Dotted within the boundary of Suzhou proper, Jiangsu Province, the gardens of Suzhou, with the Humble Administrator’s Garden, Master-of-Nets Garden, Lingering Garden, Canglang Pavilion Garden, Lion Forest Garden and Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty serving as their typical examples, reflect the cream of garden architecture south of Yangtze in a concentrated way, to represent the architectural styles of the different periods of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

By cleverly using of the garden-building skills and methods of comparison, setting off, scene contracting and scene borrowing as well as size changing, tiers coordinating, big seen in little and using the few to defeat the many, the classical gardens of Suzhou assemble the pavilions, terraces, towers, chambers, springs, rockeries, flowers and woods together to create a harmoniously coexisting dwelling environment of man with nature in the urban area, to occupy an un-replaceable important position in the history of world garden construction. In 1997, they were inscribed in the “World Cultural Heritage List”.

And in Nov 2000, the 5 gardens of the Garden, Couple’s Garden Retreat, Canglang, Lion and Retreat and Reflection were approved to be included in the “World Heritage List” as the expanded items of the Classical of Suzhou.