Yangzhou Garden Explanatory Notes

Ancient Chinese garden art has long been famous, and in the traditional sense is divided into two styles: north and south. The northern gardens are represented by the Royal Gardens, and the south is represented by the private gardens of merchants and tycoons. Yangzhou garden is more unique, its style between the northern royal gardens and private gardens in the south: both with the royal gardens brilliant, tall and magnificent features, but also a large number of Jiangnan gardens in the architectural vignettes, a style of its own.

And since ancient times, China's Zhejiang Yangzhou has always been "garden is a house" said. The number of its fine construction, far from being comparable to other places. Moreover, Yangzhou gardens in addition to the construction of the former method, and strive to change and adapt to local conditions, so the formation of local characteristics: the scale can be large or small, large such as the shadow garden has several acres, small such as RongKeYuan, only a few dozen steps only. Of course, because of the city houses lined up, space is limited, so residential gardens are mostly small in the big, wonderful in the local subtle changes.

Yangzhou gardens are mainly famous for famous gardens, famous gardens to stacked stones to win, which the four seasons of the garden rockery is particularly famous. The garden was built in the middle of the Qing Dynasty in China. Because of the owner's love of bamboo, the garden is planted all over the bamboo, because the shape of the bamboo leaves like the word "个", so the name "个园".

The total area of the garden is about 30 acres, the layout is skillful, and the winding paths are deep and fascinating. In the garden, garden craftsmen choose brown and yellow stone, Taihu Lake stone, snow stone and bamboo shoots like stalagmites, stacked into four groups of rockery, the performance of the four seasons of spring, summer, fall and winter scenery, known as the four seasons rockery. Spring scenery, in the bamboo bushes in the choice of stalagmites inserted in the middle, take the meaning of spring after the rain. Summer scenery, is in the shade surrounded by lotus pond stacked with lake stone, summer mountain verdant and drop thus making people feel the breath of midsummer. Autumn scene is through the west to east of the yellow stone to show. As long as 50 meters of the Huangshi Mountain peaks and peaks, the mountain heat majestic, climb the mountain and look around, so that people have a high and refreshing feeling of autumn. The winter scene is piled up with white snow stones to symbolize the white snow of midwinter.

Suzhou gardens are famous all over the world, and in its heyday was known as "A world" of Yangzhou gardens, but with the decline of the salt merchants and today's Slim West Lake is equivalent to Yangzhou, and gradually obliterated in the dust of history, away from people's sight.

Into the Canglang Pavilion in Suzhou, the Humble Administrator's Garden, Liouyuan ...... feel the handwriting of successive generations of talented scholars in them more is to reflect a kind of "Shi" aesthetic interest. Yangzhou's gardens are different.

Send Xiaoshanzhuang, commonly known as He Yuan. In this private garden of the He family in Yangzhou during the Guangxu period of the late Qing Dynasty, what is captured everywhere is openness and brightness. Nanmu Hall, representing the face of the entire garden of foreign relations formal standing, the disposal of its approach, one has to marvel at the owner of the garden had traveled to France, He Zhi? The way it is handled, one has to be amazed that the owner of the garden, Ms. He Zhiqi, had traveled to France. Can even be described as "the pursuit of modernity". The entire hall covers an area of 160 square meters, in the form of the traditional Chinese hall building into the Western architectural concepts and methods of expression, tall and solemn architectural framework with four open, ornate decorative glass walls, you can not feel the Chinese hall closed, old-fashioned and dull, overflowing with openness and jumping atmosphere.

Then look at the garden owner of the whole family living in the two-story brick and wood structure of the jade embroidery building. The traditional Chinese string building is surrounded by upper and lower two-story corridors, inner and outer corridors, enclosing the courtyard; while the design of the rooms inside the building, the decoration of the building facade, the French imported cast iron railings printed with the words "longevity and longevity," shuttered windows and doors, but everywhere overflowing with the French style. Even one side of the window set in the east-west garden between the compound road, the shape of the broad geometric diamond pattern is very rare, obviously in any place also want to reveal the exquisite air of dignity.

This open, bright and atmospheric, such as the North and South architectural style of the different to divide, seems to be far from the scholar, the businessman's different aesthetic sensibilities, as well as the economic background to divide more appropriate. Yangzhou in the Ming and Qing dynasties is a transportation hub, the economic center of Jiangnan, the collection and distribution of salt had reached 1 billion kilograms of salt distribution, rich merchants and tycoons gathered, spend money like dirt in the prosperous capital. At that time, Yangzhou, just like Shanghai now, "the sea of the hundred rivers". Salt merchants of the private house also naturally dyed in the wind of luxury and atmosphere, architectural style, also "Hai Nabai Chuan", but Yangzhou salt merchants did not interrupt the Chinese tradition of "Shi" of the literati spirit, the pursuit of aesthetic appeal.