Canglang Pavilion

Built in 1045 (5th year of the Northern Song Qingli era) by Su Shunqin, Suzhou's oldest surviving garden ('scenery before you enter the gate' — double corridor with lattice windows); the famous couplet 'A clear breeze and bright moon are priceless' (assembled from lines by Ouyang Xiu and Su Shunqin); across the street is Keyuan (Suzhou's only academy garden). In 1045 (5th year of the Northern Song Qingli era), the demoted poet Su Shunqin settled in Suzhou, bought land for 40,000 cash and built a pavilion, naming the garden after the Chu Ci (Songs of Chu) line 'When the Canglang waters are clear, I may wash my hat-strings' — the oldest surviving garden in Suzhou. Breaking with the convention of high walls and deep courtyards, a bend of clear water flows around the garden, and the double corridor's lattice windows borrow views on both sides; its open layout — 'scenery before you enter the gate' — is unique. Inside, the couplet 'A clear breeze and bright moon are priceless; nearby water and distant hills all hold feeling' was assembled from lines by Ouyang Xiu and Su Shunqin, hailed as a masterpiece in the history of Chinese couplets. Across the way, Keyuan is Suzhou's only academy garden; the two gardens gaze at each other across the water, one scholarly, one reclusive; admission is only CNY 20, making it the most 'affordable' of the nine World Heritage gardens.

Getting there: Metro Line 4, Nanmen Station