Tuisi Garden: Thinking about Existence

#voyagevibes Tuisi Garden is located at No. 234 Xintian Street, Guzhen District, Tongli Town, Wujiang District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. It was built in the 11th to 13th years of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty. It was a garden built by Ren Lansheng, an official of the Qing Dynasty, who returned to his hometown after being dismissed. The name of the garden “Tuisi" is taken from the “The Story of Father Lin” in the "Zuo Zhuan". Historical background Tuisi Garden covers an area of 5,674 square meters and a construction area of 2,622 square meters. It is laid out horizontally, with residences, courtyards, and gardens from west to east.The residential part includes the entrance hall, tea room, main hall and two small buildings where the family lives.The central courtyard is a natural transition between the residence and the garden, mainly used for hospitality.The courtyard is enclosed by a cloister, and there is a guest house and a year-old cold residence in the south of the courtyard for meeting and banquets; there is a spring Mochizuki building in the north of the courtyard for guests to live in.The garden area accounts for more than half of the entire mansion, centered on the lotus pond, surrounded by rockeries, buildings, flowers and trees. Architectural features Tuisi Garden takes “Retreat” as the horizontal line and "thinking" as the core of mind. The architecture in the garden is simple and elegant, with the style of Jiangnan garden architecture in the late Qing Dynasty. The main building is built against the water, with a compact structure and a prominent center.Each building in the park can be landscaped on its own and correspond to another landscape.The Tuisi Garden is spread out in a closed layout, with barriers on each floor. There are also “one pavilion, one bridge, and one xuan” in the garden, including Zichun Mochizuki Building, Retreat Thatched Cottage, Yuziting Pavilion, etc. Cultural value Tuisi Garden is not only a model of Suzhou's classical gardens, it was also included in the World Cultural Heritage in 2000, and was declared a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council. The architecture and layout in the garden reflect the unique style and artistic value of Jiangnan Gardens in the late Qing Dynasty.