Just over 1km beyond the city’s western moat is one of the largest gardens in Suzhou, the sublime Lingering Garden (留园, Liúyuán, 338 Liuyuan Lu), first built in 1593. With its idealized landscapes rendered on a miniature scale, gardens like this one really were the original theme parks. Pass through a moon gate and you might find yourself crossing a "mountain range" of weathered rocks, skirting the edge of an "ocean" (pond), or admiring a fabulous collection of bonsai trees. Paths zigzag for the sheer fun of it, while also serving to slow your progress so that you better appreciate the garden’s beauty. Tall boundary walls and dense cascades of trees amplify the feeling of being in an enclosed world. Keep going to the furthest inner courtyard for Cloud-Capped Peak, a weathered "scholar rock" standing 6.5m high, the tallest such garden ornament in Suzhou.
The 3-hectare garden plot was originally built in the Ming dynasty by a doctor as a relaxing place for his recovering patients. It’s easy to see why the patients took to it.
