Lion Grove Garden, also known as Shizilin Garden 狮子林， together with Humble Administrator's Garden, Lingering Garden, and Canglang Pavilion, is collectively known as one of the "Four Famous Gardens in Suzhou". Although the Lion Grove Garden is small, the rockery group in the park is very famous. These strange stones resemble dancing lions, and the rockeries are connected to each other like a maze. You can count the stone lions and experience the fun of hide and seek in the diamond head maze.
In the center of the garden are a pond and rockeries, with famous peaks such as Lion Peak, Hanhui, and Tuyue, as well as buildings such as Zhenqu Pavilion, Xiuzhu Pavilion, and Jianshan Tower surrounding the pond. Climbing up Jianshan Tower allows for a panoramic view of the landscape in the garden.
On the earth mountain in the western part of the garden, there is the Wenmei Pavilion. The tables, chairs, ceiling, and window patterns inside the pavilion are all in the shape of plum blossoms. Plum trees are planted in front of the pavilion and bloom in February every year.
There is also a long corridor surrounding the park, and the walls of the corridor are embedded with calligraphy tablets of the four famous poets of the Song Dynasty, Su Shi, Mi Fu, Huang Tingjian, and Cai Xiang, as well as the inscription of Wen Tianxiang's "Plum Blossom Poem" from the Southern Song Dynasty.
Lion Grove Garden was first built in the Yuan Dynasty, originally as the backyard of a Zen temple, but later purchased as a private residence. This garden was deeply loved by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. He would visit this place during his six trips to Jiangnan and even said that there were a total of 500 stone lions in the rockery group. There are still plaques in the park, such as "Zhenqu", which were given by Qianlong. He even imitated the Lion Forest in the Old Summer Palace and Chengde Mountain Resort.
Travel Tips
Address: No. 23 Yuanlin Road, Gusu District, Suzhou City
Telephone: 0512-962015,0512-67773263
Opening Hours: 07:30-17:30
Admission ticket: CNY 40