Located at the southeast of Suzhou downtown, the Master of the Nets Garden is one of the four famous classic gardens in Suzhou. It is a typical Suzhou private garden, and also a piece of representative work of middle and small-sized classic gardens in the south region of the Yangtze River.

The garden is first constructed in the Southern Song Dynasty with an original name "Fisher's Shelter". It was inspired by the simple and solitary life of a Chinese fisherman. Then in the Qing Dynasty, during the middle reign of Emperor Qianlong, an official named Song Zongyuan redesigned the garden and added multiple buildings. He retained the humble spirit of the site and renamed it the Net Master Garden. During the late years of the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the garden was repaired and added more pavilions and houses, and called Qu Garden. The present layout of the Master of the Nets Garden is the relics of the Qu Garden, and is well deserved.

The Net Master Garden covers an area of more than 5333 square meters. It can be divided into three major parts: the east part, the middle part and the west part. In front of the gate, there is a screen wall with a row of iron rings for tethering horses, and two alleyway side entrances. Two huge blocks of stone carved in shape of drums, decorated with the sculptural relief of the lion playing the silk ball.

The east part is the residential houses. The first hall is the Entrance Hall, and then the Sedan Chair Hall, the east of which there is a lane. At the back of the Sedan Chair Hall, there is the Wanjuan Hall, the arch in front of which can be traced back to the reign of Emperor Qianlong, delicately carved and is crown as the best one among all the arch. At the back of the Wanjuan Hall, there is the Xiexiu House where the family used to stay. The furniture in these halls is mainly made of red sandalwood and in the style of Qing Dynasty, delicate and magnificent. Every hall has a door or walk-way leading to the garden.It is a typical example of combining living quarters with a landscape garden in Suzhou.

The middle part is the main part of the garden. There is much architecture within this part. In the south, there are the Conggui Pavilion, Daohe House and the Instrument Room. In the north, there are the Wufeng Study Room, Jixu Building or moderate study, which are used for reading and study. All the houses and pavilions are around the pool in the center. The bank of the pool is piled up with yellow stone. At the both end of the pool, there are two streams, with small bridges spanning on it. The pavilions and houses around the pool are exquisite. The huge buildings hide in the back of the trees and rockeries, which makes the scenery much more changeful.

The west part is the inner garden, covering a area of about 700 square meters. On the north side, there are three small rooms, called Dianchunyi or spring greeting room. In old times, it was famous for its wide planted peony, and was used as the study room. To the north of these tree rooms, there are rockeries piled up with limestone, decorated with plum, bamboo and Japanese banana. To the west, there are rooms which were used to be the painting room of Zhang Daqian, a well-know painter in KMT period and his brother Zhang Shanzi, who were the famous painters in China. At the south side of the inner garden, there is the a zigzag flower flat, opposite to the Dianchunyi. To the southwest of the flower flat, there is a natural spring called Hanbi Spring, which makes the Lengquan Pavilion famous.

Tourists who come to visit the garden at night, not only can appreciate the night view of the garden, but also can enjoy the storytelling and ballad singing in Suzhou dialect and Kunqu opera.

Location: No. 11, Kuojiatou Lane, Suzhou old downtown
Admission fee:
RMB 30 (April 16 to October 30)
RMB 20 (October 31 to April 15)
RMB 80 (Garden at night)
Opening hours:
7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (March 1 to Novermber 15)
7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (November 16 to February 29)
Garden at night: 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (Mid-March to Mid- November)
Transportation: you can take tourist bus Line 2, or bus No. 202, 204, 529, 931, 47, 501, and 55 to get there directly