he renamed it ''Cold Green Village'' after a verse, "clean cold color of bamboo, limpid green light of water". Keeping with that theme, he added pine and bamboo groves. He was an avid collector of Scholar stones and added 12 more to the garden housing them in the "stone forest". It was also at this time the "Celestial Hall of Five Peaks" was built. The garden soon acquired the nickname "Liu Yuan" from the owner's surname. From 1823 the garden was opened to the public, and became a famed resort.Yuan, 2004 Ownership passed to Sheng Kang, a provincial treasurer of
Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...
in 1873. He repaired the damaged caused to the garden by the chaos of the
Taiping __NOTOC__ Taiping, Tai-p’ing, or Tai Ping most often refers to: Chinese history * Princess Taiping (died 713), Tang dynasty princess * Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), civil war in southern China ** Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864), the re ...
. After three years the reconstruction was completed in 1876, and the garden was renamed to Liu Yuan ().Lingering Garden The name, while homophonous to an older name, connotes leisure and thus pays tribute to the former owner as well as the resort period of the garden. It was at this time the "Auspicious Cloud Capped Peak" stone was moved to its current location. The garden was inherited by
Sheng Xuanhuai Sheng Xuanhuai (; November 4, 1844 – April 27, 1916) was a Qing dynasty Chinese tycoon, politician, and educator. He founded several major banks and universities and served as Minister of Transportation of the Qing Empire. He was also known as ...
from his father although he abandoned the garden in 1911 and it fell into disrepair During the Sino-Japanese War, the garden was abandoned again, and it even degenerated into a breeding zone for the army's horses. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Suzhou government took over and renovated the garden. It was reopened to the public in 1954. In 2001 the garden was added to the UNESCO Word Heritage list, and remains a major tourist destination. Since its creation the Lingering Garden has been well received by critics and has inspired artists. The East Garden is described and praised in ''Sketches of Gardens and Pavilions'' by
Yuan Hongdao Yuan Hongdao (, 1568–1610) was a Chinese poet of the Ming Dynasty, and one of the Three Yuan Brothers, along with his brothers Yuan Zongdao and Yuan Zhongdao. Hongdao's life spanned nearly the whole of the Wanli period (1573-1620) in Chinese h ...
(magistrate of Changzhou County), "...It is the best of its kind south of the
Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
." It was also described in the work ''Notes on the Hou Yue Tang'' by Jiang Yingke (magistrate of Wu County). After the East Garden was transformed into the Lingering Garden it was again praised by Yu Yue in his ''Notes on Lingering Garden'', "The rockeries plants pavilions towers and halls are among the best in Wu County."


Design

The 23,310 m2 garden is divided into four distinctly themed sections; East, Central, West, and North.Ministry, 2003 The Central area is the oldest part of the garden. Buildings, the primary feature of any Chinese garden, occupy one third of the total area. A unique feature of this garden is the 700m of covered walkway which connects them. The built elements of the garden are grouped by section.UNESCO, 2003 The ensemble of structures in the central garden encircles a pond and grotto main feature. The grotto is constructed of yellowstone granite and was created by the noted artist Zhou Binzhong. The eastern section of the garden is arrayed around the cloud-capped peak stone. A central courtyard is ringed by buildings. Behind the Old Hermit Scholars' House is the Small Court of Stone Forest, a collection of Scholar stones and connected minor courtyards. The western section is mostly natural, containing only a few pavilions, a large artificial hill, and a Penzai garden. File:KAM 7613 (6508369365).jpg, Lingering Garden, Suzhou File:Lingering Garden 1.jpg, Overview of the pond File:Lingering Garden2.jpg, A pavilion on an island in the pond connected to two grape trellise File:Lingering Garden 8.jpg, Western Tower File:Lingering Garden, Suzhou, China (2015) - 10.jpg, File:Pingtan Music at the Lingering Garden.ogg, Pingtan performance at the Pellucid Tower File:Guanqin.ogg,
Guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and Scholar-bureaucrats, literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinemen ...
performance at the Good for Farming Pavilion


See also

*
List of Chinese gardens This is a list of Chinese-style gardens both within China and elsewhere in the world. Greater China This list is organized by region within the Greater China region, roughly following the structure laid out by Maggie Keswick in ''The Chinese Gar ...


Notes


References

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China culture
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External links

* * * * CCT5667
Classical gardens
{{Classical Gardens of Suzhou Classical Gardens of Suzhou Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Jiangsu