Okay. Last month we said no more gardens for a while. Things changed when friends showed up from out of town and we got snowed in. We weren't looking for the Lingering Garden; we were looking for a taxi, but the only ones that we saw were hugging trees or spinning their wheels in the bicycle lanes. At the entrance we were initially intrigued by the Chinese character 留. It is the one used in "to study abroad." Considering the English translation to Lingering Garden, we wondered just what people think overseas students do with their time. It was only later that we found out that the Chinese name has changed, but the translation has not.
Lingering Garden was the first of the Suzhou gardens to be listed as a national cultural relic way back in 1961. At least a third of the grounds are covered with buildings, and unlike some of the other gardens in Suzhou, you can’t help but notice the unique way in which the space has been used to deal with the various kinds of architecture. Most of the gardens in Suzhou have undergone dozens of remodelings as they’ve passed into the hands of new owners over the centuries, but this one has seen few since it was built 500 years ago.The central part features a manmade mountain and lakeside scenes, resembling a long scroll of traditional Chinese painting. The eastern part has been the subject of dozens of poems because of its groupings of gardens and elegant buildings; and the northern part has cottages with bamboo fences where the view changes with every step. There are dozens of carved steles that feature the calligraphy of some of China's most famous artists. They span a long period that gives you clear sense of the changing aesthetics over the previous centuries.
Admission Fee: 40RMB (Mar.1 to May 31 and Sep. 1 to Nov. 30); 30RMB (June 1 to Aug. 31 and Dec. 1 to Apr. 30)
Busses: 11, Tourist Bus No. 1 & 2
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