Lion Grove Garden (Shizilin) is located on 23 Yuanlin Road, in the northeast of Suzhou-a city with profound cultural background and convenient developmental advantages. Lion Grove Garden is one of the four most famous and representative gardens of ancient classical style in Suzhou City. The other three are Blue Wave Pavilion (Canglangta), Lingering Garden (Liuyuan) and Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuozhengyuan).
History
It was originally built in 1342 in the 2nd year of the reign (CE 1341-1368) of Emperor Zhizhen during the Yuan (CE 1279-1368) Dynasty. According to existing records, Shi Zi Lin was built by a prominent monk by the name of Tian Ru together with a group of fellow Zen students in honor of their master, Chan Zhong Feng, primarily as a temple with surrounding garden grounds. It was originally named Bodhi Orthodox School Temple, but was later called the Lion Grove Garden, partly due to the odd shape of many of the garden's Tai Hu stone formations , which suggested lions in various poses, and partly due to the fact that Chan Zhong Feng had once lived in Lion Cave at Tianmu Mountain.
Rocks and rockeries
Covering an area of roughly 1000 sqm, Lion Grove Garden is famous for its unique Tai Hu stone formations, or rockeries. These odd rocks – some boulder-sized – have all been collected from the bottom of Lake Tai, then stacked atop one another to create a maze of nooks, crannies, caverns and peaks (not to forget lion shapes) which, from a distance, give the illusion of mountains in miniaturized format. Specially shaped Tai Hu rocks are given prominent placing, such as those that resemble lions. It is the rockeries that define this garden, and therefore it is no wonder that it is also called the RockeryKingdom.
Another equally colorful common name for Lion Grove Garden is "The Eighteen Scenic Spots of Heaven" because of the garden's many rockeries and circuitous pathways which form a veritable maze that the visitor can stroll through. There are many rockeries in Lion Grove Garden such as Hanhui Rockery, Tuyue Rockery, Xuanyu Rockery and Angxia Rockery. But the most famous of them all is of course the Lion Rockery.
Zhenqu Ting (True Delight Pavilion)
Zhenqu Ting (True Delight Pavilion) is inarguably the garden's most magnificent due to its royal design with an inscription authored by Emperor Qianlong himself of the Qing (CE 1644-1911) Dynasty, who visited the garden several times.
Lixue Tang (Standing-in-Snow Hall)
Lixue Tang (Standing-in-Snow Hall) gets its name from a story about a zealous Zen Buddhist devotee who stood out in the snow all night in reverence to his master. Wen Mei Ting (Greeting the Plum Blossoms Pavilion) was a venue where painters and poets gathered. In addition to the plum trees that surround the pavilion, images of plum blossoms are carved into the pavilion's furniture, while other plum blosssom representations are painted onto various of the pavilion's utensils.
Yifeng Zhibo Xuan (Bowing-to-Peaks-and-Pointing-to-the-Cypress Veranda)
Yifeng Zhibo Xuan (Bowing-to-Peaks-and-Pointing-to-the-Cypress Veranda) is a veranda, or salon, used by one of the garden's former owners to entertain friends, relatives, and more formal guests. "Zhibo" (Pointing-to-the-Cypress) refers to a line from a poem by Gao Qi (CE 1336-1374) of the Ming (CE 1368-1644) Dynasty: 'Instead of greeting his guest, [the host] smiles and points at a cypress before the hall'. "Yifeng" refers to a line from a poem by Zhu Xi (CE 1130-1200): "Bowing to Lushan, a peak of unique charm.".jpg)
Lion Grove Garden is a unique experience for visitors of all kinds, as its funny-looking stone formations will delight children (of all ages) while for the more serious-minded, the garden's philosophical background – embracing the lofty as well as the mundane – will provide a glimpse into the Chinese psyche.
Admission Fee
20 Yuan in low season and 30 Yuan in peak season
Opening time
08:00—17:30
Transportation
Tourists can take No.1, No.2 or No.5 touring bus, No.202 (former No.2), No.204 (former No.4 bus), No.23, No.549 (former No.29 bus), No.40, No.78, No.301 and No.305 bus to Lion Grove Garden. You can visit Suzhou Folk Custom Museum at the same time and go to Humble Administrator's Garden after walking one hundred meters southwards along Garden Road.