Private Gardens

Hangzhou is well-known for its large number of private gardens. As early as in the Southern Song Dynasty, there were such famous ones as the much-talked-about Wang Villa where the garden bore the name Fulan or Rich in Scenery, the Garden of Cimingdian north of Qing Lake, the Pearl Garden of the Zhang family and the White Lotus Garden at the foot of Thunder Peak. Also of that dynasty were Jifang（Aroma Rich）Garden and Lower Bamboo Temple Garden on Northern Hill, the Yang's Garden（Yundong or Cloud Cave）and West Garden outside the Gate of Qiantang and the garden of the Memorial Hall of Early Sages（Xian Xian Tang）and the Garden for Frolicking In （Xi You）on the Su Causeway.

Outside the Yongjin Gate were the Zhang family's Yongze Garden, the Emerald Ring （Huanbi）Garden, etc. Indeed there were too many to enumerate them all here.

Private Gardens

During the dynasties of Ming（1368-1644）and Qing（1618-1911）and in still later times, many wealthy people came to Hangzhou and built more and more sumptuous private gardens in this scenic city. For instance, what is known as Water Bamboo House （Shui Zhu Ju）under Dingjia Hill was built by a Liu family from Guangdong.

Hence also the name Liu Villa whose owner Liu Xuexun actually had a part of the family's old house in Xiangshan of Guangdong Province taken apart to be reassembled in Hangzhou and this lent a rich south-China flavor to what is known today as Liu Zhuang.

There is a house with a big garden named Guo Zhuang near Wolong（Sleeping Dragon）Bridge. Initially it was owned by a rich silk merchant named Song Duanpu who first had the house and garden built. Today the nameplate carries the words Fenyang Villa. Divided into two parts, the garden and the buildings therein impart a pronounced flavor of the architectural style of the Song and the Ming dynasties. The residential part is an architectural complex of smaller compounds, mostly in the form of courtyard houses, that impart an antique flavor.

It is a very secluded and tranquil place, a superb environment to make one's home. In the garden part are several sizable ponds. Once in the garden, one sees at once two open balconied halls of exquisitely beautiful design. The water in the ponds flows into the West Lake outside the walls and well-proportioned semi-decorative garden buildings look down on the ponds on all sides while winding roofed corridors lead to all parts of the garden. Because of its attractive architectural features and inimitably graceful overall design, the garden is praised as“the No.1 classical garden on the West Lake”.