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Humble Administrator's Garden
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 The Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuozheng Yuan) is considered the best of all southern Chinese gardens. During the reign of Emperor Zhengde (1506-1521), the site was occupied by Dahong Temple. At that time, a censor named Wang Xianchen appropriated the temple and made it into a private villa, but the Wang family could not maintain the garden and sold it after a few years. In the next centuries the garden repeatedly changed hands and was rebuilt many times, so the garden we see today is far removed from the one enjoyed by Wang Xianchen. Humble Administrator's Garden is representative of Chinese classical gardens. Perhaps nowhere else in China can find the best aspects of Chinese architecture concentrated into such a small space, whose built environment has a direct and crucial connection to emotional well being. Not only landscaping, the garden brings an direct sense of quiet to the visitor entering the portal, providing isolation from the bustling city that lies just a few steps beyond its walls. Today's garden include three parts: the central part which is called Zhuozheng Yuan, the eastern part called Guitianyuanju (Dwelling Upon Return to the Countryside), and the western part called the Supplementary Garden. The whole site was a piece of level swampy land previously. When the garden was built at first time, the earth was scooped to make lakes and piled up to make islands. The original garden was simpler than the one today but just as large, containing kinds of pavilions and trees, as evidenced in such sources as the Records of the Wang's Zhuozheng Yuan and the "Painting of Zhouzheng Yuan." Despite its beauty, the garden fared badly in the later Ming dynasty. The eastern part was parceled off while western and central halves became the villas of government officials. Neglect had been continued until the reigns of Emperor Shunhi and Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, when the garden was largely repaired. The changes in the Kangxi period were remardable great, modifying whole portions of the plan. During Emperor Qianlong's period the gardens were divided into two parts again; the western being the Shu Yuan (Book of Study Garden) and the eastern being the "Restored Garden" (Fu Yuan). Repairs to the gardens continued through the Qing Dynasty, but the appearance of today closely resembles how the gardens appeared in the late Qing. However, the eastern portion of the garden only joined the center in 1949 when modifications were made to the eastern side. |
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