Suzhou Gardens are the traditional Chinese garden. Suzhou Type Garden has five important elements:  winding paths, glazed plant pots, water and rocks. Strangely shaped, irregular rocks have been collected and showcased in gardens for centuries. There is variation across the regions of China in the garden design and there is scope for individuality in design too. The city of Suzhou in Jiangsu is famous for its ancient gardens. 

In the center of the courtyard, people laid garden in it. While the buildings are geometrically regular, the gardens are irregular,  which offers a naturalistic vision of the countryside beyond. This represents a quest for Yinyang balance where the regular and geometric walls and buildings are yang while the garden is yin. 

 

The informal and naturalistic garden Chinese designs heavily influenced European garden design, Europe had for a long while chosen geometric and symmetric designs totally different to the Chinese model. Chinese gardens do not have areas laid out to grass lawns. This is partly due to the dry climate but mainly because a mass of green would not create a pleasing balance. The absence of space for tall trees is made up for Penjing with bonsai trees growing in containers.

 

A feature of the grander gardens is a moon gate which is a circular gateway that offers an impressive and inviting entrance to the garden. Here lists Suzhou Style Gardens:

Suzhou is China's well-known "city of gardens", which tops all gardens in both the number and the artistry. Suzhou's art of gardening has undergone a history of 1,500 years. According to chorography, there were once over 200 gardens in the city, and 69 of them are still in good preservation today. 

Suzhou gardens seek the return to Nature and the cultivation of temperament, with hills and waters, flowers and trees, pavilion, terraces, towers and halls composing the basic garden elements. 

Suzhou gardens have their own characteristics in layout, structure and style. The Four Classical Gardens of Suzhou, namely, the Surging Waves Pavilion, the Lion Grove Garden, the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Lingering Garden, respectively represent the different styles of Song (960-1279), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

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