Located on Shiquan Street in Suzhou city with a total area of 0.54 hectares (1.3 acres), it is the smallest garden in Suzhou - one-tenth the size of the Humble Administrator's Garden. However, among all the gardens in Suzhou, it is considered the most "balanced" in terms of its use of water, rocks, plants, and timber.
Something needs to know
This exquisite garden was first designed during the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) as part of a residence that was used until the Taiping Rebellion in the 1860's. It was later restored and became the residence of a government official from whom the garden got its name. It is said the retired official claimed he had given up public life to become a fisherman.
Getting around
Being the most exquisite and the best-preserved garden among all old residential gardens in Suzhou, the garden is divided into three parts. The first part is the residential area - originally with side rooms for sedan-chair lackeys, guest reception and living quarters. Next to this part are the central main garden and an inner garden located in the western part where a courtyard contains the Dianchun Studio, the master's study.
The entrance
Half surrounded by a screen wall and two alleyway side entrances, the front door faces south with hairpin-like door ornaments above it and two huge blocks of stone carved in the shape of drums kept fast with the hands, placed one by its left side and another by its right side. This type of front door showing owner's rank at the court has become very rare now.
The residential area
After entering the entrance are sedan-chair hall, grand reception hall and a two-storey tower sitting successively on a north-south axis. Constructed in accordance with the strict regulations of feudalism, they are magnificent buildings with extraordinary furnishing and interior decoration. Every hall has a door or walk-way leading to the main garden.
On a north-south axis there are four successive buildings separated by garden courts, namely the front door hall, the sedan-chair hall, the grand reception hall and the two-storey tower. Constructed in accordance with the strict regulations of feudalism, they are magnificent buildings with extraordinary furnishing and interior decoration.
In front of the grand reception hall is a door with richly carved earthen ornamentation. The two-storey tower at rear is the place where the family used to stay, and the hall in front is chiefly for reception, public celebrations and ceremonial observances. Every hall has a door or walk-way leading to the garden. It is a typical example of combining living quarters with a landscape garden in Suzhou.
The central main garden
The central main garden, occupying about four fifth of the total area of the garden, is situated northwest of the residential area with a pond in the center. Comparing with the normal architecture in the east residential area, the garden architecture appear more free and is suitable for reading, painting, viewing, resting, sipping tea and holding small banquets.
The garden architecture
Quite different from the normal architecture in the east, the garden architecture enjoys a considerable degree of free. Varieties of building are laid out to meet the needs of reading, painting, viewing, resting, sipping tea holding small banquet among scholarly friends, capping verse, performing on a musical instrument, meditating on nature and cultivating one's mind.
Roughly speaking, there are three parts in the garden. The Small Hill and Osmanthus, Fragrancy Pavilion, the Daohe House and the Music Room constitute the middle distance of the confined southern part of the garden. The technique of emancipation by suppression and contrasting light with shade are remarkably employed to make the middle part of the garden appear more impressive that it is when seen alone.
The pond
The middle part of the garden has a pond in the center, covering an area of about 440 square meters, has a tiny arch bridge named Yinjing Bridge (Leading to Quietude Bridge) in its end. The bridge, with a total length of 212 centimeters and width of 29.5 centimeters, is the smallest arch bridge in this garden.
The pond is curved round by a roofed walkway, natural-looking mountains made from yellow stones piled up in layers forming hollows and caverns within, a tiny arch bridge called "the Leading to Quietude", and a number of delicate and well-proportioned pavilions, namely the Washing-My-Ribbon Pavilion over the water, the Moon Comes with Breeze Pavilion, the Prunus Mume Pavilion and the Duck-Shooting Veranda.
The Washing-My-Ribbon Pavilion
The Washing-My-Ribbon Pavilion over the water is the best viewing place of the garden. The idea comes from a fisherman's song in the works of Mencius, saying ,"If the water of the Surging Wave River is clean ,I wash the ribbon of my hat ;if the water of the Surging Wave River is dirty ,I wash my feet." The same is true to the name of the garden-"Master-of -Nets".
The inner garden
To the west of the main garden is the inner garden, which covers an area of 1 mu (0.2 acre). Halls, pavilions, springs, plants, and verandas are scattering here and there in this garden, fully embodying the cream of the layout of the Suzhou gardens.
It is reputed to be the most well-preserved garden in Suzhou and should not be missed. It is small in size, but is like a beautifully cut diamond whose beauty is of never ending fascination and pleasure.
This part of the garden features studies and studios with beautiful garden courts. Some noteworthy places include the Peony Study, the Watching Pines and Appreciating Paintings Studio, the Five Peaks Library and the Cloud Stairway Room. With white-washed walls as its backdrop, stones bamboo, Prunus mumm and Musa basjoo partly concealed by windows and buildings have incredibly come to form numerous picturesque scenes.
Dianchun Studio
Dianchun Studio, a solitary courtyard in this part, was perhaps the fist Chinese garden structure to have found its way to the outside world - Ming Hall, the miniature model of this courtyard was copied in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1981 and the Pompidou Center in Paris in 1982.
When to visit
Opening Hours: 8:00a.m. - 5:00p.m.
Getting there
By bus: No.2, 4, 14, 31.