Tuisi Yuan (Retreat and Reflection Garden) Suzhou
The music is Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns, with narration by Johnny Morris.
The Retreat and Reflection Garden is a beautiful example of a classical Chinese garden. It is situated in Tongli Water Town, Suzhou and has been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
8 19 2018 TongLi TuiSi Garden (Retreat and Contemplate Garden)
China, Suzhou, Classical Gardens
UNESCO World Heritage
Garden of Cultivation or Yipu Garden (Suzhou, China)
The Garden of Cultivation / 艺圃 / 藝圃 located at No.5 Wenya Nong (文衙弄5号) in Suzhou is one of the best preserved examples of a Ming Dynasty classical garden in Suzhou. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Classical Gardens of Suzhou on the World Heritage List. Due to its special history, this Garden was virtually unknown before it was listed as a UN World Cultural Heritage site.
The Garden of Cultivation was built in 1541 CE by Yuan Zugeng (袁祖庚, 1519-1590), at that time it was called the Hall of Delights. In 1620 CE it was purchased by Wen Zhenheng (1574-1638), grandson of the Wen Zhengming the designer of the Humble Administrator's Garden, a celebrated master painter in China's history, and [who] served as the prime minister in the late Ming Dynasty. Wen Zhenheng was a noted garden designer and critic in his own right. He rebuilt the garden to test his aesthetic theories and renamed it Herb Garden for the numerous herbs incorporated in the design. In 1659 CE, It was rebuilt again by Jiang Cai, a respected scholar and minister of Foreign Affairs during the late Ming Dynasty, who protested against corruption by exiling himself and renamed Jingting Mountain Villa. Jiang Cai added a grove of fig trees. His son Jiang Shijie inherited the garden and renamed it Cultivation Garden after added the chapel of Guanyin. In 1839 CE it was transferred to the Qixiang Office of the Saint and Silk company. In 2000 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The garden received great acclaim in the Qing Dynasty because all three owners...were scholars known for their integrity. Wang Wan wrote, enclosing walls keep the worldly uproars outside; seclusion makes the inside of the house resemble a country villa; branches of date trees are heavy with fruit over the house; the pond surface is decorated with green duckweed and red lotus.
The 3,967m2 garden is divided into an eastern section of residence and a western garden section. Altogether the garden has 13 pavilions, 17 tablets, and 8 stelae. The Western section is composed of several pavilions around the main Lotus Pond, a rockery, and a smaller garden addition named The Garden of Sweet Grasses. The structure of the garden is formed along a north to south axis which ties the three main elements of rockery, pool, and hall together. This style of composition is also used in the Mountain Villa with Embraced Beauty. The overall design is the simplest expression of a classical garden, there is one dominant composition, the Longevity Hall, and its associated view. The 700 m2 Lotus Pond is square with two water tails to give the illusion of infinite size. These tails are crossed by Fish Viewing Bridge and Ferrying Beauty Bridge The former is a three-step arched bridge adjacent to the Fry Pavilion. The latter is a natural stone bridge at the entry to the Sweet Grass Garden. The Garden of Sweet Grasses is a scaled down version of the main garden and consists of the Sweet Grass House and Bathing Gull Pond as well as a smaller rockery. This area is the herb (sweet grass) garden added by Wen Zhenheng. It is meant to evoke his principal of to leave residents free from worries, make tenants unwilling to leave, and enable visitors to throw off their tiredness. The garden is very typical of the Ming Dynasty design aesthetic because of its clear composition in plan and the elegance and simplicity of its elements.
Things to do in Tongli water town | Suzhou, China
Hi travellers,
In this video I show the array of activities to do in Tongli water town. Tongli is just outside of Suzhou and is known as Venice of the East.
You have to pay 100RMB to get inside the scenic area, where ebikes seem to be the largest mode of transportation.
We walked through Tuisi Garden, which entry is included in your ticket price. This was built during the Qing Dynasty and is a World Heritage garden.
I also show the kind of shopping available and some kind of singing performance.
There's a few different things to do within Tongli and you can just have a wander around and enjoy seeing traditional China.
Be sure to wear comfortable shoes as there's cobblestones and a wee bit of walking if you go in for the day.
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Retreat & Reflection Garden (Tui Si Yuan) / 退思园 (Tongli / 同里)
The Retreat & Reflection Garden / 退思园 or Tui Si Yuan or garden is a notable classical garden located in Tongli, Wujiang, Jiangsu, China. In 2001, it was recognized with other classical Suzhou gardens as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The garden was built in 1885 by Ren Lansheng, an imperial official working in Anhui province who was impeached. The name of the garden comes from a verse by Zho Zhuan in Zhuo Qiuming's Chronicles, Lin Fu really is a gentleman when he forwards proposals, he shows loyalty to his country, when he retreats he reflects and mends his ways. The garden was designed by Yuan Long (袁龙), a painter of the Wumen school.
The 6,600 square metres (71,000 sq ft) garden is divided into an eastern residential area, a western main garden court with two minor courtyards attached to it. The design of this garden is innovative in that is uses an east–west axis as the main axis as opposed to the traditional north–south axis. The layout of buildings around the pool in the main courtyard uses the near-the-water style of placing the buildings back from the waters edge and keeping the water level high. This part of the garden is named: The Garden Floating on Water.
Lantern Festival (TONGLI) part 2
Lantern Festival (TONGLI)
Incredible CHINESE FOOD in Ancient WATER TOWN + Gondola Ride & Gardens | Tongli, China
I love visiting China. It’s such a huge country, which means there’s a lot of diversity when it comes to the food. During my trip to the country in April of 2019, I let my taste buds guide me through tShanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou for 12 incredible days. I also learned a lot about the history and culture of these cities and much more! Come along with me on my Chinese adventure!
On the morning of my fifth day in China, I took a day trip to the water town of Tongli, which is about an hour south of Suzhou. There, I met up with my guide, Peter. I went there for the history; 70% of the buildings are over 200 years old! The town is made up of 17 canals with 45 stone bridges. There’s also a meditation garden!
When you arrive at the new town, you pay an entry fee of 100 Yuan/about $14.59 U.S. to get into the town. My first order of business was getting some breakfast. I was starving!
There were lots of street foods everywhere: pig feet, pig legs, duck heads, eggs, and more! We passed through a historical gate and passed lots of souvenir shops. Along the way, I saw shops and stalls selling buns, cakes, and bread. It all looked so good!
I got six different things at one restaurant: preserved vegetables, xiaolongbao with minced pork, soup dumplings, a variety of other dumplings, and a veggie bun.
First up were the preserved water vegetables, which were like a mix between spinach and cabbage. They were really moist and refreshing.
Next was the xiaolongbao, which I nibbled and sucked the soup out of before I popped the whole thing into my mouth. So good! There was some moist pork inside. I added a hot chili sauce. The dough was thin and light, but the pork inside is so flavorful!
Next was the veg bun, which was very dense with lots of layers and preserved water vegetable. The sticky rice snack also contained preserved veg. It was oily and had sticky rice in the middle like a mochi, but the outside was crispy like a pot sticker.
Next was the sticky rice with herbs, which I’d never had before. It was really sticky and was basically a dessert. The last thing was a sticky rice ball that looked like a mochi. Inside was a lot of red bean paste. It was really good!
My breakfast cost me 21 Yuan/$3.06 U.S. I was super full, so it was time to go out and explore Tongli!
We headed down the main avenue, past shops and food vendors. I tried some pork jerky, which tasted like Chinese ribs. I loved the sauce it had been marinating in! The beef jerky was outstanding!
We reached a square with lots of traditional-looking buildings and then the meditation garden. Your pass to get into the garden is the ticket you got when you entered the town, so don’t lose it! Inside is a tea hall with beautiful and intricate furniture. It’s made of mahogany and marble. It’s 200 years old and is in perfect condition!
We visited the main hall and living quarters of this incredible UNESCO World Heritage Site. I marveled at its amazing brick-and-wood doors, the patterns on the floor, and a bonsai tree! There are also lots of unique windows and a garden through the moon gate.
The garden was so beautiful and contained a pond with fish. I loved the imperial architecture from 200 years ago! It almost looked like everything was floating on the pond. There was a large, smooth stone that’s good luck to touch.
From the garden, we passed through the crowds of people and watched an awesome Chinese opera performance. Then we crossed a bridge and paid 90 Yuan to hire a boat to ride down the canal. We passed under 3 ancient stone bridges. This is the best way to experience Tongli and see local life! The ride takes 25 minutes and gives you great insight into the history of this beautiful town!
Along the canals are restaurants and there were lots of amazing trees overhead. This is what I wanted to see when in China! After our ride, we re-entered the sea of tourists to explore more and entered the old town, where there where lots of low-slung, traditional houses. We saw the third bridge, which was more straight and less arched.
And just like that, my 3-hour tour of Tongli was over! If you liked coming with me to explore Tongli, please give this video a thumbs up and leave me a comment. Also, please subscribe to my channel!
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Incredible CHINESE FOOD in Ancient WATER TOWN + Gondola Ride & Gardens | Tongli, China
China's Tongli Water Town: Venice of the East
China's Tongli , or Tong-Li, in Wujiang County near Suzhou is definitely worth a visit. Known as the Venice of the East, this place is truly magical and transports visitors to a slower paced China. We visited this charming town on a day trip from Shanghai during the fall of 2015 while backpacking through China. Definitely recommend taking a gondola ride around the old town and visiting Tuisi Garden
Make sure to check out our travel blog for more info and tips on Tongli and traveling through China!
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Lion Forest Garden (Suzhou, China)
The Lion Forest Garden or Lion Grove Garden / 狮子林园 / 獅子林園 is a garden located at 23 Yuanlin Road in Pingjiang District, Suzhou. The garden is famous for the large and labyrinthine grotto of taihu rocks at its center. The name of the garden is derived from the shape of these rocks, which are said to resemble lions. The garden is recognized with other classical gardens in Suzhou as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Of all the famous rock-gardens in history, only one has survived. This is the so-called 'Lion Garden' in Suzhou . The Lion Grove Garden was built in 1342 during the Yuan Dynasty by a Zen Buddhist monk, Wen Tianru, in memory of his teacher Abbot Zhongfeng. At that time the garden was part of the Bodhi Orthodox Monastery (菩提正宗). The name of the garden is derived from the lion-shaped taihu rocks, which in turn were built as a reference to the symbolic lion in the Lion's Roar Sutra. The name also refers to the Lion Peak of Mount Tianmu in Lin'an City, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, where Abbot Zhongfeng attained nirvana. At that time, the garden was 6,670 m2 and was covered in rock and bamboo. After Wen Tianru's death, the garden fell into disrepair, but in 1589 another Buddhist monk, Mingxing, rebuilt the garden. The magistrate of Hengzhou (zh) bought the garden, and his son Huang Xi rebuilt the garden in 1771. The garden's name was then changed to the 'Garden of Five Pines'. Starting in 1850, the garden fell into disrepair once again. In 1917, Bei Runsheng purchased the garden and finished the restoration in 1926. Many buildings and rocks in the garden have been preserved since the restoration. According to official signs posted in the garden, the Bei family donated the garden to the Chinese government in 1949. This words on the signs seem curious because all private property was nationalized by the Communist Party in the same year. The garden was not opened to the public until 1956.
The garden's design attracted the attention of notable visitors, such as the painter Ni Zan, who created the painting Picture Scroll of Lion Grove in 1373. In 1703, the Kangxi Emperor visited the garden, and in 1765, the Qianlong Emperor also visited the garden and left a tablet True Delight personally inscribed by him as a gift. He also had a replica of the garden constructed in the Changchun garden of the Summer Palace and at the Chengde Mountain Resort.
The 1.1 ha garden is divided into two main parts, a housing complex and rockery around a central pond. In addition to the 22 buildings the garden also houses 25 tablets, 71 steles, 5 carved wooden screens, and 13 ancient specimen trees, some dating back to the Yuan Dynasty. The garden is most famous for its elaborate grotto of taihu rocks. This 1154 m2 grotto contains a maze of 9 paths winding through 21 caves across 3 levels. The pond divides the grotto into the east and west sections. The formal entrance to the western section is called the Eight Diagram Tactics located across the Jade Mirror Bridge from the Pointing at Cypress Hall. The taihu stone peaks are located atop this grotto. The most famous attraction in the grotto is the Lion Peak, surrounded by four other stones - Han Hui, Xuan Yu, Tu Yue, and Ang Xiao - which collectively form the Famous Five Peaks. There is a folktale about two immortals, Iron-Crutch Li and Lü Dongbin, who wandered into the maze of the Lion Grove and lost their way, after which they settled in a cave to play chess.
The Keyuan Garden Suzhou Tour / 苏州可园
Across the street from the Confucius Institute are two interconnected gardens: The Keyuan Garden / 苏州可园 and Canglang Pavilion / 沧浪亭 / 滄浪亭. Both are unique in their own ways with the Keyuan being more organized with lawns and vegetation. The Canglang Pavilion has a more organic and meandering layout with a number of rocky outcrops.
苏州冷门景点艺圃品茶
在五一长假中苏州真的是人山人海，但是比较冷门的景点艺圃人还是比较少，所有品茶赏景的好选择之一
Suzhou Garden Museum
In order to commemorate the 2,500' anniversary year of Suzhou, a Gardens Museum was established inside the Zhuozheng Garden. Its buildings use the former residential structures of the garden. The southern part of the museum adjoins Northeast Street; the north is connected to the flower gardens of the Zhuozheng Garden. The whole covers 1,696 square meters, with an architectural space of 1,350 square meters. The exhibitions in this museum mainly introduce the history of Suzhou's ancient gardens, plus their current conditions and the technology of building gardens. There are four exhibition halls.
The first describes the objective reasons for basing such superlative gardens in Suzhou: the preconditions, including mountains and rivers, the ancient history, the flourishing economy, the confluence of peoples and the many generations of skilled artisans.
The second describes the history of the gardens. This gives a comprehensive overview of their development and progress. The gardens began in the Spring and Autumn periods of the Zhou dynasty, long before China was unified in 221 BC. By the time of the Wei, Jin and the North and South dynasties, temples and private families were creating different kinds of gardens. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, piled up rocks became the rage, in the Ming and Qing eras garden pavilions flourished.
The third hall introduces the contours and styles of Suzhou's ancient gardens as they are today, as well as the international influence of these gardens.
The fourth introduces garden construction. This reflects the many-layered approach of Suzhou's gardens the layering of mountains, water, buildings, flowers, trees. All are blended together to form the four great traits of a garden. Traditional artistic constraints are used to create both poetic meaning and visual results.
The main displays in this museum are models that show arrangements of gardens, especially those that no longer exist. There are twenty-four such displays, including Suzhou-style gardens built abroad and other famous gardens of the South. Zhuozheng Garden is an example of gardens within the museum; it uses miniature mountains and rock crags to create its illusions. A number of other gardens use water as their main component. Both the gardens themselves and the museum are well worth visiting.
四季江南 苏州篇 怡园
怡园，苏州的古典园林，位于市区人民路原43号（现1265号），现有面积6270平方米。怡园为清光绪年间所建，园分东、西两部分，园西旧为祠堂，园南可通住宅。因建园较晚，吸收了诸园所长，如复廊、鸳鸯厅、假山、石舫等。1963年被列为苏州市文物保护单位，1982年被列为江苏省文物保护单位。
Garden of Cultivation (Yipu Garden) Tour / 艺圃 / 藝圃
The Garden of Cultivation / 艺圃 / 藝圃 located at No.5 Wenya Nong (文衙弄5号) in Suzhou is one of the best preserved examples of a Ming Dynasty classical garden in Suzhou. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Classical Gardens of Suzhou on the World Heritage List. Due to its special history, this Garden was virtually unknown before it was listed as a UN World Cultural Heritage site.
The Garden of Cultivation was built in 1541 CE by Yuan Zugeng (袁祖庚, 1519-1590), at that time it was called the Hall of Delights. In 1620 CE it was purchased by Wen Zhenheng (1574-1638), grandson of the Wen Zhengming the designer of the Humble Administrator's Garden, a celebrated master painter in China's history, and [who] served as the prime minister in the late Ming Dynasty. Wen Zhenheng was a noted garden designer and critic in his own right. He rebuilt the garden to test his aesthetic theories and renamed it Herb Garden for the numerous herbs incorporated in the design. In 1659 CE, It was rebuilt again by Jiang Cai, a respected scholar and minister of Foreign Affairs during the late Ming Dynasty, who protested against corruption by exiling himself and renamed Jingting Mountain Villa. Jiang Cai added a grove of fig trees. His son Jiang Shijie inherited the garden and renamed it Cultivation Garden after added the chapel of Guanyin. In 1839 CE it was transferred to the Qixiang Office of the Saint and Silk company. In 2000 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The garden received great acclaim in the Qing Dynasty because all three owners...were scholars known for their integrity. Wang Wan wrote, enclosing walls keep the worldly uproars outside; seclusion makes the inside of the house resemble a country villa; branches of date trees are heavy with fruit over the house; the pond surface is decorated with green duckweed and red lotus.
The 3,967m2 garden is divided into an eastern section of residence and a western garden section. Altogether the garden has 13 pavilions, 17 tablets, and 8 stelae. The Western section is composed of several pavilions around the main Lotus Pond, a rockery, and a smaller garden addition named The Garden of Sweet Grasses. The structure of the garden is formed along a north to south axis which ties the three main elements of rockery, pool, and hall together. This style of composition is also used in the Mountain Villa with Embraced Beauty. The overall design is the simplest expression of a classical garden, there is one dominant composition, the Longevity Hall, and its associated view. The 700 m2 Lotus Pond is square with two water tails to give the illusion of infinite size. These tails are crossed by Fish Viewing Bridge and Ferrying Beauty Bridge The former is a three-step arched bridge adjacent to the Fry Pavilion. The latter is a natural stone bridge at the entry to the Sweet Grass Garden. The Garden of Sweet Grasses is a scaled down version of the main garden and consists of the Sweet Grass House and Bathing Gull Pond as well as a smaller rockery. This area is the herb (sweet grass) garden added by Wen Zhenheng. It is meant to evoke his principal of to leave residents free from worries, make tenants unwilling to leave, and enable visitors to throw off their tiredness. The garden is very typical of the Ming Dynasty design aesthetic because of its clear composition in plan and the elegance and simplicity of its elements.
Garden of Pleasance or Yi Yuan Tour / 怡园
The Garden of Harmony or Garden of Pleasance / 怡园 or Yi Yuan is a classical Chinese garden located in Suzhou. The garden was built in the late Qing Dynasty in late 19th century (built by Go Wenbin, an official of the early years of the Guangxu Reign of the late Qing Dynasty), and is the most recently built Suzhou gardens. The garden was originally a private garden built by Go Wenbin, an official of the early years of the Guangxu Reign of the late Qing Dynasty. It has been described as one of the most representative Suzhou gardens, comprising a garden, a lotus pond, residences, artificial villages and ancestral halls. Because the garden incorporates all the elements of the various Suzhou gardens, it is sometimes regarded as an agglomeration of Suzhou's garden culture.
Garden of Cultivation (Yipu Garden) / 艺圃 / 藝圃 (Slideshow)
The Garden of Cultivation / 艺圃 / 藝圃 located at No.5 Wenya Nong (文衙弄5号) in Suzhou is one of the best preserved examples of a Ming Dynasty classical garden in Suzhou. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Classical Gardens of Suzhou on the World Heritage List. Due to its special history, this Garden was virtually unknown before it was listed as a UN World Cultural Heritage site.
The Garden of Cultivation was built in 1541 CE by Yuan Zugeng (袁祖庚, 1519-1590), at that time it was called the Hall of Delights. In 1620 CE it was purchased by Wen Zhenheng (1574-1638), grandson of the Wen Zhengming the designer of the Humble Administrator's Garden, a celebrated master painter in China's history, and [who] served as the prime minister in the late Ming Dynasty. Wen Zhenheng was a noted garden designer and critic in his own right. He rebuilt the garden to test his aesthetic theories and renamed it Herb Garden for the numerous herbs incorporated in the design. In 1659 CE, It was rebuilt again by Jiang Cai, a respected scholar and minister of Foreign Affairs during the late Ming Dynasty, who protested against corruption by exiling himself and renamed Jingting Mountain Villa. Jiang Cai added a grove of fig trees. His son Jiang Shijie inherited the garden and renamed it Cultivation Garden after added the chapel of Guanyin. In 1839 CE it was transferred to the Qixiang Office of the Saint and Silk company. In 2000 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The garden received great acclaim in the Qing Dynasty because all three owners...were scholars known for their integrity. Wang Wan wrote, enclosing walls keep the worldly uproars outside; seclusion makes the inside of the house resemble a country villa; branches of date trees are heavy with fruit over the house; the pond surface is decorated with green duckweed and red lotus.
The 3,967m2 garden is divided into an eastern section of residence and a western garden section. Altogether the garden has 13 pavilions, 17 tablets, and 8 stelae. The Western section is composed of several pavilions around the main Lotus Pond, a rockery, and a smaller garden addition named The Garden of Sweet Grasses. The structure of the garden is formed along a north to south axis which ties the three main elements of rockery, pool, and hall together. This style of composition is also used in the Mountain Villa with Embraced Beauty. The overall design is the simplest expression of a classical garden, there is one dominant composition, the Longevity Hall, and its associated view. The 700 m2 Lotus Pond is square with two water tails to give the illusion of infinite size. These tails are crossed by Fish Viewing Bridge and Ferrying Beauty Bridge The former is a three-step arched bridge adjacent to the Fry Pavilion. The latter is a natural stone bridge at the entry to the Sweet Grass Garden. The Garden of Sweet Grasses is a scaled down version of the main garden and consists of the Sweet Grass House and Bathing Gull Pond as well as a smaller rockery. This area is the herb (sweet grass) garden added by Wen Zhenheng. It is meant to evoke his principal of to leave residents free from worries, make tenants unwilling to leave, and enable visitors to throw off their tiredness. The garden is very typical of the Ming Dynasty design aesthetic because of its clear composition in plan and the elegance and simplicity of its elements.
苏州耦园小河行舟唱游。 The Couple Garden Retreat, OuYuan
在苏州耦园行舟。掌舟的大娘会唱好听的山歌。Boating at SuZhou's OuYuan. The boating lady sang good local tune.