Plum Garden (Meiyuan Garden)

Plum Garden (Meiyuan Garden) is located in southern slope of Hu Hill in western suburb of Wuxi, Jiangsu, China, only 7 kilometers away from Wuxi downtown and 1.5 kilometers from Taihu Lake area. Meiyuan Garden (Plum Garden) backs against Longshan Mountain and is adjacent to Taihu Lake in the south. Its history can be dated back to 1912. It was founded by the Rong’s brothers (Rong Zongjing and Rong Desheng), who are famous national industrialists of China at that time, and it used to be the private garden of their resident. Plum Garden is named after varied types of plum trees been planted inside, thus those plum trees are the spotlight of this garden. The Rong’s lived in Wuxi, and the family donated the garden to the government after 1955.

There are over 40 types of plums growing in the garden, including 4000 arbor plum trees and over 2000 potted plum trees. During the early spring time, hundreds of thousands of plum blossoms are blooming in profusion, such wonderful scenery be named perfumed snowy sea. The garden therefore is a great resort for plum blossom visiting.

The garden sponsors a Plum Cutural Museum and has kept many of calligraphy from members of the Rong Family. And you will be able to get to know more about the plum flowers and plum culture in ancient China. 
 

What to See at the Plum Garden

Nianqu Tower

Nianqu Tower is one of the landmarks of the Plum Garden. Nianqu Tower is a three-storey building, which is 18 meters high. Built in 1930, this building was built to memorize the mother of Rong Zongjing and Rong Desheng brothers.
 

Kaiyuan Temple

Kaiyuan Temple is a famous temple in Wuxi. At the Kaiyuan Temple, you can see the jade Buddha and bell. At the Kaiyuan Temple, people from home and abroad will gather together, listen to the sound of the bell and celebrate the new year at the Kaiyuan Temple.
 

Jixue Hall

The Jixue Hall was built in 1986. It is a architecture complex of characteristic style of the south of the Yangtze River. And the main building of the Jixue Hall is Jixue Hall. And the reflection of the buildings and the plants on the lake is beautiful.

 

Tianxin Platform

Tianxin Platform was built in 1914. There is a pavilion at the Tianxin Platform. And there are 3 stones from the Taihu Lake in front of the Tianxin Platform.
 

Zongjing Villa

Zongjing Villa was started to be built in 1922 and finished in 1923.

 

Gumei Qishipu

At the Gumei Qishipu, you can see the ancient plum tree, the paintings of plum, bamboo, pine, orchid and other flowers. Here you can know about the planting knowledge of plum and know about the plum culture in China.
 

Inscription of Plum Garden

The name of the Plum Garden in Chinese was written on the stone by Mr Rong Desheng. While it was destroyed, and the inscription we see now is the copy of the former one.

 

Xianghai Xuan

Xianghai Xuan was built in 1914. At the Xianghai Xuan, you can know about the  story of it. Mr Rong Desheng paid to get the handwriting of Kang Youwei, which is the plaque of the Xianghai Xuan. In 1919, Kang Youwei came to Plum Garden and found that the characters on the plaque were not written by himself. And he wrote down Xiang Hai two words on the plaque. While the plaque of the Xiang Hai written by Kang Youwei was lost. The Xiang Hai on the plaque on is written by Ms Xiao Xian, student of Kang Youwei. In 1991, the handwriting of Kang Youwei was found in Nanjing Museum. A plaque was made, and which was hung in the Xianghai Xuan.
 

Best Time to Visit the Plum Garden

Generally speaking, February to March is the best time to enjoy the plum blossoms at the Plum Garden. In late January and February, the early plum will bloom. If you want to enjoy the plum blossoms in winter in Wuxi, you can visit the Plum Garden. And the late plum will bloom in March. If you want to enjoy the flower blossoms in spring in Wuxi, you can visit the Plum Garden in spring. By the way, the cherry blossoms are also beautiful in Yuantouzhu in Wuxi, which is differently beautiful with the plum blossoms. If you have time, you can both visit the cherry blossoms and plum blossoms in Wuxi.

Please note that this recommended visiting time is just for your reference because the real flowering season of the plums will be influenced by the weather. And the real time may be earlier or later than the predicted time.
 

How to Get to Plum Garden

Subway: You can take Subway Line 2 and get off at the Meiyuan Kaiyuansi Station, then walk to the Plum Garden.

Bus: Or you may take Bus Route 2, 40, 52, 83, 87, 88, 310, etc. to Meiyuan Station. Bus Route 2, 88, 310 are available in front of Wuxi Railway Station.