Suzhou Qu Garden

Qu Garden is the former residence of Yu Yue, located at No. 43, People's Road, Veterinary Science. It was rated as a national key cultural relics protection unit in 2006, a Suzhou cultural relics protection unit in 1963, and a Jiangsu Province cultural relics protection unit in 1995. Qu Garden covers an area of 2,800 square meters, with the main house in the center, divided into five sections from south to north. To the east, several auxiliary rooms are built, separated from the main house by a lane, allowing mutual access. To the west and north are the pavilion and garden sections, forming a curved ruler shape, semi-enclosing the main house. The main house's entrance hall and sedan hall are both three rooms wide. The third section is the main hall of the entire residence, named 'Lezhi Hall', which is three rooms wide and five bays deep. It is the only large wooden structure in the residence that uses the flat beam lifting style, with relatively robust materials and simple and plain decorations. This was where Yu Yue received distinguished guests and held birthday celebrations and other festive events. The fourth and fifth sections are the inner residence, i.e., the living rooms, separated from the main hall by a firewall, and connected by a Shikumen in the middle; both are five rooms wide, with east and west wings running through the front and back, forming a quadrangle. To the west of Lezhi Hall is the 'Spring in Hall', which is three rooms wide and four bays deep. In front of the hall, there are lake stones and planted Chinese parasol trees, where Yu Yue used to meet friends and give lectures. To the south is the 'Xiaozhuli Pavilion', where Yu Yue used to read, with bamboo planted in the small courtyard to the south of the pavilion. To the north of the Spring in Hall is a small pavilion with a resting mountain top, named 'Ren Chun Pavilion'. To the north of the pavilion, flowers and trees are planted randomly, with a small mountain of stacked lake stones as a screen, with a winding mountain cave in the middle. There is a turn through the mountain cave, and in the northeast corner is the 'Genhuan', a two-room wide space that was the former qin room. Walking west along the corridor, there is a three-room 'Dazhai'. Leaving Dazhai and heading south along the corridor, there is a small pavilion surrounded by water on three sides, with the pond named 'Qu Pond' and the pavilion named 'Qu Shui'. To the east of the pond, there is a 'Huifeng Pavilion' on the artificial mountain facing the pavilion, with a small door in the artificial mountain originally connecting to the inner residence. The curved corridor to the south of the pavilion leads to the Spring in Hall. The small garden is only 200 square meters, with corridors and pavilions built, and the structure layout is winding and changeable, with a sense of grandeur in a small space. In 1954, Mr. Yu Pingbo, a famous scholar and great-grandson of Yu Yue, donated his great-grandfather's former residence to the public. In 1957, the Lezhi Hall, Spring in Hall, Xiaozhuli Pavilion, and the small garden were renovated. The former residence has been used by various units such as the City Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Opera Research Institute, the Pingtan Group, and the House of Science.