The Garden of Harmony or Joyous Garden

This garden is situated just off a bustling shopping street right in the centre of Suzhou. You pass from noisy madness into calm and tranquility. The contrast was epecially noticeable as we visited at the weekend. It too is a late Qing garden and it deliberately copies elements of the earlier gardens; the double corridor of the Surging Wave Pavilion, the lotus pond of the Master of the Nets and the Land Boat of the Humble Administrator's Garden  The nicest feature of the garden was that there were no tourists but it was being well used by locals. There was  a group of men poudly chattering over tea in one pavilion and a group of women gossiping over a picnic in another, whilst two men played chess in a quiet corner and women were practising Tai Chai in a rear courtyard. In that respect it was similar to the park of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing although I didn't  see any choirs in Suzhou.