I first visited Suzhou in the summer of l979. The city has thousands of years of history. So naturally appeared very old. This oldness gave me a sense of security;I felt I could trust its food 1ike I trusted my old granny.And indeed I did enjoy many delicious things.I went to almost every classical garden open to the public,gardens which had originally been part of private homes.Such classical gardens were actually the dream of a lifetime home to which the Chinese of old aspired.

I remember there were few tourists in the gardens back then,and all was very tranquil.The classical gardens were mixed shoulder to shoulder with common houses in the streets and lanes,so without guidance some were easily missed.

Suzhou is permeated right through with garden atmosphere.The famous gardens are few in number,but garden architecture has a solid popular foundation in Suzhou and you can find gardens large and small in the homes of ordinary folk perhaps just a rockery or a tall and slender bamboo.The famous gardens grew out of Suzhou's cultural atmosphere and everyday customs;they are not transplanted products,the result of a pretended love of art.

Like an aristocratic family,a classical garden must have a history of at least a hundred years in order to be worthy of the name.The position of a grotesque rock or a water vat might change several times over a hundred years as the perspective,attitude and experience of the garden's owner changed over the course of his 1ife.from innocence to sophistication.and back to naturalness.

The classical gardens of Suzhou are places where the heart finds ease.They are the perfect combination of ancient Chinese thought and life experience,of technique and economic strength.The saying "Up in Heaven there is paradise;down here on earth We have Suzhou and Hangzhou" is not just words;it actually depicts the life ideal of ancient China.Like the temples of ancient Greece,the classical gardens of Suzhou are sacred shrines,and are the superb embodiment of Chinese thought.The greatness of Chinese thought lies in the unity of knowledge and action rather than in the abstract doctrinarism of pure metaphysics.It is a practical living world embodied in concrete situations.The gardens are among the highest manifestations of the philosophy of the oneness of man and nature Conveying the most profound dimension of Chinese philosophy,they are good places for cultivating the mind and developing the character.At the same time, they are ideal places for easing the heart and living a peaceful life.Cultivating the mind and easing the heart is what essentially distinguishes Chinese from Western architecture.

The classical gardens of Suzhou demonstrate the concept of poetic dwelling.The poetry refers not only to little bridges and flowing streams,bushy trees and slim bamboos,grotesque rockeries and ornate buildings,nor simply to the arts of"borrowed views." but also indicates the fundamental meaning of human existence and what kind of world men want to 1ive in.Modernists may be seduced by the process of modernization,but the real meaning of human 1ife lies in ease of heart.

The classical gardens of Suzhou are the sacred shrines of Chinese culture.I describe those places,which were used simply for cultivating the mind and easing the heart,as such because they have transcended everyday lire to become a cultural symbol and spiritual metaphor.