Humble Administrator's Garden

1. Garden Layout

The Humble Administrator's Garden (or Zhuozheng Yuan) is one of four great Chinese gardens. At 51,950 Sq. M, it is the largest garden in Suzhou and generally considered the finest garden in southern China. The garden's site was a scholar garden during the Tang Dynasty, and later a monastery garden for the Dahong Temple during the Yuan Dynasty. In 1513, during the Ming Dynasty reign of Emperor Zhengde, an administrator named Wang Xianchen appropriated the temple and converted it into a private villa with gardens, which were constructed by digging lakes and piling the resultant earth into artificial islands.