China - Spring 2018, Suzhou – 3 Canglang and Pan Men

The Canglang Pavilion

Canglang Pavilion and its canal

     We spent only two full days in Suzhou. The second day, much like the first, was occupied with visiting two other gardens in the city. Our first stop was The Canglang Pavilion.

small interior garden 

       We took the metro from the convenient stop not far from our hotel to The Canglang Pavilion. After getting off the metro the garden is just a short walk and a right turn down a canal lined street. Parts of the garden are on both sides of the canal. As before, I was able to enter the garden free of charge since I am over 70 and Road Buddy got in for 50%.

small pond and simple buildings

lovely etched glass chandelier

     The Canglang Pavilion 滄浪亭 (Great Wave Pavilion) is an older, smaller and simpler garden than the Humble Administrators Garden, but it's interesting for the contrast. The relative simplicity of the garden has a kind of rustic charm in comparison with the more lavish Humble Administrator's Garden. The scale is also much smaller. The garden was built in the 11^th Century AD by a poet of the Song Dynasty named Su Shunqin. It is the oldest classical garden in Suzhou recognized by UNESCO.

 lotus themed open air window

interestingly curved building and walkways around the pond

moon gate into the small garden

the lotus pond

       After visiting the main garden, you can cross the canal and enter another garden through a moon gate. This smaller garden is dominated by a large lotus pond. With its drooping weeping willows just sprouting new leaves it was especially charming and serene.

fine lattice work on the covered curbing walkway

doors have different unusual shapes, this one like a vase

sensuous Red Camellia

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Panmen Scenic Area

statue dedicated to a heroic ox that worked hard
to build the site and died when it was finished

Ruiguang Pagoda 

     The second stop of the day was the Panmen Scenic Area. We had intended to use public transportation, but, due to various complications, ended up walking a couple of kilometers, stopped off at a local dumpling shop for a light lunch, then walked the rest of the way until we spotted the entrance the the park.

large scale landscape garden blooming in early Spring

Pan Men - the  "Land and Water Gate"

the main canal

       The Panmen 盤門 Scenic Area is what remains of the old city wall, the southern gate, and the park adjacent to it. The Pan Men or Pan Gate is located in the southwestern part of the Main Canal that surrounded Old Suzhou. The original structure is estimated to be around 2500-years-old. The southern gate is especially interesting for its water flow system. With an ingenious floodgate system it had the ability to control the flow of water in the main canal. Due to its use as a gate for the flow of water as well as a gate to the city, the Chinese people call it the "Land and Water Gate".

the floodgate (not shown) is raised and lowered by means of winches on either end 

a pond full of goldfish

and, of course, lovers in Spring

       The scenic area is noted for the "three landmarks of Pan Gate": the Pan Gate itself; the 7-step Ruiguang Pagoda, the earliest pagoda in Suzhou built in 247; the Wu Gate Bridge, the original entrance to the Pan Gate and the highest bridge in Suzhou at that time. The Ruiguang Pagoda is constructed of brick with wooden platforms and has simple Buddhist carvings at its base. The entire scenic area is a large scale landscape garden built with the traditional elements of water, stone, plants and wooden structures.

Wu Gate Bridge

      Our visit to the Panmen Scenic Area was the last stop on our itinerary in Suzhou. Next stop is West Lake in Hangzhou a couple hours by high speed train south of Shanghai.

China - Spring 2018, Suzhou – 2 The Lion Forest

a short walk to The Lion Forest

     Just a short walk from the Humble Administrator's Garden there is another garden called The Lion Forest. Admission was the same for senior citizens of any nationality 50% for people 60 to 69 and free for those over 70. I joked that if you're over 70 and still alive they think you should get in free.

rocks of the Lion Forest

footpaths on different levels

       The Lion Forest is a 14^th Century garden built by a Zen Monk named Wen Tianru in honor of his teacher, Abbot Zhongfeng. It is centered around a water area and covered with hundreds if not thousands of rocks full of holes and strange shapes. The garden is something of a maze with footpaths on different levels and through holes in the rocks. The garden is named for these supposedly lion-shaped rocks. (It seemed hard to see the “lion shapes” in the rocks to me.) The shape of the rocks is said to be in reference to the symbolic lion in the Buddhist's Lion's Roar Sutra. Whatever the provenance of the rocks, the effect is quite spectacular. The Lion Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

the central water area

Can you see a lion in the rocks?

tiered waterfall

praying monk?

willows soften the effect of the stone

bamboo grove makes a good spot to rest 

shades of red trail off into the background

Why walk a straight line when you can zig-zag . . .

Guanqian Street

Xuanmiao Guàn Taoist Temple

       From The Lion Forest we walked back towards Guanqian Street, the main pedestrian and shopping street in Old Suzhou City. The Xuanmiao Guàn Taoist Temple is located on the north side of Guanqian Street. The original main temple building dates from the 3^rd Century AD, but was destroyed by wars in the Southern Song Dynasty. The current structure was rebuilt in the 12^th Century. The temple gateway, Zheng Shan Men, a graceful double roofed structure, is made entirely of wood and dates from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). It was damaged and rebuilt in 1775 AD. There are some interesting sculptures of Taoist gods in the Zheng Shan Men, one of which, a deity named Wei Tuo, is posed making an interesting and humorous hand gesture. Wei Tuo is a guardian of the gate. As such he protects the temple from evil spirits; so, if you're a bad actor, his gesture could very well mean . . . well, you know.

Wei Tuo - guardian of the gate

Taoist deities, Wei Tuo in center

Zheng Shan Men --  graceful, double roofed temple gateway

China Spring 2018: Suzhou 1 - the Humble Administrator's Garden

entrance gate

     The city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, China is a good destination for a short getaway from our home in Japan—a two hour flight to Shanghai, Pudong Airport and a 2-hour bus to Suzhou.

magnolia tree in full bloom just inside the entance

    Suzhou has some of the best Chinese landscape gardens in China, one of which, the most famous, is a World Heritage Site called the Humble Administrator's Garden built during the Ming Dynasty in the 16^th Century. The garden has a special rate for senior citizens, as did other public gardens in the area. For those between 60 and 69 there is a 50% discount. For those over 70, like me, admission is free.

early Spring - Crocuses in full bloom

Plum and Crocus

       There is a story about the garden's unusual name. It was built by a government bureaucrat named Wang Xianchen. Wang was dissatisfied with his career due to the influence of some of the court eunuchs on the Emperor. The reality was, of course, more complicated than castrated court favorites. He got caught up, as any bureaucrat might, in political power struggles and court intrigues and thought himself an unsuccessful politician.

watch your step

Red, the most popular color in China

       Looking for a more rewarding life he had the garden built for his retirement so he could lead a simple life doing gardening work and cultivating vegetables, etc. He thought of it as a simple life led by a humble man, himself, and called the garden the Humble Administrator's Garden. The inspiration for the garden's name comes from a prose story entitled An Idle Life by a scholar official of the Jin Dynasty (3^rd and 4^th Centuries AD) named Pan Yue: "I enjoy a carefree life by planting trees and building my own house...I irrigate my garden and grow vegetables for me to eat...such a life suits a retired official like me well". But, the garden, as my pictures might show, is anything but “humble”.

water is one of the most important elements in the design of the garden

they do it with mirrors

teahouse

stained glass 

not a snake, protection for the vine trunk

moon gate, one of many

thousands of tiles go into making the roofs

lovely reflections in the pond
lend an air of calm and serenity

no idea what they are picking, but I'd bet that it is edible

trellis is made entirely of bamboo

pavilion on a rocky slope

object is made from one slab of stone

 the long walkway is intentionally vertically zigzagged
for the variety of visual experience