The Master of the Nets Garden

The Master of the Nets Garden is located in Suzhou, China. It is recognized with other classical Suzhou Gardens as a UNESCO world Heritage Site. The garden demonstrates Chinese garden designer's adept skills for synthesizing art, nature, and architecture to create unique metaphysical masterpieces.

It is my favourite Chinese classical garden, the main reason is that the area of this garden is more likely to be smaller than other ones while containing large amount of design content which makes it exist as delicate work of art.

The 5,400 square meters garden is divided into east and west sections. The eastern part consists of residential quarters, while the gardens are located in the western part. Eastern section is the residential are it is a linear sequence of four halls one tower and three courtyards. The western garden is an ensemble of buildings around the 334 m² Rosy Cloud Pool. Plants and rocks are used to create views which represent several seasons. It also includes three side courts to the east and south. The two dominant elements of the composition are the Barrier of Cloud grotto, a cypress tree dating from the Ming Dynasty, and pine several centuries old. The areas to the south of the Rosy Cloud Pool were used for social activities and the areas to the north were used for intellectual activities. The buildings are laid out in a style called close to the water which is used to give the Rosy Clouds Pool the illusion of great size. Small buildings are set on rocks or piers directly over the water surface while large buildings are separated from the pool by yards planted with trees to obscure their size.

In my view, the Master of the Nets Garden represents the highest realm of Chinese classical garden. The various methods of dealing with eyesight is the most successful.

You could obtain more interesting information from this website http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/home/twangshy.htm