Mudu Ancient Town in Suzhou - Yan's Garden

Yan's Garden is located by Wangjia Bridge on Shantang Street in Mudu Town, facing Xiangxi across the door and backed by Lingyan Mountain. "Although it is in the mountains and forests, the exquisite structure of this garden does not concede to the city" (Tong Jun's "Records of Gardens in Jiangnan"), and it is one of the famous gardens in the south of the Yangtze River. The predecessor of Yan's Garden was the residence of Shen Deqian, a famous scholar in Suzhou during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty and the compiler of 'Ancient Poetry Source'. In the eighth year of the Daoguang era (1828 AD), Shen's descendants transferred this courtyard to Mudu poet Qian Duanxi. Qian built rockeries, dredged ponds, constructed pavilions and towers, with attractions such as Youyu Study, Tiaonong Tower, and Yanqing Pavilion, which were highly praised at the time. Gong Zizhen, a poet, praised the garden with phrases such as "The marvelous structure is extremely natural, not man-made," and "Leaning on the rocks like a beauty." In the twenty-eighth year of the Guangxu era (1902 AD), Mudu's richest man, Yan Guoxin (the grandfather of Taiwanese politician Yan Jiagan), bought the Duan Garden, renovated it, and renamed it 'Xian Garden'. Because the owner's surname was Yan, local people called it 'Yan's Garden'. Yan's Garden, through the efforts of three generations of owners over more than 170 years, has been endowed with a cultural atmosphere and the style of a famous garden, whether through the vicissitudes of time or its cultural heritage. In 1935, Professor Liu Dunzhen, a modern architect, visited the garden twice and was so captivated that he highly praised the layout and local treatment of Yan's Garden, considering it the 'best of the best' among local gardens in Suzhou.