The Gardens of Suzhou

Architecture in the Gardens of Suzhou

ARCHITECTURE IN THE GARDENS OF SUZHOU with Jia Jun Apotent contrast exists between the orderly sequence of four-square courtyards fronted by rectangular halls of the residential precinct and the confounding variety of pavilions, rockeries, ponds, corridors, and courtyards in the gardens. The residential halls and courtyards reveal a formal, Confucian hierarchy of relationships while the gardens express, it is often suggested, a Daoist flexibility. The scholar-officials who typically built the gardens led lives that similarly negotiated between these two philosophical poles and the vitality of the gardens of Suzhou is often amplified by this contrast. FIVE BAYS, THREE BAYS, ONE BAY The importance of each building is directly related to its size, or more important , to the number of structural bays across the front. The Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City has eleven bays, the most of any classical building in China, which gives testament to its preeminent position in the national hierarchy. Few domestic buildings would have more than five bays, which is the common number for the largest halls in the Suzhou gardens, including the largest one, the Nanmu Hall in the Lingering Garden. Three-bay buildings are usually studios, libraries, or secondary halls. 22 the gardens of suzhou The diversity of one-bay pavilions, half-pavilions, and porches gives credence to the inventiveness possible even when working within a thousandyear -old cultural tradition. RECEPTION HALLS At the Master of the Nets Garden, three halls face courtyards in the southeast corner of the property. Visitors approach the garden along a public alley but at the front gate they arrive into an elegantly proportioned foreFigures 12 and 13. The overall plan of the Master of the Nets Garden shows the various building types that are integrated into the garden. At the southeast (lower right) is the residential quarters gathered around three courtyards. In the northwest (upper left), a study overlooks a private courtyard. In the northeast (upper right), domestic quarters are entered directly from a separate northern entry. Around the garden pond are an array of large halls, pavilions, half pavilions, studies, and linked corridors. A detail plan of the entry halls and courtyards of the residential quarters is shown at right. architecture in the gardens of suzhou 23 court of simple white walls that is connected to a hall for sedan chairs— essentially a well-appointed garage. In the inner courtyard, there is often an elaborate gate, such as at the Master of the Nets. This gate, however, does not address the arriving visitor, but rather is oriented inward, and therefore addresses the departing visitor or those seated in the reception hall facing it across the courtyard. In the reception hall, formalized social rituals play out in accordance with Confucian doctrine. Acquaintances or officials would not be invited further into the residence. Close friends and family, however, could be directed from the reception hall into the garden, often through a direct, but concealed, connection. These halls, often the largest in the residence, inevitably face south and open out onto the entry courtyard with a wall of small carved wooden doors that often depict birds and flowers, whose allusion somehow compensates for the inert stone courtyards. Overhead, above a group of chairs and tables of substantial formality, is commonly a carved calligraphic tablet flanked by carved bamboo couplets on the wooden posts of the hall. These tablets and couplets announce the idealism of the garden owner, such as the “Master of the Nets” or the “Humble Administrator.” Behind this sitting group is a wall that conceals the door on the north side of the hall. To continue to the next, and increasingly private, courtyard, one slips around either end of the wall, which also blocks cold and damp winds, and advances into the next courtyard. This process repeats itself, and in some large residences involves as many as five or six courtyards. TWO-STORY HALLS It is common that the second or third courtyard would include a two-story building, the upper floor of which is used for sleeping. Carved doors and windows open to the north and south to provide fine cross-ventilation. Stairs may be internal to the building but are often built as external rockery piles with secluded steps, such as at the West Tower in the Lingering Garden or at the Nanmu Hall at the Mountain Resort in Chengde. 24 the gardens of suzhou LIBRARIES AND STUDIES The Hall...