The Lion Grove Garden in Suzhou

The Lion Grove Garden is a classical garden in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, located at No. 23 Yuanlin Road in the northeastern corner of the Suzhou city area, covering an area of 11,120 square meters. The Lion Grove Garden is one of the four famous gardens in Suzhou and represents the Dai garden style. It is also the only remaining example of China's early grotto-style rockery groups and is known as the "Kingdom of Rockeries". The Lion Grove Garden not only has the cultural landscape of pavilions, terraces, towers, attics, halls, and galleries that are typical of Suzhou classical gardens but is also world-famous for its lake and mountain rocks and deep and secluded grottoes, earning the reputation of the "Kingdom of Rockeries". The rockeries of the Lion Grove Garden are both numerous and exquisite, with the lake rocks being delicate, the grottoes winding, and the paths twisting and turning as if entering a maze, known as the "Eighteen Scenes of the Peach Blossom Land". The tops of the grottoes are lined with strange peaks and rocks, all resembling dancing lions, with famous peaks such as Huanhui, Tuyue, Xuan Yu, and Ang Xia. "The best place in the city is the Lion Grove, where one seeks the light rain and gentle breeze." Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty visited Jiangnan six times and held the Lion Grove Garden in high esteem, inscribing poems to praise its beauty and twice bestowing the words "True Interest", reflecting his unique fondness for the Lion Grove Garden. Although the Lion Grove Garden is small, only 16 acres, roughly one-fifth the size of the Humble Administrator's Garden, it is world-famous for its lake rockeries. The rockeries in the garden are majestic, with ingenious designs and cleverly winding grottoes. In the rockery forest, one can clearly see the pavilion ahead, but after turning around, it seems impossible to find the way out, as if entering a labyrinth, which is really interesting! The garden, which is over 600 years old, has been visited by so many people that the rocks have been polished smooth and shiny, and the stone steps are slippery. Elderly people and children must be careful when visiting on rainy days.