Traditional site
Master of Nets Garden
Chinese name
网师园
Chinese address
苏州市姑苏区带城桥路阔家头巷11号
Opening hours
Open March 1 – October 31, 7:30–17:30 (last admission/ticket sale at 17:00); November 1 – February 28 of the following year, 7:30–17:00 (last admission/ticket sale at 16:30);
Night Garden open March 20, 2026 – November 15, 2026, Sunday–Thursday (excluding public holidays) 18:25–21:40 (last admission at 20:55, park closes at 21:40), Friday–Saturday (including public holidays) 18:25–22:20 (last admission at 21:35, park closes at 22:20);
The Master of the Nets Garden is one of Suzhou's most celebrated classical gardens and part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of the Classical Gardens of Suzhou. It traces its roots to the 12th century during the Southern Song dynasty, when retired official Shi Zhengzhi established a sanctuary known as the Fisherman's Retreat alongside his library, the Hall of Ten Thousand Volumes. In the 18th century, during the Qing dynasty, the property was redesigned by retired bureaucrat Song Zongyuan, who named it the Master of the Nets Garden to evoke the simple, detached life of a fisherman.
Covering just over half a hectare, it is widely considered an architectural masterclass in spatial illusion, making a compact residential plot feel expansive. The layout is divided into three sections: a formal residential compound in the east, the main garden arranged around a central pond, and an inner garden to the west. Miniature bridges, rockeries, and low-standing waterside pavilions are positioned so that shifting angles, doorways, and lattice windows repeatedly reframe the water and plantings into different landscape scenes.
Key highlights include the Moon Comes with Breeze Pavilion perched directly over the water, and the Peony Study, an intimate courtyard whose design was chosen as the model for the Astor Court at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Between spring and autumn, the garden also opens for night sessions featuring traditional music, storytelling, and Kunqu opera performed across its various halls and pavilions.