Suzhou Classical Gardens, China

China-35, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Suzhou is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens which have contributed to its status as a great tourist attraction. Many of the famous private gardens were constructed by the gentry of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Many gardens were devastated by the end of the Japanese invasion in 1937. In the early 1950s, restoration was done on gardens such as Zhuo-Zheng Yuan (Humble Administrator's Garden) and Dong Yuan (East Garden) to bring them back to life. As per the documentation in UNESCO WHS list about Classical Gardens of Suzhou "Classical Chinese garden design, which seeks to recreate natural landscapes in miniature, is nowhere better illustrated than in the nine gardens in the historic city of Suzhou. They are generally acknowledged to be masterpieces of the genre".