★ Tourist location: East Garden of Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden

Humble Administrator's Garden is characterized by being mainly water and having a vast water surface, which is said to account for three-fifths of the water area. The garden buildings seem to be floating on the water, and with the help of flowers and trees, they produce different artistic tastes in different realms. They are praised as the "mother of gardens in the world." The park covers an area of 78 acres and is divided into four residential parts: East, Central, West and West. The residential area is a typical Suzhou dwelling and is now used as an exhibition hall of the Garden Museum. Today unfortunately is Monday, and the museum is not open at all. Otherwise, we would have thought we could visit the museum first, so that we could have a more comprehensive understanding of Humble Administrator's Garden.

Entering Humble Administrator's Garden from the entrance is the East Garden. The eastern, central and western regions of Humble Administrator's Garden have their own characteristics, but they are organically unified. The East Garden was originally called Guiyuan Residence, but it was then called "Guiyuan". However, the original Return Garden has long been deserted, so the entire East Garden is basically newly built. From the layout point of view, it is mainly composed of Pinggang distant mountains, pine forest lawns, and bamboo docks and meandering waters, coupled with mountain ponds, pavilions and pavilions, maintaining a clear and bright style.

Not far from the entrance is Lanxue Hall, the main hall in the east of Humble Administrator's Garden. The name of the hall is taken from Li Bai's poem "Between independent heaven and earth, the breeze shines on the blue snow." According to the records in "Returning to the Garden and Tianju" by Wang Xinyi, the owner of the garden, Lanfa Hall was originally a Wuying Cottage, with east and west osmanthus trees as screens, and behind it there were mountains like a wide range, with plum blossoms planted in both directions and directions. Plum blossoms and osmanthus flowers are the main flowers in spring and autumn, and literati of all dynasties have loved them. The current Lanxue Hall faces north to south, has three bays, long windows and a screen door in the middle. There is also a lacquer carving inside, which is a panoramic view of Humble Administrator's Garden. On the back of the screen door is the "Green Bamboo Painting". It is said that there is bamboo outside the plum blossoms."The voice of Buddha comes from the bamboo in the morning and evening." On the skirt boards of the partitions on both sides, the landscape of the characters is engraved.

Zhuiyun Peak is on the north side of Lanxuetang, hidden in the shade of green trees and bamboo. The twin peaks in northern Shanxi stand side by side, named "Lianbi". The two peaks Zhuyun and Lianbi are the works of Chen Siyun, a famous stone collector in the late Ming Dynasty. They are based on Zhao Songxue's landscape paintings at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Zhuiyun Peak suddenly collapsed in 1943, and later under the guidance of landscape expert Wang Xingbo, this strange peak was rebuilt. This peak is called a "barrier view" technique in garden construction. It aims to block the inner garden so that it cannot see through the entire garden at a glance. The ancients believed that such feng shui was good.

Although tourists entering the park swarmed to the right, we checked the map and found a small attraction on the left. Based on the route, we estimated that we would not turn back. Anyway, we planned to visit the park with sufficient time, so we decided to go first. Take a walk in Hanqing Pavilion.

There is nothing unusual about the pavilion, but it can be built on the water to enjoy lotus flowers. The water area of Humble Administrator's Garden is very large, and many lotus flowers are planted. Although the pond is not large and the lotus flowers have already blossomed, the pavilion is located in a corner of the eastern garden, which is a very quiet place. There is a plaque with "Han Qing" on the wall, and there is a hanging screen of white marble. In the middle is a round natural stone painting, and on both sides are long strips of natural stone. Looking from a little distance, it really looks like there is a painting in the middle, with couplets hanging on both sides. Viewed from a distance, the two wings of Hanqing Pavilion are spread out, like a big bird spreading its wings and ready to fly, making it exquisite and agile.

Although there is actually a road leading to the Central Garden here, we still go east from the lake and continue to visit the East Garden. Half of the hibiscus pavilion is built on the bank and half extends out to the water. Many pavilions in Jiangnan gardens have this pattern. This is a good place to enjoy lotus flowers in summer. The so-called hibiscus is another name for lotus flowers. The west face of the Furong Pavilion is decorated with a round light cover, the east is a floor-to-ceiling cover door, and the north and south are panes.

Tianquan Pavilion has double eaves and octagonal spire, with corridors on the outside, surrounded by flowers and trees. It is said that there was an ancient well in the pavilion, which is said to be a relic of Dahong Temple in the Yuan Dynasty. This well never dries up all year round and its water quality is sweet, so it is called "Tianquan". There is an octagonal antique wooden platform in the pavilion, and the panes and patterns on the short wall are also octagonal. Probably because the surrounding area is relatively empty, this pavilion is relatively large in terms of scale.

I actually didn't recognize the word "" in the Xiangxiang Pavilion. I just happened to have a tour guide from a team explaining it, and I realized that "" means rice. This used to be the northern boundary of Guiyuan. Outside the wall is the North Garden, which is the home field of the garden owner. Building a building here means viewing the pastoral scenery of farming and mulberry trees. In the harvest season, the autumn wind brings the fragrance of rice, which is why the museum is named.

It used to be a building, but the current Xiangxiang Pavilion has only one floor, with a single eaves resting on the top of the mountain and a wide area of five rooms. The pillars form a corridor on the outside. As the largest hall in the East Garden and the main building in the east, the Xiangxiang Hall was built with great care. On the skirt of the floor-to-ceiling window are forty-eight woodcarvings of boxwood. The pattern is in the style of the Ming Dynasty. There are scenes such as "No. 1 Champion" and "Bridal Chamber Flowers and Candles". It is said that what was originally carved was "The Legend of the Western Chamber". During the Cultural Revolution, people turned the pattern inside, and this was avoided. This pattern is still maintained now, also to protect these carvings.

There is also an island in the middle of the pool in East Garden, and there are bridges on the east and west sides of the lake. There is a rectangular Jingjing Pavilion on the island, which is geographically located in the south and north of Hanqing Pavilion. However, the pavilion is located higher, with rockery and earth under the pavilion. The name of this pavilion comes from Bai Juyi's poetry of "looking at the green mountains". I smiled sheepishly: "I thought it meant looking at the world."