Garden of the Master of Nets

The Master of the Nets Garden, located in Suzhou of the Jiangsu Province, is masterpiece classical garden in the style of the Qing Dynasty. It was built by government official Shi Zhengzhi with the simple notion of a fisherman’s life and was initially used as a delicate garden but has since evoled into a scholar’s garden with its own unique style among Chinese classical gardens. The layout of the property is very small but exquisite and graceful with much attention having been put into precise structuring and proper size proportioning. Centered with a pond, the garden can be divided into five areas in general where each is distinctly aesthetically different from the others: the residential area in the east, the banquet area in the south, the main garden in the middle, a cortile in the west, and a studying area in the north.

The residential area in the east has high eaves and well-decorated halls, creating very pleasant classical atmospheres. The most famous building in the garden is Dianchunyi in the west, whose external building features together with its internal decorations proudly exemplify the style of the Ming Dynasty. It was used in 1979 as the model for the Ming Hall Garden displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The studying area has a profoundly academic atmosphere and harbors large collections of precious books; many famous artists and painters have once gathered here to communicate and to improve their skills.

The halls, walkways, and rockeries are all placed around the pond, and the whole layout was deliberately made asymmetrical in order to give visitors an illusion of a larger space, which adds charm and mystery to the whole garden. There is also an arch-shaped bridge over the pond named Leading to Quietude Bridge.