Huijing Garden

Huijing Garden

Huijing Garden is situated on the southern bank of South Lake, taking the form of a peninsula and spanning 33,600 square meters. With its rockeries and waterfalls, pavilions and courtyards, shaded paths, and ancient bridges over streams, the garden fully embodies the style of traditional Jiangnan gardens. The Wanghu Tower corresponds with the distant Yanyu Tower, the Zuixian Tower captures the essence of Jin Yong’s novels, and the Hongling Corridor showcases the charm of Jiangnan water towns. The Wanghu Square is a popular spot for both local citizens and visitors to sightsee and relax, as well as a key venue for public cultural activities and festive celebrations. Facilities such as the visitor service center, entrance plaza, and ferry boat dock make it an important reception and service hub within the South Lake Scenic Area. Huijing Garden integrates lake viewing, leisure tourism, cultural entertainment, and travel reception services, serving as the main gateway to the South Lake Scenic Area.

During the Jiading era of the Southern Song Dynasty, Song Dynasty official Pan Shidan had a private garden by the South Lake in Jiaxing called “Huijing Pavilion.” Today’s Huijing Garden derives its name from this. Pan Shidan once served as Prefect of Xiuzhou and was so captivated by the scenic beauty of South Lake that, before reaching old age and while still serving as a high-ranking official, he resigned his post to build pavilions and gardens by the lake. The garden included ten scenic spots: Nanwu, Haitang Pavilion, Bailian Marsh, Taohua Pavilion, Hongwei Path, Chaxi, Xianhe Pavilion, Furong Pond, Baizhu Bridge, and Yuxu. Based on the names of these ten spots, we can imagine how vast and grand the garden must have been in its heyday. Zhang Yao Tong, a contemporary of Pan Shidan, wrote in “Hundred Poems of Jiahe · Huijing Pavilion”: “The scenery is too beautiful for words, you must come to this lakeside. A perfect blend of flowers and birds, all gathered into one pavilion of spring.” From the poem, it is evident that the beauty of South Lake was entirely captured by Huijing Pavilion—truly a vibrant scene of blooming flowers and radiant spring light.

Designers and builders of classical Chinese gardens have always emphasized using a variety of techniques in landscaping to present nature in a way that achieves the ideal state of “revealing beauty progressively, seeing grandeur in small spaces, and changing scenes with every step,” such as techniques like suppression, framed views, framed counterparts, and borrowed scenery. Many traditional gardens often use rockeries or screen walls at their entrances to first suppress and then reveal the beauty within, allowing visitors to gradually discover the charm of the garden without realizing it, thereby achieving the perfect effect described as “amid mountains and rivers that seem to block all paths, a village suddenly appears amidst willows and bright flowers.” The rockery at the entrance plaza of Huijing Garden cleverly applies the “suppression” technique from the landscaping artistry of Jiangnan gardens. This rockery at the entrance plaza is built with over 300 tons of yellow stones, and the two characters “Nan Hu” (South Lake) inscribed on the rockery were handwritten by Guo Moruo.

Entering from the east garden gate, you’ll find a set of quaint Qing-style buildings—this is the Zuixian Tower, constructed based on one of the scenes from Jin Yong’s novel “The Legend of the Condor Heroes.” Inside the tower, a painting titled “Seven Freaks of Jiangnan” is vivid and lifelike. On October 26, 2003, when Mr. Jin Yong celebrated his 80th birthday here, he inscribed the name “Zuixian Tower” himself, adding even more luster to the building. Zuixian Tower is a dining establishment where visitors can enjoy the famed South Lake boat cuisine while reminiscing about the martial arts scenes from the novels of the “Great Master Jin.”

Adjacent to the Zuixian Tower is the Hongling Corridor, a covered walkway. In mid-autumn each year, it sells the specialty of South Lake known as “South Lake Ling” (water chestnuts), which are shaped like wontons or ingots—hence also called “Wonton Ling” or “Ingot Ling.” The South Lake Ling has thin shells, no pointy corners, thick and tender flesh. Legend has it that when Emperor Qianlong visited South Lake during his southern tour and tried the water chestnuts, he accidentally pricked his lip and jokingly remarked, “These little green chestnuts would be perfect if they had no points!” Unbeknownst to him, the Water Chestnut Fairy overheard this, and ever since, the South Lake Ling has had no points. Of course, this is just a legend. In reality, the South Lake Ling has a history of over 6,000 years, with carbonized cornerless chestnuts unearthed at the Majiabang cultural site. The fact that South Lake Ling has survived to this day is inseparable from the specific water quality of South Lake, the careful selection of seeds by chestnut farmers, and their dedicated cultivation.