Ge Yuan Garden

Ge Yuan is considered one of the finest private gardens in China β€” a compact masterpiece of the Huizhou garden tradition, built in the early Qing Dynasty for a salt merchant who had the taste and the money to commission real artistry. The centrepiece of the garden is the Four Seasonal Rockeries: four separate stone-and-plant compositions representing spring (bamboo with stalagmite rock), summer (lake rock with shade plants), autumn (yellow rock with weathered surfaces), and winter (white quartz arranged to suggest snow).

The rockeries are intended to be visited in sequence and the progression from spring to winter is surprisingly moving. The bamboo plantings throughout the garden are dense enough to create genuine enclosures. The garden is smaller than Slender West Lake but more concentrated in effect β€” allow ninety minutes to appreciate it properly. It is located in the old commercial quarter near Dongguan Street, and the walk there through the historic streets is itself worthwhile.

things to do sight
A story
Ge Yuan was built by Huang Yingtai, a bamboo merchant, and his design obsession with bamboo is visible everywhere: not just the extensive bamboo plantings, but in the garden's Chinese name β€” ge (δΈͺ) is the character for "bamboo leaf." The garden's four seasonal rockery scenes are made from four different kinds of stone, each arranged to suggest a different time of year.