1509-1859
海棠春坞是苏州拙政园内一处精巧的庭院书房。海棠春坞的建筑形式极为雅洁朴素，不拘泥于中国古典建筑一明两暗三开间的传统形式，在结构上应用了半间的形式。院内建筑总共只有一大一小一间半，坐北朝南。小轩两侧各是一个小天井，苏州人称“蟹眼天井”，分植海棠和天竹。院内仅海棠二本，翠竹一丛，与瘦漏的太湖石一起，依着南墙白壁。海棠花初春绽放，万花似锦，娇羞如小家碧玉，秀姿艳质。
Crabapple Glen Garden is an exquisite courtyard study within the Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou. The architectural style of Crabapple Glen Garden is extremely elegant and simple, not adhering to the traditional Chinese classical architectural form of one bright room and two dark rooms in a three-bay structure. Instead, it employs a semi-bay form in its construction. The courtyard contains only one and a half rooms in total, one large and one small, facing south. On either side of the small pavilion are small light wells, known in Suzhou as “crab eye light wells,” with crabapple trees planted on one side and heavenly bamboo on the other. There are only two crabapple trees and a clump of green bamboo in the courtyard, together with the slender and porous Taihu stones, all leaning against the white southern wall. The crabapple blossoms bloom in early spring, with a profusion of flowers like brocade, shyly resembling a modest and beautiful young lady, with a charming and delicate appearance.
