Suzhou Keyuan Garden

Suzhou Keyuan Garden

Suzhou Keyuan Garden is a Suzhou municipal cultural relic protection unit and a patriotic education base.

Suzhou Keyuan Garden, also known as Jinshulin or Leyuan, is a classical garden architecture complex initially built during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Located in Sanyuanfang, southern Suzhou (No. 708 Renmin Road), it stands just one alleyway away from the Canglang Pavilion. The garden gate faces south and looks across the water to the Canglang Pavilion. In 1963, it was designated as a cultural relic protection unit of Suzhou. Keyuan currently covers an area of 5,000 square meters, with a central pond, spacious pavilions, winding corridors, bright waters and lush trees, and open courtyards. It has undergone several restorations over the decades. As a representative region of classical garden architecture, Suzhou boasts a rich classical ambiance.

In the late Five Dynasties period, this site was part of a villa belonging to Sun Chengyou, the military governor of Zhongwu under Qian Yuanguan, the King of Guangling of the Wuyue Kingdom, and later fell into disrepair. During the Northern Song Dynasty, it became part of the Canglang Pavilion. In the Southern Song Dynasty, when Han Shizhong resided at the Canglang Pavilion, he repurposed the site as a residence, expanding and renovating it into the "Han Garden" estate. In the 32nd year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1767), Governor Shen Deqian rebuilt the garden here and named it "Jinshulin" ("Mountains and Woods Nearby"). Taking inspiration from the saying “the benevolent enjoy mountains, the wise enjoy water,” it was also called "Leyuan" ("Garden of Joy"). After its completion, the garden's eastern side housed the Zhengyi Academy, while the western side had the Shen family ancestral hall and residence; the three were essentially integrated. Shen Deqian once studied here. Some mistakenly thought the name meant "joy of pleasure," but officials in the Qianlong era clarified that "such pleasure is not exemplary." In the 7th year of the Daoguang reign (1827), Provincial Governor and Jiangsu Governor Liang Zhangju oversaw further renovations, incorporated the site into the Zhengyi Academy, turning it into an academy garden and renaming it "Keyuan" ("Adaptable Garden"). It then covered over 20 acres and featured attractions such as Yiqing Hall, Zuochunlu, and Zhuoying Chu. Zhu Tonglai from Jing County, who served as head of the Zhengyi Academy, wrote in "Record of Keyuan": “The hall of the garden is spacious and deep, the pool in front is so clear and pure that it inspired its name; the pond spans about an acre, stocked with fish and suitable for lotus planting, with rocks along the bank for resting. To the left, a platform by the pond is good for fishing, to the right, a pavilion shaped like a boat called Zuochunfang offers wind and moon views, surrounding corridors are perfect for strolling, and a few steps out leads to a three-bay house where guests can be received in winter—called Zhuoyingchu. The old garden lies just across the stream from the Canglang Pavilion, hence borrowing the line from the ‘Song of the Child’: ‘The Canglang’s waters are clear, they can rinse my hat strings.’” This shows that both the site and the name of the garden share origins with the Canglang Pavilion, drawing from Mencius’ quote: “If the water of the Canglang is clear, I can rinse my hat strings with it.” Lin Zexu also gave lectures in the garden during his tenure as Jiangsu Governor.

During the Xianfeng and Tongzhi eras, Keyuan suffered damage from war. In the 14th year of the Guangxu reign (1888), Jiangsu Provincial Governor Huang Pengnian renovated the garden, established the "Xuegu Tang" (Hall of Studying Antiquity), and built the "Boyue Tower" with an eight-thousand-volume collection. Over a hundred plum trees were added to the garden. The ancient "Tiegu Hong" plum was praised as the “Number One Branch of the South.” In the 31st year of the Guangxu reign (1905), the Qing government, under the leadership of the Westernization Movement faction, announced the complete abolition of the imperial examination system and successively issued the "Regulations Encouraging Returned Overseas Students" and the "Regulations for the Examination of Returned Overseas Students," allowing international students to obtain official ranks equivalent to those of the imperial exams through assessments. Jiangsu Governor Lu Yuanding closed Xuegu Tang, replacing it with a Preparatory Department for Overseas Studies, a dedicated institution for selecting local students to study abroad. That year, six government-funded students were sent to study in the UK. In the 33rd year of the Guangxu reign (1907), it was changed again into the Cungu Tang (Academy for Preserving Antiquity). During the Xinhai Revolution, Ms. Zhang Mojun founded the "Great Han Newspaper" here. In 1914, the Jiangsu Provincial Library was established here, with "Yiqing Hall" serving as the reading room and "Zhuoyingchu" as the children’s reading room. The garden had over a hundred plum trees in red, white, and green, among which the ancient "Tiegu Hong" plum, said to have been planted by Huang Pengnian when running Xuegu Tang, was known as the “Number One Branch of the South.” In the 25th year of the Republic of China (1936), a "Plum Exhibition" was held, and Zhang Mojun returned to the site. Together with Shao Yuanchong, Tang Guoli, and others, she composed poetry in response, which became widely celebrated. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the garden still featured lotuses in the pond and plum groves alongside book buildings. In 1951, Keyuan was used as office space and a sanatorium for faculty and students of the Southern Jiangsu Industrial College, and after 1957, it was used by Suzhou Medical College. Due to its low terrain, the garden often suffered flooding during typhoons and heavy rains, and ancient trees like the "Tiegu Hong" plum gradually died out in the 1950s. The garden structures also deteriorated over time. In 1963, the garden was listed as a municipal cultural relic protection unit of Suzhou, and the medical college allocated funds for repairs. Today, Keyuan is managed by Soochow University and serves as the office of the Standing Committee of the Free Radical Preventive Medicine Professional Committee of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, as well as a patriotic education base.