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Introduction to Wuxi Li Garden (无锡蠡园)
Wuxi Li Garden lies on the west bank of Li Lake at Qingqi village. Baojie bridge, more than three hundred meters long seperate Li Lake into two parts. As the legend goes, Fanli, prime minister of the Yue State in Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC -476 BC) had assisted the king of Yue. After defeating Wu State, Fanli seluded with his lover, Hsi Shih (one of the Four Beauties in ancient China) in Qingqi village. They led a happy and undisturbed life beside the lake. In order to commemorate Fanli, the lake was named Li Lake. The garden by the lake which was built in 1927, therefore, is named Li Garden.
Li Garden is surrounded by water in three sides. Sceneries inside the park can be divided into three parts, manmade hills in the middle, Long Beach and Four Seasons Pavilions in the west, and corridors with a pavilion in the east.
Four Seasons Pavilions - the main spots in Li Garden consisting of four season-themed pavilions namely Spring Pavilion, Summer Pavilion, Autumn Pavilion and Winter Pavilion. Each of them features flower patterns and corresponding flower planted beside the architecture - plum besides Spring Pavilion,, oleander besides Summer Pavilion, osmanthus besides Autumn Pavilion, and wintersweet besides Winter Pavilion.
Long Beach - the beach is dotted with willows and peaches lining along, consstiting a gorgeous view in spring. Standing in a pavilion in the southwest of the beach offers a prime view of the lake and hills opposite.
Thousand-step Corridor - it covers a length of about 300 meters with 89 windows, this corriders is charecterized with typical southern style. It is sandwiched by the lake on one side and a wall on the other side, displaying Chinese calligraphy and inscriptions from famed literateur Su Shi and Mi Fu in Song Dynasty and calligrapher Wang Yangming in Ming Dynasty.
Sweet Osmanthus Trees - tens of osmanthus trees give off strong and pleasant fragnance in autumn, their blooming season. On Mid-autumn festival, green leaves and glistening yellow flowers makes it a best place to admire the full moon inside the garden.
Rockeries - all rockeries in Li Garden were built in the shape of a cloud with stones salvaged from the lake. It is considered equally significant as the one in Lion Grove in Suzhou.
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