The Surging Wave Pavilion

This Garden was built in 1044 by the Song dynasty poet Su Shunqing. It is the earliest of all the Suzhou gardens and is unique in that all the other gardens are inward looking as sancturies from the outside world, but, unlike  the other gardens, Blue Wave Pavilion emphasizes the harmony between man made buildings and the natural environment. Before entering the garden, you can see beautiful scenery composed of a green water pool that is surrounded by a growth of weeping willows. Inside the garden there are  man made rock formations that are divided into two parts. On the eastern side, the earth has been mixed with natural yellow stones and built in such a manner that it resembles a natural hill. On the western side, exquisite stones from the lake have been used to create another naturally appearing hill. Both of these rock formations have been planted with green trees and viridian bamboos that add to the beauty of the scene and create the sensation of walking in a primitive mountain forest. There are also winding corridors with pavilions that link the hills and pools together. There is a double corridor with one side looking out to the canal planted with weeping willows which is outwith the garden and the parrellel half within the wall looking inwards. The views are managed by limiting the openings between the two and the inner corridor has a series of framing windows.The pavilions that have been built in the garden are simply and classically designed in  a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) style.