Blue Wave Pavilion takes its name from a waterside pavilion built in 1044 by the poet Su Shunqin. It is the oldest garden in Suzhou, with a wilder design than the others, with rockeries and artificial hillocks decorated with bamboo. Suzhou, the city of canals and gardens, was called the ˉVenice of the Eastˇ by Marco Polo. An ancient Chinese proverb states: ˉIn Heaven there is Paradise; on Earth there is Suzhouˇ. The cityˇs love affair with gardens dates back 2,500 years and continues still. At the time of the Ming dynasty (13681644) there were 250 gardens, of which about a hundred survive, although only a few are open to the public.