Humble Administrator's Garden

24. Beautiful Flowers

The censor Wang Xiancheng laid it out in 1513 after his retirement from political life. He named the garden after an essay by Pan Yue of Jing Era---On Idle Living." Building house and planting trees, watering garden and growing vegetables are the affairs (Zheng) of humble (Zhuo) people." After his death, his son gambled away the garden.

When Taiping troops occupied Suzhou in 1860, King Zhongwang picked this one and the neighboring buildings of the present Historical Museum as a residence and center for his political activities.