The Private Gardens in Suzhou and Hangzhou
earth". Marco Polo praised Hangzhou as "the finest and most splendid city in tile
world. " Classical gardens of Suzhou have been listed in the World Cultural Heritages by
UNESCO in 1997. Suzhou is particularly well known for its Four Renowned Gardens.
The style of private gardens is quite different fi'om that of the imperial gardens. Private
gardens are generally small in size and they perform multiple functions of lodging, get
togethers, study, theatrical perfornlance, and sightseeing. There are artificial mountains
and tree groves in private gardens. Buildings of different types, ponds and verdant woods
express the varied tastes of their owners derived from nlinute details. The owners have
spared no effort to achieve elegance and variation within a limited space. The scenic
spots and exotic scenes are hidden in the rich foliage of trees and plants. Some private gardens have a spatial system in varying hues and contrasts~ they are gm'dens of multiple depths created by the use of hills, water,flown, trees and file ingenious handling of architectural space.outstanding collecdons of rocks,
a maze of paths, caves and running streams, which creates a picture of traditional
Chinese landscaping. Sollle famous private gardens in Southern China are well known
worldwide such as Yuyuan Garden (~1~) (1577, Shanghai) , Humble Administrator's
Garden ( ~d~ ~ ) ( 1909, Suzhou ) , the Lingering Garden ( Liuyuan ~ ~j ) ( I595, 1876
Suzhou) Huanxiu Mountain Villa ( ~]~ 3~ ~ ~]: ) ( Song Dynasty, Suzhou). The
Lingering Garden is the best example of the principle of "originating from nature but
higher than nature". The layout of the garden is full of changes in the use of light and
space, From a twisted, nan~w stretch of courtyard to an open ground with trees and then
to the pavilion, a visitor is guided with his view and obscured until he comes to a sudden
bright and a wide open space, where the Green Shaded Room stands. The principle of
"first restrain, and then relax" is used, Yuyuan Garden is not large in size, however,
there are more than 40 scenic spots which are ingeniously partitioned, offering visitors a
diffe~nt scene at every step. The garden Js laid out in an intricate manner. It is taken as
a paragon of the south Chinese landscaping styles of the Ming and Qing dynasties.