The Humble Administrator's Garden is located at Dongbei Street within the District of Loumen. It was listed as National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the State Council in 1961, and was approved and included in the “World Heritage List” by the UNESCO in 1997.
The Humble Administrator's Garden was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). An Imperial censor named Wang Xiancheng retired to his native home of Suzhou and created a garden on the site of the dilapidated Dahong Temple. The garden was named after a verse by the famous scholar official of the Jin Dynasty, Pan Yue, in his prose, An Idle Life, "I enjoy a carefree life by planting trees and building my own house,I irrigate my garden and grow vegetables for me to eat...such a life suits a Humble Administrator(meaning retired official) like me well."
Humble Administrator's Garden underwent 400 years of rises and falls. Most of the existing buildings were built during Taiping Rebellion and afterwards, but the layout of the Ming and Qing Dynasty mostly remained. It is the largest classical garden in Suzhou, covering an area of 51,950 square meters. The garden is divided into three parts, eastern, central and west. The southern part of the garden is the residential area. In general, the East Garden is spacious while the West Garden is crowed. Water is the blood vein as well as the soul of the garden. The water area takes one third of the garden area, which gather and diverge, move or stand still.
The Eastern Section is wild and spacious. The middle part boasts winding corridors, pavilions and towers, water rings, and gardens within gardens, the truly elite part of the garden. The western part is densely dotted with terraces and halls, and rising water corridors. South of the loquat garden are residential houses, which are built in the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911), with the main part being constructed in the Reign of Emperor Kangxi. In the middle axle are sedan hall, the main hall and two balcony halls. In between there are brick carving gate, wisteria planted since the Ming Dynasty, and in front of the door there is a wall opposing to the river. On the east road, there are Yuanyang Hualan (mandarin duck and flower basket) Hall, Four Window-sided Hall and so on. This residential area was turned into Suzhou Garden Museum in 1992.