园林艺术

Why this place

A Chinese classical garden is a designed landscape in miniature: water, rockery, walls, windows and pavilions arranged so that the view changes with every step, and so that the whole world is represented in a small space. The vocabulary was worked out in Suzhou, and it spread to the imperial gardens of Beijing and to the merchant gardens of Guangdong.

What to see

• Suzhou's gardens — the Humble Administrator's, the Lingering Garden, the Master of the Nets
• Beijing's Summer Palace and the Beihai and Zhongnanhai parks
• Yangzhou's Slender West Lake, and the Geyuan Garden with its four-season rockeries
• The Lingnan gardens of Guangdong — the Qinghui Garden at Shunde and Keyuan at Dongguan
• The Shanghai Yu Garden, for a Ming merchant garden in the middle of a modern city

What to eat

• Tea in a garden teahouse, which is how a garden is properly visited
• Jiangnan sweets and the local snacks near the Suzhou gardens

How to plan

Two or three gardens in one day is enough — they reward slow attention, not ticking off.

Best time

March–May and September–November; gardens are designed to be seen in light rain

Practical tips

• Go at opening time; a garden is a place for quiet, and by mid-morning the main ones are crowded