Wuxi Gongyuan Garden

Wuxi Gongyuan Garden

Gongyuan Garden is situated at Zhonglou Street on Zhongshan Road in the heart of Wuxi. In 1905, a group of influential gentry proposed and pooled funds to create Wuxi’s first park on the foundation of several pre-existing small private gardens in the city center. From its founding to the present day, over the course of a hundred years through three different dynasties, the garden has always upheld one principle: free entry and no restrictions for any visitor. Shortly after the establishment of “Chengzhong Park” (the Park in the City), the citizens of Wuxi, following their own custom, gave it another nickname: “Gongyuan” (Public Garden).

The park is recognized by the landscaping community as China’s first public park and the very first garden truly intended for the public. Five years after the creation of "Gongyuan", Dr. Sun Yat-sen assumed the provisional presidency of the Republic of China in Nanjing. His advocacy of “The world belongs to all” offers the best interpretation of the spirit behind the birth of Gongyuan Garden.

Within Gongyuan Garden, there are currently 22 well-preserved cultural relics and important commemorative structures. These include a stone horse-watering trough from the Song Dynasty, the Xiuyi Peak from the Ming Dynasty, the Longgang built 100 years ago, stone inscriptions of Huaisu’s “Forty-Two Chapter Sutra”, as well as tablet inscriptions by renowned calligraphers and painters from various dynasties.