Geyuan, Classical garden in Yangzhou, China.

Geyuan is a classical Chinese garden in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, divided into four sections, each dedicated to a different season. Each section is built around a different type of rock combined with bamboo groves, pavilions, and small bodies of water.

In 1818, a salt merchant named Huang Zhiyun acquired the land and turned it into a private garden retreat. Bamboo was chosen as the main design element from the start, and the seasonal rock sections were added over time.

The name comes from Yuan Mei's line that moonlight made the bamboo shadows hundreds of 个 characters, and from owner Huang Zhiyun's given name Zhiyun (至筠), which also means bamboo. He admired bamboo as persistent, modest, straightforward and loyal like a good man. Three bamboo leaves together form the character 个.

The garden has several entry points leading to different themed areas, so visitors can move through in any order. Coming at different times of year is worth it, since each section looks and feels different depending on the season.

The four rock types used in the garden each come from a different part of China, chosen to represent the look of each season rather than just label it. This use of regional stone as a stand-in for seasonal landscape is rarely carried out with such consistency in other classical gardens.