Sight
Couple's Retreat Garden
Chinese name
耦园
Chinese address
江苏省，苏州市，姑苏区仓街小新桥巷6号
Opening hours: 07:30 - 17:00
We are standing in the Couple’s Retreat Garden, known in Chinese as Ouyuan. During the Qing dynasty, an official named Shen Bingcheng bought this property and rebuilt it together with his wife, Yan Yonghua. The Chinese character ou means to plough together or to form a pair. It reflects both the physical design of the grounds and the quiet life the couple shared after stepping back from public affairs.
The layout itself expresses this idea of partnership. The central living quarters sit between two distinct garden areas, an East Garden and a West Garden. As we walk through the grounds, you will notice features designed in complementary pairs, including rockeries, pavilions, and courtyards. Canals surround the property on three sides, which once allowed the residents to arrive directly by boat.
Because of this history of companionship, the local civil affairs department established a marriage registration and certificate-awarding center right here inside the garden. Couples come here today not only to tour a historic site, but to officially register their marriages and receive their marriage certificates.
The center blends the legal process of marriage with the atmosphere of a classical garden. Newlyweds take their vows, participate in traditional certificate-awarding ceremonies, and step directly outside to take photographs among the historic pavilions, corridors, and stone arrangements. It links the nineteenth-century ideal of partnership directly to modern life.