Being one of famous classic Chinese gardens, Ge Garden is sited at No.10 Yanfu East, Road, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. During the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou’s salt merchants began to build gardens; until now there retains many excellent classical gardens in Yangzhou; among which, the oldest and most complete preservation, has the most artistic value, is Ge Garden, or Geyuan Garden, which is located in the ancient city of Beiyu.
Geyuan Garden is a typical private residential garden. From the house into the garden, the first view is the moon shaped hole door. There are two Chinese characters “Ge Yuan” written on the door. On both sides of the door, you can see all kinds of bamboo branches and leaves. Through the door, you can see a row of ornamental perforated windows, and catch a glimpse of garden scenery, tower, flower, trees; all these are fascinating. Enter the garden door, and then turn to the west, you can see a large bamboo forest.
This garden’s purport is novel with compact construction; it is China’s garden isolated cases, also is Yangzhou’s one of the most prestigious gardens landscapes. The rockery themed by four seasons in Ge Garden is distinctive, which presents different view of spring, summer, autumn and winter by using different stones as materials.
The spring rockery is suitable to wander; the green stalagmites are planted in the bamboo grove, this bamboo stone picture, lay bare the theme “spring hills”. The summer rockery is suitable to have a look; the cypresses on the hills are luxuriantly green; the pond under the hills is dark green. The autumn rockery is fitting to climb; it is piled up by Huang Shanshi; the area is large with stone table, stone desk, stone bed; draughty and dry; full of life interest; while climbing to the peak, you will have breadth of mind, and have a panoramic view of the gardenful wonderful scenery. The winter rockery is appropriate to live in; The landscape architect not only used “snow color” to express the winter, also cleverly used the technique of expression “sound of the wind”, surprising and fantasting; several strains of winter sweet on the versant foil the bitter cold of the winter.
Geyuanl Garden is not large and it can be divided into three areas. The northern area is for bamboo viewing; the central part is a garden and the southern part is a residential area. There are three entrance of this park: the north, east, south gates. The north gate only allows for entrance but no exit; the east gate is only used for exit but no entrance; the south gate is used for both entrance and exit. The south gate is sited at the famous Dongguan Street.
Travel Guide
【Chinese name】：个园
【Best time to visit】: March to May and September to October are the best time period to visit there, when the weather is cool and comfortable with less rain.
【How to get to Geyuan Garden using public transportation】: You may take Bus Route 26 to First people’s Hospital Station(第一人民医院) first, then transfer to sightseeing bus to reach Geyuan Garden. Or you can take sightseeing bus at Yangzhou West Passenger Bus Station to reach there directly.