Suzhou's 107th Garden

Suzhou's 107th Garden: Dongshan Carved Building Dongshan Carved Building was originally the residence of the Jin family. Construction began in 1922 and took 3 years to complete. It was built by craftsmen from the Xiangshan School and cost 3,741 taels of gold. Dongshan Carved Building is a magnificent and luxurious manor-style building modeled after the Ming Dynasty. The carved bricks on the doors feature three-dimensional sculptures of Yao visiting Shun, Jiang Ziya meeting King Wen at the age of 80, and Guo Ziyi celebrating his birthday, all of which are metaphors for good fortune, prosperity, and longevity. The carved building resembles a fairy palace, with beams, eaves, columns, and eaves all carved with flowers and feathers. The moon beams are shaped like double-headed phoenixes, the eaves columns are carved with long bamboo poles, and the beam heads are carved with stories such as the Oath of the Peach Garden. The door and window panels are carved with the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars. The garden to the north of the building features bamboo and stone bamboo shoots to symbolize spring, lotus ponds and small bridges to symbolize summer, crape myrtle and osmanthus to symbolize autumn, and nandina and wintersweet to symbolize winter. The garden is beautiful in all four seasons. The Taihu stone rockery features stone animals in the shape of monkeys, camels, qilins, tigers, bears, cows, elephants, geese, and lions, all of which are naturally formed.