Humble Administrator's Garden, a grand view garden-style classical luxury garden, is known as the "model garden in the world" with the layout of mountain island, bamboo dock, Songshan Mountain and Qushui. It ranks first among the four famous gardens in China along with chengde mountain resort, Liuyuan and Beijing Summer Palace. It is a national key cultural relic protection unit, one of the national characteristic tourist attractions and a world cultural heritage. So far, only Humble Administrator's Garden has these four laurels. Most of the existing buildings in the Humble Administrator's Garden were rebuilt when the Humble Administrator's Garden became the loyal palace garden of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the ninth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (AD 1850). By the end of the Qing Dynasty, three relatively independent small gardens were formed in the east, middle and west.
The central part is the main attraction and essence of Humble Administrator's Garden. The area is about 18.5 mu. Its overall layout is centered on the pool, and pavilions are built by the water, and some pavilions are straight out of the water, which is quite characteristic of Jiangnan water town. The pool water area accounts for 3/5 of the whole park area (another data: 1/3). The swimming pool is lush and natural. Buildings of different shapes and heights are arranged at the water's edge, with clear priorities. The overall pattern still maintains the rich, simple and elegant artistic style of Ming gardens. The "Yuanxiangtang" featuring lotus fragrance is the main building of the main scenic spot of Humble Administrator's Garden in Central China. Located on the south bank of the pool, the pool faces the East-West Mountain Island. The pool is clear and vast, and lotus flowers are planted everywhere. The mountain island is covered with vines, and there is a bridge between the two valleys. There are two pavilions on the mountain island, "Xiang Xue Weiyun Pavilion" in the west and "Daishuang Pavilion" in the east, with four seasons scenery. The "Yu Yixuan" on the west side of Yuanxiangtang is far from the boat-shaped "Xiangzhou" on the west side (the name Xiangzhou means arrogant temperament with vanilla), and the two are far from the north.
The West Park (8 pieces) "Four-sided Lotus Pavilion" has become a three-legged trend, and everyone can go with the flow to enjoy the lotus. There is a water inlet to the west of Yuxuan, which goes deep into Nanzhai. There are three water pavilions "Little Canglang" separated by the covered bridge "Little Hong Fei" in the north, forming a quiet water courtyard. Judging from the architectural names of Humble Administrator's Garden, most of them are related to lotus flowers. The reason why Wang wants to vigorously promote Lotus is mainly to show his noble character. The central scenic spot-loquat garden also has fine gardens such as micro-architecture, Yulantang and Jianshanlou. The west was originally a "supplementary garden" with an area of about 12.5 mu. Its water surface is circuitous, the layout is compact, and pavilions are built by mountains and rivers. Because after a substantial reconstruction, the ingenious and artificial artistic style formed after Qianlong gained the upper hand, but the water and stone parts were still close to the central scenic spot. The winding water gallery and the stream passing through Ling Bo were excellent works of Suzhou gardening art, and the main building in the west was the 36-yuan Yang Pavilion near the residential side, which was the place where the garden owner entertained guests and listened to songs at that time. The hall is well furnished. On a sunny day, looking at the outdoor scenery through the blue glass window is like a snow scene. The pool of the 36-yuan Yangge is in the shape of a curved ruler, which is characterized by the separation of pavilions and terraces and gorgeous decoration. Corridor ups and downs, water wave reflection, don't have fun. Another big building in the west, "Who sits on the porch with you", is a mystery pavilion. There are two fan-shaped empty windows on the solid walls on both sides of the fan, one facing the "inverted photo studio" and the other facing the "Thirty-six Yuan Yang Pavilion". The back window just reflects the Li Pavilion on the mountain, and the top cover of the Li Pavilion just matches a complete fan. "Who to sit with" is taken from Su Dongpo's word "Who to sit with, the moon will cool me". So when I saw the plaque, I thought of Su Dongpo, and immediately felt that I could enjoy the moon in the water and be cooled by the cool breeze. Other buildings in the west include Liuting, Yiliang Pavilion, Reflection Pavilion and Water Gallery.
The eastern part of the garden was originally called "rural residence", because the eastern part of the garden belonged to Wang Xinyi, the assistant minister in the fourth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 163 1). About 3 1 mu, because the Guiyuan Garden has long been deserted, all of them are newly built, and the layout is mainly flat hills, pine lawns and bamboo houses. With the pavilions in the mountain pool, it still maintains a spacious and lively style. The main buildings are Lan Xuetang, Furong Pavilion, Tian Quan Pavilion and Zhuoyunfeng, all of which are relocated. Other buildings in the Humble Administrator's Garden include Chengguanlou, Fucui Pavilion, Linglong Pavilion and Eighteen Datura Flower Pavilions.
The layout of Humble Administrator's Garden is dense and natural, characterized by water, vast water surface, simple and innocent scenery and nature. It takes the water in the pool as the center, and pavilions are built around the pool, which are connected by leaky windows and cloisters. The rocks, ancient trees, bamboos, flowers and plants in the garden form a distant and quiet picture, which represents the architectural style of the Ming Dynasty gardens. The different scenic spots such as lakes, pools and streams formed by the Humble Administrator's Garden reproduce the artistic conception of landscape poems and landscape paintings and the true and picturesque natural environment in the garden. Vivi pool water is famous for its leisure, vastness, elegance and calm atmosphere. It meanders down the bay head, and the endless flowing water is winding, deep and charming. Through the Pingqiao Trail as its context, the promenade fills the gap, and the island rocks are reflected in it, making the seemingly loose garden buildings have their own charm. The whole garden building seems to be floating on the water, coupled with wood flowers, which have produced different artistic interests in different realms. The flowers are blooming in spring, the banana gallery in summer, the reed pond in autumn, the plum shadow and snowy moon in winter, the ubiquitous artistic conception, exquisite twists and turns and poems with endless aftertaste are worthy of being a typical representative of Jiangnan gardens.