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The gate house is a double arcade three bay hall with full gable roofline and bowed ridge decorated with the three immortals. The garden name is painted in gold on the stone lintel and paving ornaments in the entry plaza. This door leads into the Gatehouse, the simple style of the whitewashed walls and stone lintel is typical of the urban design in ancient Suzhou resulting from the sumptuary law. The western section is mostly natural containing only a few pavilions, a large artificial hill, and a Penzai garden. Behind the Old Hermit Scholars' House is the Small Court of Stone Forest, a collection of Scholar stones and connected minor courtyards. A central courtyard is ringing by buildings. The eastern section of the garden is arrayed around the cloud-capped peak stone. The grotto is constructed of yellowstone granite and was created by the noted artist Zhou Binzhong. The ensemble of structures in the central garden encircles a pond and grotto main feature. The built elements of the garden are grouped by section. A unique feature this garden is the 700 m covered walk which connects them. Buildings, the primary feature of any Chinese garden, occupy one third of the total area. The Central area is the oldest part of the garden. The 23,310 m 2 garden is divided into four distinctly themed sections East, Central, West, and North. After the East Garden was transformed into the Lingering Garden it was again praised by Yu Yue in his Notes on Lingering Garden, 'The rockeries plants pavilions towers and halls are among the best in Wu County.' Design The East Garden is described and praised in Sketches of Gardens and Pavilions by Yuan Hongdao (magistrate of Changzhou County), '.It is the best of its kind south of the Yangtze River.' It was also described in the work Notes on the Hou Yue Tang by Jiang Yingke (magistrate of Wu County). Since its creation the Lingering Garden has been well received by critics and has inspired artists. In 2001 the garden was added to the UNESCO Word Heritage list, and remains a major tourist destination. After establishment of the People's Republic of China, Suzhou government took over and renovated the garden.

The garden was inherited by Sheng Xuanhuai from his father, he abandoned the garden in 1911 and it fell into disrepairДuring Sino-Japanese War, the garden was abandoned again, and it even degenerated into breeding zone for army's horses. It was at this time the 'Auspicious Cloud Capped Peak' stone was moved to its current location.

The name, while homophonous to an older name, connotes leisure and is thus pays tribute to the former owner as well as the resort period of the garden. After three years the reconstruction was complete in 1876, and the garden was renamed to Liu Yuan ( з•™е›). He repaired the damaged caused to the garden by the chaos of the Taiping. Ownership passed to Sheng Kang, a provincial treasurer of Hubei in 1873. From 1823 the garden was open to public, and became a famed resort. The garden soon acquired the nickname 'Liu Yuan' from the owner's surname. It was also at this time the 'Celestial Hall of Five Peaks' was built. He was an avid collector of Scholar stones and added 12 more to the garden housing them in the 'stone forest'. Keeping with that theme, he added pine and bamboo groves.

After extensive reconstruction, he renamed it Cold Green Village after a verse, 'clean cold color of bamboo, limpid green light of water'. Ownership passed to Liu Su, another official in 1798 CE. The East Garden became famous in its day when the magistrates of Wu and Changzhou County both praised the design of Shi Ping Peak, a rockery constructed to resemble Tiantai Mountain in Putao. Stonemason Zhou Shicheng ( е‘Ёж—¶и‡Ј) designed and built the East Garden ( дёње›) as it was initially called. It was commissioned by Xu Taishi ( еѕђжі°ж—¶), an impeached and later exonerated official in 1593 CE. Lingering Garden is located outside the Changmen gate ( йЉй—Ё) of Suzhou, Jiangsu province.