Suzhou classical gardens, with their ancient, beautiful, exquisite and elegant characteristics, enjoy the reputation of "Jiangnan gardens are the best in the world and Suzhou gardens are the best in the south of the Yangtze River".

Some people say: "Jiangnan garden is the best in the world, and Suzhou garden is the first in Jiangnan." Suzhou is famous for its beautiful gardens, which can be divided into three categories: home gardens, suburban gardens and temple gardens. Suzhou gardens are mostly house gardens, built by nobles, bureaucrats and wealthy businessmen, which are exquisite and elegant.

These gardens reflect the different styles of gardens in past dynasties, and they are all representative works of China's garden art, "There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below". Suzhou has won the reputation of "Xanadu", largely because it has a number of national and even world-famous classical gardens.

The famous garden

Although the heyday of Jiangnan gardens has long passed, the number of remaining places of interest still ranks first in the country, many of which were built after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Early garden heritages, such as Yangzhou Pingshan Hall, began in the Northern Song Dynasty. Suzhou Canglang Pavilion and Jiaxing Yuyanlou were both built in the Five Dynasties, and Jiaxing Fanluo Pavilion was built in the Song Dynasty, which was easily modified and lost its original appearance.

Suzhou Lingering Garden and Humble Administrator's Garden, Wuxi Jichang Garden, Shanghai Yuyuan Garden, Nanxiang Shiming Garden (renamed Guyi Garden in Qing Dynasty), Jiading Shiming Garden (named Qiuxia Puyuan in Qing Dynasty) and Kunshan Mingchun Yuyuan Garden (named Semicocoon Garden in Qing Dynasty) were all built in Ming Dynasty, and the scale is still there. Jiangnan gardens are well preserved in Suzhou, while Yangzhou has left a considerable number of gardens, such as Xu Yuan, Geyuan, Heyuan and Slender West Lake.