World Cultural Heritage | The Couple's Retreat Garden (1703)

The Couple's Retreat Garden (1703). Originally named Shu Yuan, the Couple's Retreat Garden is located at No. 6 Xiaoxin Alley, Cang Street, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, and was built in the early Qing Dynasty. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, because there was a garden built on each side of the east and west of the residence, it was named 'The Couple's Retreat Garden,' and the word 'couple' is homophonous with 'accidental.' The garden is surrounded by rivers on three sides and along a street on one side, with a total area of about 8,000 square meters. The layout of the Couple's Retreat Garden is centered around the residence with four halls, connected to the east and west gardens by a double-decker building. It is divided into three parts: the central hall, the west flower hall, and the east flower garden. The east flower garden is larger, covering an area of about 4 mu, with a layout that emphasizes mountains and complements with a pond. In the southeast corner, there are three small courtyards collectively known as 'Chengqu Caotang.' The west garden is smaller, centered around the study 'Zhilian Laowu,' and divided into two small courtyards, with a rockery made of lake stones in the front courtyard and a flower bed made of lake stones in the back courtyard, with a library standing to the north of the garden. The landscape feature 'Yellow Rockery' inside the Couple's Retreat Garden was built in front of the Chengqu Caotang hall. On November 30, 2000, the Couple's Retreat Garden, along with other classical gardens of Suzhou, was approved by the 24th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to be added to the 'World Heritage List.' On June 25, 2001, the Couple's Retreat Garden was announced by the State Council of the People's Republic of China as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.