Humble Administrator’s Garden

Walking into the Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou, a traveller discovers the intimacy between a lake and a garden so beautifully portrayed that one seems indispensible to the other’s beauty. Wherever the flowing water curves gracefully, the garden embraces it with its green mossy banks so well that this largest classical garden in Suzhou, seems to have discovered the very courtship of nature.

Located in Dongbei Street in Suzhou city, The Humble Administer Garden is the largest from a collection of eight classical gardens in Suzhou with an area of about 52,000 sq.meters. A private garden of a public servant who strived to live a humble life, it was built during the Ming Dynasty. A water based theme underlies this UNESCO Heritage Site with exquisite landscape and waterscape blending together incorporating rocky mounds, pine forests, solitary willows as well as pretty parlours, picturesque pavilions and bridges.

Built upon the expansion of a lake that takes about one fifth of the area, this garden divides into three parts, the eastern, middle and western. The middle part is truly the most mesmerizing segment of the entire garden, with leafy branches of trees ruffled teasingly by the wind that leaves ripples in the crystal clear water of the lotus pond below, momentarily blurring the reflections of the elegant parlours and pavilions above it. The Hall of Distant Fragrance with its long glass doors for viewing is filled with the heady ardour of lotuses in the summer while a small rainbow bridge is perched expectantly and invitingly.

The eastern section is taken up with pine forests that blend well with the grassy carpet beneath it hiding the windings of the stream, adding a picturesque surrounding to the Celestial Spring Pavilion. A lofty ornate building takes up the attention in the western part while the mystical optical illusion – that of a pagoda being lifted, can be seen from the octagonal Pagoda Reflection Pavilion. The house is located in the south of the garden for residential purpose and altogether the garden contains about 48 different buildings, 101 tablets and 21 precious trees.

A heavenly day spent among the breathtaking charm of the garden can only be accentuated by the comforts of Suzhou accommodation. Citadines Xinghai Suzhou is a fabulous apartment hotel, conveniently located at the very center of the Suzhou Industrial Park. The comfort and privacy of Suzhou apartments at this property will ensure a memorable stay, and what is more you will find yourself at the heart of the city’s major attractions like entertainment, shopping and business activities.