Humble Administrator's Garden 拙政园

About Humble Administrator's Garden

Its three principal sections developed through different periods, so the garden is not a single unchanged Ming composition.

The central section arranges buildings around connected pools, while eastern and western sections create different garden scenes. Look at how rocks, planting, water and architecture frame one another through windows, corridors and open views. Choosing a few contrasting scenes gives more insight than simply following the longest route.

The garden was first laid out in 1509, the fourth year of the Zhengde era, by Wang Xianchen (王献臣), a Ming official who had resigned and returned to Suzhou, on the former site of the Yuan-dynasty Dahong Temple. Its name derives from a line in Pan Yue's Idle Life describing a retired man who 'waters his garden and sells vegetables' as 'the governance of the inept.' Wen Zhengming (文徵明) is said to have helped design it.

After Wang Xianchen's death his son gambled the garden away to the Xu family in a single night, and it later changed hands repeatedly. Its eastern section became a separate garden, Guitian Yuanju (归田园居), under Vice Minister Wang Xinyi in 1631. During the Taiping occupation of Suzhou from 1860 the garden served as the Loyal Prince's residence, and in 1877 its western part was bought by the merchant Zhang Lüqian (张履谦) and renamed Buyuan (补园).

The garden covers 78 mu (亩). In 1961 the State Council listed it in the first group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位); it was named a national special tourist site in 1991, and in 1997 UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site.

What to look for

• Connected pools and islands organize the central garden.
• Eastern, central and western sections reveal distinct phases and compositions.

The surrounding area

A provincial city base for classical gardens, canals and soup-noodle breakfasts; do not confuse its old city with the distant North railway station.

Location & getting there

Getting to Humble Administrator's Garden

Approach 178 Northeast Street in Suzhou’s Gusu district and enter through the garden’s current public entrance.