China Guide
Jiangsu and Zhejiang
Wangshi Yuan
Opening time: Daily 7.30am–5pm
Price: ¥30
Address: Shiquan Jie, a short walk west from the Suzhou Hotel
So named because the owner, a retired official, decided he wanted to become a fisherman, tiny and intimate Wangshi Yuan (Master of the Nets Garden) was started in 1140, but was later abandoned and not restored to its present layout until 1770. Considered by garden connoisseurs to be the finest of them all, it boasts an attractive central lake, minuscule connecting halls, pavilions with pocket-handkerchief courtyards and carved wooden doors – and rather more visitors than it can cope with. The garden is said to be best seen on moonlit nights, when the moon can be seen three times over from the Moon-watching Pavilion – in the sky, in the water and in a mirror. The garden's other main features are its delicate latticework and fretted windows, through which you can catch a series of glimpses – a glimmer of bamboo, dark interiors, water and a miniature rockery framed in the three windows of a study. Outside the dead winter months Wangshi Yuan plays host to nightly arts performances.