Abstract
Suzhou city was the cultural centre of ancient south China. It continues the urban pattern of more than 800 years ago. Suzhou gardens are the essence of Chinese gardening art, as well as the valuable world cultural heritage site. This paper compared the evolution in the distribution and scale of Suzhou gardens among five historical periods, and discussed the influence of urbanization on gardening. It revealed that: (1) The distribution of Suzhou gardens was affected by the layout and changes of the political centre and commercial centre of Suzhou city; (2) The scale of Suzhou gardens was mainly affected by the available land scale within the city and the wealth of its owner; (3) The cityscape of ‘half city occupied by gardens’ was largely resulted from the rapidly increasing number of small courtyard gardens in the Qing Dynasty; (4) The evolution of Suzhou gardens’ distribution and scale affected interior layouts. The evolution and social development of ancient cities can affect the distribution and scale of gardens. At the same time, the popularization of gardening art also optimizes the cityscape.
Highlights
Suzhou is located in Jiangsu Province of China and has a history of over 2500 years
Feature of Suzhou city were established in the 9th century [2]
Based on historical data of Suzhou’s local history, garden essays and garden paintings, this study focus on the evolution and scale of Suzhou gardens from the Tang to the Qing
Summary
Suzhou is located in Jiangsu Province of China and has a history of over 2500 years. As early as the Song Dynasty (960–1279), people used the proverb ‘heaven above, Suzhou and Hangzhou below’ [1] to describe the most two prosperous cities in southeast China, both of which were beautiful, rich, and eminently livable. Feature of Suzhou city were established in the 9th century [2]. It was not until 875 (towards the end of the Tang Dynasty, 618–907) that the ‘’ shape of the city and the chessboard form of canals and alleys were formed and remain to the present day [3].
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