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 Located
in the northeast part of
Suzhou city, Lion Grove,
with a history of 650
years, is one of the
four most famous gardens
in Suzhou (the others
are: Canglang Pavilion,
Garden for Lingering In
and Humble
Administrator’s Garden).
Lion Grove was first
built in 1342 during the
Yuan dynasty by Monk
Tianru and other
disciples, as a memorial
to their master, Monk
Zhongfeng. Because there
was a forest of bamboo,
grotesque rocks
resembling lions in the
garden, and indirect
reference to a Buddhist
story of the lion, the
garden was named as Lion
Grove. Soon after its
birth, the garden became
a popular place for
scholars at Suzhou to
write poems and paint
pictures. After the
death of Monk Tianru,
the garden declined and
changed hands a number
of times. In 1918 it was
purchased and repaired
by Pei, an
industrialist. After the
founding of the P.R.C,
the garden was donated
to the state.
With an area of 10000
sqm, Lion Grove boasts
22 buildings of varied
types, 25 tablets, 71
steles inscribed with
the handwritings of
famous calligrapher, 23
brick carvings as well
as 5 carved wooden
screens.
Lion Grove has reputed
as the "Kingdom of
Rockery" for a long
time. Covering nearly
half of the total area
of the garden, these
rockworks, made from
Taihu limestone (a kind
of limestone produced in
Lake Taihu), were
ingeniously piled up in
layers to form peaks,
crags, valleys and
caverns. There’re 9
mountain paths, 21
caves, and innumerable
grotesque rocks, many of
them resembling lions
with different and
striking poses, such as
dancing lions, roaring
lions, a couple of
fighting lions, and
lions playing with a
ball.
Noted for its
labyrinthine mountains
with winding pathways
and caverns, old pines
and cypress trees,
awesome peaks and jogged
rocks of grotesque
shapes resembling
dancing lions with
striking and unusual
poses, it possesses with
pride the true delights
of mountain and forest
scenery in limited space
with a flavor of Zen
Buddhism.
It was said that Emperor
Qianlong had visited
here for six times and
wrote an inscription "Zhenqu"
(True Delight) to
describe the beauty of
the garden, which is now
hung on the True Delight
Pavilion. |
