The Lion Forest Garden

    The Lion Forest Garden differentiates itself from its brethren by being dominated by rocks.

It’s quite a small garden, but the maze of walkways above and underneath the rock will be

sure to have you walking in circles for some time. Dating from 1342 (Yuan Dynasty) the

garden was constructed by disciples of the Zen Buddhist Abott Tianru Weize. The name

comes from rocks in the garden that apparently resemble lions and have connections to a

Buddhist story as well as special significance to the Abbott. Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong

both visited the garden and were impressed enough to leave inscriptions and even try to

recreate it elsewhere. In addition to rocks and water, Lion Forest Garden is also dotted with

bamboo, old tress and sublime buildings.

     The Lion Forest Garden boasts 22 buildings of varied types, 25 tablets and plateaux, 71

steles inscribed with the famous Calligraphy Collection of the Listening to Rain Tower, 23

brick carvings, 5 carved wooden screens, and 13 valuable old trees such as ginkgo biloba L.,

pinus bungeana Zucc, etc., which fall into 5 catalogues.