Dear tourists
Hello and welcome to Suzhou. I'm your tour guide.
Suzhou is known as the "garden city". Suzhou gardens have a long history.In the heyday of Ming and Qing Dynasties, more than 200 gardens were all overthe ancient city, and there are still dozens of well preserved gardens,representing the styles of Jiangnan gardens in song, yuan, Ming and QingDynasties. Suzhou's classical gardens are famous for their antiquity, beauty,refinement and elegance. They are unique tourism resources in Suzhou. OnDecember 4, 1997, the 21st plenary session of the World Heritage Committee ofthe United Nations approved the classical gardens of Suzhou, with Zhuozhenggarden, Liuyuan garden, Wangshi garden and Huanxiu villa as typical examples, tobe included in the world heritage list; On November 30, 20__, the 24th sessionof UNESCO World Heritage Committee approved canglangting, Shizilin, Yipu,Liangyuan and tuisiyuan to be added to the world heritage list.
Suzhou's gardeners use unique gardening techniques, in the limited space,through folding mountains and managing water, planting flowers and trees,configuring landscape architecture, and using a large number of plaques,couplets, calligraphy and painting, sculpture, steles, furniture and furnishingsand various ornaments to reflect the ancient philosophy, cultural awareness andaesthetic taste, so as to form a literati freehand landscape garden full ofpoetic and picturesque, which makes people happy“ The artistic situation of"although it is made by people, it is like the opening of heaven" isachieved.
Suzhou has a long history. Private gardens were built in the 6th centuryBC, especially in the Ming Dynasty. In the late Qing Dynasty, there were morethan 170 gardens inside and outside the city. It won the title of "garden city"for Suzhou. There are more than ten famous gardens, among which CanglangPavilion, Shizi forest, Zhuozheng garden, Liuyuan garden, Wangshi garden andYiyuan garden are famous. Suzhou garden has a small battlefield area. It adoptsthe artistic technique of changing endlessly and not sticking to one pattern.With the taste of Chinese landscape, flowers and birds, it embodies the artisticconception of Tang poetry and Song Ci. It ornaments rockery and trees in limitedspace, and arranges pavilions, pavilions, ponds and bridges, so that Suzhougarden can win by scenery, and the scenery is different from the garden, givingpeople the artistic effect of seeing the big from the small. HumbleAdministrator's Garden enjoys the reputation of "the essence of famous gardensin the south of the Yangtze River". The gardens of song, yuan, Ming and Qingdynasties have their own natural, historical, cultural and artisticcharacteristics.
Suzhou is a famous historical and cultural city as well as a national keyscenic and tourist city. It is rich in natural resources and outstanding people.Since ancient times, it has been known as the "garden city" and enjoys a highreputation at home and abroad. Suzhou classical garden has a history of morethan 20__ years, and has its unique historical position and value in the historyof world gardening. With the superb artistic technique of freehand landscape, itcontains a strong traditional ideological and cultural connotation, and showsthe gardening art model of Oriental civilization. In fact, it is an artistictreasure of the Chinese nation. Suzhou scenic spots such as Huqiu, Tianpingmountain and Shihu, which are as famous as "Suzhou garden", are also the touristattractions that tourists at home and abroad yearn for.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the feudal economic and culturaldevelopment of Suzhou reached its peak, and the gardening art also tended tomature. A group of garden artists emerged, which made the gardening activitiesreach a climax. In its heyday, there were more than 280 private gardens andcourtyards in Suzhou, of which Canglang Pavilion and Wangshi garden were firstbuilt in Song Dynasty, Lion Forest in Yuan Dynasty, Humble Administrator'sgarden and art garden in Ming Dynasty, Liuyuan, Liangyuan, Yiyuan, Quyuan andTingfeng garden in Qing Dynasty. Among them, Zhuozheng garden, Liuyuan garden,Wangshi garden and Huanxiu villa were listed as "world cultural heritage" byUNESCO at the end of 1997 for their exquisite gardening art and distinctiveartistic characteristics.
Suzhou gardens are "urban mountain forests" full of natural interest in thecity. As soon as people living in the downtown enter the gardens, they can enjoythe "joy of mountains, rivers, forests and springs" of nature. In thisconcentrated "nature", "one spoon for water, one fist for mountain", the changeof the four seasons in the morning, the withering and flourishing of vegetationin spring and autumn, and the seasonal change of landscape and flowers makepeople "enjoy the mountains and forests without going out of the city, and enjoythe forest and spring when living in the downtown".
Suzhou garden is a "literati freehand landscape garden" with profoundcultural connotation. Ancient gardeners have high cultural accomplishment andare good at poetry and painting. When they build gardens, they usually takepainting as the foundation and take poetry as the topic. They create poetic andpicturesque landscapes by digging pools, piling mountains and planting flowersand trees, which is called "silent poetry and three-dimensional painting".Sightseeing in the garden is like appreciating poetry or painting. In order toexpress the interest, ideal and pursuit of the garden owner, there areinscriptions such as plaques and couplets in the garden architecture andlandscape, such as the quiet fragrance of Lotus (Yuanxiang hall in HumbleAdministrator's garden), the elegant vanilla (Xiangzhou in HumbleAdministrator's garden), the ancient boat like boat like boat like boat likeboat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat likeboat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat likeboat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat likeboat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat likeboat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat like boat Fourgarden life (wangshiyuan "true meaning", Liuyuan "little Taoyuan") and so on.These poems and inscriptions, which are full of scholarly atmosphere, arenaturally and harmoniously blended with the architecture, landscape, flowers andtrees in the garden, so that the landscape of a mountain, a water, a plant and atree can produce a far-reaching artistic conception.
Although Suzhou gardens are small, ancient gardeners have created rich anddiverse landscapes with their own ingenuity through various artistic techniques.When they travel in the gardens, they can see "the courtyard is a little deep",or "another village with hidden willows and bright flowers", or small bridgesand flowing water, white walls and tiles, or winding paths, or changing scenery.As for the flowered windows with different forms and exquisite designs, thebrocade like pavements that can't be stretched out at the foot, and the piecesthat seem to be scattered in the corners of the walls, people can't see themcompletely and have endless aftertaste.
"Chinese garden is the mother of world gardening, and Suzhou garden is anoutstanding representative of Chinese garden", which is the evaluation of Suzhouclassical garden by the 21st plenary session of UNESCO World Heritage Committee.In recent years, in accordance with the Convention on the protection of worldcultural and classical garden natural heritage and the regulations on theprotection and management of Suzhou gardens, Suzhou has actively protectedgardens, consolidated and expanded the declaration results, deeply excavated theconnotation of garden culture, and carried forward Wu culture. Adhere to theprinciple of "repair the old as the old", according to the policy of"protection, dredging, restoration and development", make the garden city worthyof the name. Suzhou Bureau of landscape architecture and greening has introducedadvanced technology and management experience from its peers in the world,implemented the protection, management and standardization of classical gardensby using international standards, and established a modern landscape managementsystem: first, restorative protection; second, excavation protection, such asZhuozheng garden reappearing the thirty one landscape of Wen Zhengming of MingDynasty, Canglang Pavilion reappearing the precious relics of Lin Zexu, etc; Thethird is constructive protection; the fourth is integrated protection. Zhuozhenggarden was rated as one of the first 4A scenic spots in China, and passed theISO9002 quality system certification. Liuyuan, Shizilin and wangshiyuan werealso rated as 4A scenic spots. Suzhou gardens constantly launch a series ofcharacteristic tourism activities, such as Huqiu art flower fair, Jinqiu templefair, Zhuozheng garden Rhododendron Festival, Lotus Festival, Liuyuan Wucultural activities, wangshiyuan characteristic night tour and Yiyuan Narcissusexhibition, Shizilin seasonal flower exhibition, Tianping Hongfeng Festival,Shihu Chuanyue, canglangting orchid and Chrysanthemum Exhibition, Liangyuanwater town characteristic tour, etc; Suzhou gardens also grasp the four links of"protection, development, management and service", making classical gardens animportant window to reflect the achievements of Suzhou's spiritual civilizationconstruction. In 20__, it was named as the national advanced unit of buildingcivilized industry by the Central Committee of civilization.
For more than 20 years, Suzhou garden art was first exported to Mingxuan,the Ming style courtyard of the Metropolitan Museum of New York in 1980. Sincethen, the "brand" effect has become prominent. It has been designed, constructedand won many honors, such as "Qifang Pavilion" in Ikeda, Japan, "Yiyuan" inCanada, "Yunxiu garden" in Singapore, "Jinlan Pavilion" in Kanazawa, Japan,"Splendid China" miniature scenic spot in Florida, and "fragrant garden"Jiulongzhaicheng Park in Hong Kong, Bird Park, Jixing garden in Stanton Island,New York, USA, Dongwu Xiaozhu garden in Kunming Expo 99, and Lansu garden inPortland, USA make Suzhou famous gardens settle down in all corners of theworld, promote the cultural exchange between China and foreign countries, andattract experts and scholars from Europe, Asia, and the United States to visitSuzhou classical gardens.
The 28th World Heritage conference, held in Suzhou from June 28 to July 7,20__, is the most senior UNESCO International conference hosted by the Chinesegovernment. More than 500 delegates from nearly 100 countries and more than 800Chinese and foreign journalists attended the meeting. It is conducive for theworld to further understand Suzhou and Suzhou to go to the world.