Suzhou Gardens

Suzhou (苏州, Sūzhōu), situated on the large delta of the Yangzi River, is a town rich in history and beauty. Reportedly founded in the seventh century BCE, Suzhou served as the capital of the state of Wu during the Spring and Autumn (ca. 722-481 BCE) and Warring States (475-221 BCE) periods of Chinese history. But, Suzhou was not to begin to take its status as a leading city of commerce and culture until the completion during the Sui dynasty (581-618 CE) of the Grand Canal which linked the important communities of "Jiangnan" (江南, Jiāngnán)--the areas around and to the south of the Yangzi river--to the newly established, secondary capital at Luoyang (洛阳, Luòyáng) along the Yellow River in the north. Suzhou was to reach its zenith as a center for refined culture, as well as thriving business during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).

It was during the Ming and following Qing dynasties that the art of the garden reached its maturity in Suzhou. While there are records of gardens in the area dating back to its earliest history, it was really the booming development of the region's economy, backed by the bustling trade in silk, that allowed for the art of the garden to expand on a broad scale in the city. It's said that at its high point there were once around 200 private gardens in the city. While the ravages of social unrest and war in the last two centuries have destroyed many of these gardens, the city still boasts dozens of gardens for visitors to come and see.

Which leads us to another point. While these areas are labeled as "gardens" (园林, yuánlín, in Chinese), they included not only plants, flowers, rocks, water and fish, but also the living, working and recreational quarters of the inhabitants of the garden themselves. It was the duty of the designer of the garden to produce a layout that interspersed functional buildings throughout the plan in a way that was aesthetically pleasing.

Anyone who has gone to these gardens will have noticed the importance of stones in their landscaping. Large, porous limestone rocks retrieved from Lake Tai (太湖, tàihú), are integral features of these gardens. Aesthetically, top-heavy rocks with much texture that seem to defy the rules of gravity are considered to be the most valuable. Often these rocks, in combination with the water and earth already described, are combined in ways that are supposed to represent a miniature version of landscape--either real or imagined. The rocks and earth are mountains and cliffs, the water vast lakes, waterfalls or rivers.

Suzhou garden, and indeed throughout most of Chinese landscaping, was not one that relied simply upon the visual appreciation of the plants chosen. Plants were frequently chosen not only for their look but for the connotations they conveyed--connotations usually built upon and reinforced by literary allusions that had formed through the centuries. Some of the more favorite plants chosen were the cypress, twisted and withered, which served as a symbol of longevity; the pine, tough and rugged, was a symbol of the virtuous scholar who weathered political ups and downs; bamboo, hollow, straight yet flexible, was a symbol of the perfect Confucian gentleman, keeping his inner self empty and untroubled while being at the same time able to bend without breaking.

(source from--http://www.linese.com/blog/hongyi.html)