苏州留园英文导游词.docVIP

PAGE  PAGE 30 苏州留园英文导游词 Lingering Garden Lingering Garden is one of the four major gardens in China and one of the Suzhou gardens listed as the World Cultural Heritage site by UNESCO. Situated between Suzhou’s Changmen City Gate and the Tiger Hill, it was built in the 16th century. Its founder was Xu Taishi, a high-ranking official. It was first named East Garden, as opposed to the West Garden that was laid out west of it at the same time by the same person. In 1798 the garden was owned by Liu Rongfeng, an official in charge of military affairs. It was repaired and renamed the Cold Azure Mountain Villa. Local people thought it was too literary to remember, and used to call it Liu Family’s Garden, or simply Liu’s Garden and Liu Garden. In 1876, Sheng Xuren, a provincial official took over the garden. The new owner, Sheng Family, changed the garden’s family name Liu into another Chinese character liu wuth the same pronunciation. This character liu means “linger to stay”. This is only a play on wards. Since then, the garden ahs been known as Liu Garden or the Lingering Garden. During the Anti-Japanese War the garden was occupied by Japanese horsemen and reduced to ruins. In 1953, the people’s government repaired the garden and restored its former splendor. The garden covers an area of 34.9 mu, or about six acres. It’s composed of the central, eastern, western, and northern sections, with the central and eastern sections being its quintessence. The western area is noted for natural scenery with rockeries, woods and brooks; and the northern part, rustic scenery.