LegendThe jujube pavilion
Jiang Cai loved jujubes. After his death his son named a room the Pavilion of Remembered Tastes, with a jujube tree beside it, in his memory.
Source: Told in the garden's own records
The story
In the Jiajing years of the Ming (1368–1644), the official Yuan Zugeng built a garden here. Early in the seventeenth century it was bought by Wen Zhenmeng, great-grandson of the painter Wen Zhengming, who came first in the palace examination of 1622. He called it the Medicinal Herb Garden.
After the fall of the Ming in 1644, the garden passed to Jiang Cai, a Ming official from Shandong who had been beaten and exiled for speaking his mind, and who refused to serve the new Qing dynasty. His son named it the Garden of Cultivation. The lane you walk down to reach it is still called Wenya Lane, the lane of the Wen residence.
Part of Classical Gardens of Suzhou. Also there: Humble Administrator's Garden, Lingering Garden, Master of the Nets Garden, Canglang Pavilion, Lion Grove Garden, Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty, Couple's Retreat Garden, Retreat and Reflection Garden.
What is here
One very small ticket covers the house and garden. Tea in the Yanguang Pavilion is paid separately.
| Part | Ticket |
|---|---|
| The house and Hall of Broad Elegance | Main ticket |
| The pond and Yanguang Pavilion teahouse | Ticket; tea extra |
| The rock hill | Main ticket |
| The Bathing Gull court | Main ticket |
If you have one minute
In the Yanguang Pavilion
You are sitting in the largest water pavilion in the Suzhou gardens, built right across the north side of the pond. Order a pot of tea. In front of you, the pond is open and simple, with no island in the middle. On the far side, a rock hill with old trees and a little pavilion.
Most Suzhou gardens were rebuilt in the Qing (1644–1912) and crowded with buildings. This one keeps the late-Ming way: few buildings, a large plain sheet of water, nature left to speak. Chen Congzhou, the garden scholar, called it the clearest example of Ming garden design in Suzhou.
Things people often get wrong
"It is hard to find, so it is not important." It is on the World Heritage list with the famous gardens. It is hard to find because the lane is narrow.
"The teahouse is a modern addition." The pavilion is old; tea in it is a long Suzhou habit.
People who stood here
We searched Chinese sources first for this list, then English ones.
- Wen Zhenmeng (scholar-official, 1574–1636)Top of the palace examination of 1622, he briefly served as grand secretary in 1635 and was dismissed for his honesty. He grew herbs and wrote here.
- Wen Zhenheng (writer, 1585–1645)Wen Zhenmeng's younger brother wrote the Treatise on Superfluous Things, a guide to good taste in gardens, furniture and objects that is still read. When the Qing came he refused to shave his head, and starved himself to death.
- Jiang Cai (Ming loyalist, 1607–1673)Beaten at court and sent into exile at Xuanzhou for criticising the emperor, he never accepted the Qing. He named his rooms after Jingting Hill near his place of exile, and asked to be buried there.
- Wang Wan (writer, 1624–1691)He wrote the records of the garden for the Jiang family, and through them we know its early shape.
Go deeper: six stops round one pond
Walk down Wenya Lane, through the house, then round the pond clockwise. One hour, more if you stay for tea.
1. Wenya Lane and the gate
The garden has no grand entrance. You walk down a long, narrow lane between white walls and turn through a plain door. This too is holding back first.
2. The Hall of Broad Elegance
The main hall of the house faces a small court with a rock. Its beams and brackets keep a simple Ming style.
3. The Yanguang Pavilion
Five bays long, it lies flat across the water. Sit at a window table. The tea is plain and the view is the garden's whole design.
4. The Fish-Nursing Pavilion and the bridge
A small square pavilion at the corner of the pond is one of the few Ming buildings left in a Suzhou garden. Look up at the painted beams, faded, four hundred years old.
Nearby, a low stone bridge of a few slabs lies just above the water. Walk it and the pond seems to rise to your feet.
5. The rock hill and the Refreshing Morning Pavilion
The hill on the south side is earth with yellow stone. A narrow ravine runs into it from the pond. At the top stands a small pavilion that catches the morning.
6. The Bathing Gull court and the Sweet Grass Lodge
Behind a moon gate in the south-west is a tiny garden inside the garden: a pool, a bridge and a few plants. The name comes from gulls, birds that the old poets envied for their freedom.
The garden and the same years elsewhere
Wen Zhenmeng came first in the palace examination in 1622, two years after the Mayflower sailed. Jiang Cai died in 1673, the year Molière died on stage in Paris.