The Gardens of Suzhou

Suzhou, near Shanghai, is among the great garden cities of the world. The city''s masterpieces of classical Chinese garden design, built from the eleventh through the nineteenth centuries, attract thousands of visitors each year and continue to influence international design. In The Gardens of Suzhou, landscape architect and scholar Ron Henderson guides visitors through seventeen of these gardens. The book explores UNESCO world cultural heritage sites such as the Master of the Nets Garden, Humble Administrator''s Garden, Lingering Garden, and Garden of the Peaceful Mind, as well as other lesser-known but equally significant gardens in the Suzhou region.
Unlike the acclaimed religious and imperial gardens found elsewhere in Asia, Suzhou''s gardens were designed by scholars and intellectuals to be domestic spaces that drew upon China''s rich visual and literary tradition, embedding cultural references within the landscapes. The elements of the gardens confront the visitor: