Suzhou Ancient Gardens Spring Back To life | Findsuzhou

3 min readNov 25, 2021

Suzhou is a city of gardens. Capturing the essence of Chinese landscapes, flowers, and birds, as well as the artistic conceptions of the past dynasties, the classical garden, is, without doubt, an established calling card of Suzhou. Various gardens, small or big, scatter across the old town and add luster to the city.

Suzhou launched a three-year action plan to protect and restore the ancient gardens in the city. Now, a garden that faded out a century ago has come back to us.

*According to Suzhou Three-year Action Plan on Garden Protection and Restoration, local garden authorities take measures to fully repair the Pagoda Shadow Garden, Keyuan Garden, Chaiyuan Garden, Nanban Garden, Mingxuan Shiyang, Zhan Family Garden, Former Residence of Tang Yin, and Heyuan Garden, and protect the ruins of Moyuan Garden, Muyuan Garden, Suiyuan Garden, and Hanshan Bieye.

The project of Tiger Hill Pagoda Shadow Garden started in April 2018. Based on the history of Tiger Hill, the attractions and structures in Wen Family Pagoda Shadow Garden and Jiang Family Pagoda Shadow Garden in the Qing Dynasty were well blended together, and thus a new pagoda garden came into being. The Pagoda Shadow Garden lies between the Shantang River and Huanshan River, and now offers a fabulous view borrowed from the Tiger Hill.

Tiger Hill Pagoda Shadow Garden Folk Customs Exhibition Hall

Located inside the Pagoda Shadow Garden, the exhibition hall provides about 1,650 square meters of space for exhibitions. It’s designed as a showcase dedicated to researching, displaying, and protecting the local culture and customs.

Keyuan Garden

Keyuan Garden was built during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (AD 907–979 ). It is really one of a kind — the sole shuyuan (ancient academy for classical learning) garden in Suzhou.

In addition to the Pagoda Shadow Garden and Keyuan Garden, the restoration of another 10 ancient gardens also came to an end. Let’s take a quick look!

▼Zhan Family Garden▼