1. The Philosophy of the Garden Organizing

The classical garden making is an art joining poetry and painting. The traditional Chinese landscape painting and the scholastic poetry find their perfectly melted expression in Suzhou classical gardens. The arrangement of the rock formations and the water in the gardens has worked out an effect that the gardens are " though out of the mortal hands, however seeming to be the work of nature". The rocks, water, trees, flowers, and everything in the garden are designed to make " the visitor rest his mind in peace but raise his brows in praise." This task is not to be fulfilled solely by the landscape itself—the garden designer's esthetics plays a more important role, and the visitor's excited feelings at the sight of the scenery has also contributed to the realization of the beauty-seeking.

The combination of the scenic beauty and cultural connotations is a characteristic element of Suzhou classical gardens. The effect brought on by the scenery gets its meaning and eternity only in the setting of its specific cultural background. " While the beautiful view around me captures the eyes of mine, the same thing gives free rein to my mind." The Chinese poets and painters enjoy their " freed mind " as a part of the universe, consort their string of soul to the rhythm of nature, and " merge themselves into the very origin of nature." The "the integration of man and nature" is the spiritual destination of many cultivated Chinese. To them, man and nature are one rather than two; harmonious rather than contrasting. The esthetics of Suzhou gardens is the materialization of this traditional idea of Chinese people. The classical gardens of Suzhou have worked out, through a series of ingenious arrangements, a miniature natural world, which meets the esthetic demand of the garden visitors, triggers off their feeling of the oneness of soul and universe. The highly-evaluated artistic conception in ancient Chinese esthetics asserts that one's mind should be freed from what he sets his eyes on if he should reach a higher order of esthetic realization at all, and that the mind hungry for beauty in its elevated sense must unbind itself from the isolated and confined material sights. The gardens in Suzhou are a mind emancipator in this respect. When a visitor is facing a small garden with rocks, water and trees artistically arranged to recreate a small universe, the feeling of going home to nature can be expected to take place and the sublimation of the esthetics is fulfilled. The visitor in such a scene might perceive certain enlightenment of life, history and the universe. That is the esthetic attainment " Dongwu Garden" aims for.

" Dongwu Garden" takes about 1,580 sq. meters of land and is arranged in line with the local conditions and the general planning. The whole area is centred with a pond framed by all the scenic spots. The little garden resembles a short verse, light in volume but deep in meaning. The garden, limited in space, gains beauty from the water and proves to be an example of " the less excelling the more". This nutshell really contains " vast, vast oceans and blooming flowers of all seasons".

The space of the garden is organized compactly, and that fact leads to a certain way to enjoy it—to view the garden at repose. The method of contrasting is involved when the designer means to create a feeling of spaciousness in the not so spacious garden: he cuts the space, with ways of means, into pieces big and small to contrast them. So the small space is often helpful in making its neibouring space seem larger. And the multi-layers of vision as a result of contrasting also serve to enlarge the subjective dimensions of the garden.

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2. The Way to Enjoy the Garden

The entrance is screened by a white wall with lattice windows on the top and several stalagmites and bamboo branches in the front. The space is thus partitioned and the visitors are enticed to find the hidden story of the garden behind the wall.

The enclosure wall and the main building form the front courtyard, serving as the space of transition and contrast. The small house at the entrance is a vestibule and as well as a contraction of space. This materialized principle of " revealing through concealing" works as the prelude of the gradual unfolding of the panoramic scenery in the garden. The white wall and the patterned windows to meet the inquisitive eyes of the visitors are a good case displaying the contrast of the solid and the void.

The main building of the garden is a waterside pavilion commanding a view framing all the scenic spots around the pond under it. Here one can treat his eyes with the water nearby, a rockery in the distance, a winding corridor, a zigzag bridge, flowers and even the chirping of some hidden insects. The pavilions, the rockery, a painted boat, the corridor, the bridge, a waterfall, which are all close on the water, are built in juxtaposition or opposition to reinforce each other's beauty. Here, one's eyes are pleased with the flowers, the trees, the clouds and the water; one's ears are pleased with the breezes, the waterfall, the birds; and one's nose is pleased with the flowers. These bits of beauty, either in their direct form or suggestive form, twang into a harmonious concert of great artistic conception.

Contrasting to the open, spacious dominant part of the garden is the serene and secluded rockery tucked away in the southeast corner. A ravine runs between the deep cliffs formed by grotesque rocks. The space in this area is that of the compressed and the spiral; and the landscape, that of the concealed and the muted. But anyhow the peak of the rock formation rises high over the ravine in a commanding air. The peak is crowned with an arbour resembling a hat. In the arbour, one can taste best these words: " The boundless scenic beauty comes to this little arbour." The little arbour makes itself a key point of the garden in this manner. Under the arbour is a cave above the ravine with a hole as a vantage point for a waterfall. Several stones in front of the waterfall suggest a link between the rocky trails on both sides of the ravine. When one lingers in this rock garden--up and down, left and right, inside and outside, to the front and to the rear--ones finds that the view is ever changing with the moving: now expressive, now suggestive, now appearing, now hidden, now interrupted, now complete, now shadowy, and now luminant. These changes bring the visitors to the wonder: " How deep is the deep, deep rockery?"

The water body is the soul of the garden, which brings together the separate scenic spots here and there. Due to the confinement of space, all the spots are arranged close to the water in line with the principle of compactness. And this design does not mean to sacrifice spaciousness at all. On the contrary, the water lends space to the scenery by means of reflection. The mirrored buildings in the vicinity of the pond, the mirrored clouds in the sky, and the mirrored everything join efforts with the real buildings, the real clouds, and the real everything to bring about a spectacular vision existing neither in the dream world nor in the real world. This is an exemplary application of the solid-void contrast in garden composition. The interacting of the solid and the void generates the rhythm and the flow of life as the interacting of the yin and yang principles in nature generates the whole world. A small pond is hidden in the southeast corner beyond the zigzag bridge. The small pond, separated from the main body of water by the bridge, serves to reflect the big space of the main water body. And at the same time the small pond, drawing on the coming waterfall, secures its importance as a source spring of the garden water. Seeing this, one's mind naturally turns to the poetic lines:" Why is the water so clear like this? It is because it comes from a living source." The clever employment of the method of contrast blows buoyancy into the garden.

The architectural decoration in a garden boasts of its flexibility as a feature of Chinese architecture. The decorative articles work as partitions of space as well as an expression of the art of garden organizing. The awnings, the lattice frames hung high, the full-size or semi-size windows, the brick frame lattice windows, the railings and the leaning balustrades are some of the means of the decoration. They are designed in abundant patterns with vivid motives and made of well-chosen materials with delicate workmanship. The decoration of the garden architecture is also achieved through the couplets or other forms of inscription written on scrolls and hung on the pillars of the halls or on the walls. These writings betray the esthetic conception of the views in description. The waterside pavilion as the dominant building of the garden is entitled " A Corner of Taihu Lake ". An arbour named "Awaiting the Moon" stands close on the water. On its pillars are the couplets read " The gentle breezes and the shining moon cost not a single penny, and the nearby water and far off hill are so dear to me." The boat anchoring on the water some distance away has a title of " Washing Me off the Worldly Cares ". And on the boat one is quick to perceive what is depicted in the lines of a verse, "Afar from the boat is the deep green hill in presence; singing past the boat flows the water with floral fragrance." The small arbour crowning the rockery is standing facing the buildings margining the water far across. The waterfall hanging underneath the arbour at one time pours in torrents, and at another time just trickles and dangles in winds. One can, in the same arbour, either enjoy the distant waterside buildings or amuse himself watching the waterfall near at foot, so the arbour is rightly called "Arbour Good for Both". The couplets there are " Bringing in scenery, bringing out its flavour, bringing in things of all manners; fit for rain, fit for sun, fit most for the beauty seekers."

The small house as the entrance manifests the theme of the whole garden through its title inscription: "Catching the Delight of the Water and Hill." Another entrance is a brick-frame door, which is meaningfully entitled "Cave Way" in a brick carving above on the entrance side. And on the other side, the carved words "Pine Path" are hinting the beginning of beauty hunting. The couplets and inscriptions are the works of famous calligraphers, so they themselves have formed an art of garden composing and enriched the cultural theme of the garden. The visitor's cultural association is let free once he sets his eyes on these fine pieces of art

Thanks to the delicate architectural decoration, thanks to the thoughtful arrangement of the rockery, paths and water, "Dongwu Garden" is able to entertain its visitors in its gentle elegance typical of Suzhou classical gardens. We are willing to present each and every visitor this little flower full of the regional beauty and fragrance from the south of the Changjiang. We hope its unique flavour will be fully understood and appreciated.

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3. The Design of Planting

4. A huge variety of plants are organized to the well-considered combination of species and rational density to ensure a year-round good view. The plants used in the afforestation include evergreens, deciduous trees, arbours & shrubs, vines, water-borne plants, grasses and land cover plants.

The varieties of the plants in the garden are numbered 81 in total, among which are evergreen 9 shrubs, 17 deciduous shrubs, 6 vines, 6 kinds of bamboo, 3 water-borne plants, 12 grasses, 5 land cover plants, 1 bonsai and 1 banana shrub.