Beyond Suzhou: Region and Memory in the Gardens of Sichuan

Abstract

Both Western and Chinese historians of Chinese gardens have long focused almost exclusively on two geographic regions: the private scholar gardens centered around Suzhou and the grand imperial gardens of Beijing. The gardens of Sichuan in southwestern China differ significantly from these in their aesthetics, architectural engineering, patronage, and function. More rugged in appearance than Suzhou's scholar gardens, larger in scale, and more open to the public, these gardens celebrate the memory of Sichuan Province's distinctive cultural heritage. They also preserve an older historical character, now largely lost in the better-known gardens of eastern China.