Gerard Dockery says:
"Zhan Garden (simplified Chinese: 瞻园; traditional Chinese: 瞻園; pinyin: Zhān Yuán, literally "Garden of Forward Watching") is a Chinese garden located on No. 128 Zhan Yuan Road, beside Fuzimiao, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
The first garden on this site was built during the early Ming dynasty by the general Xu Da. It was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion in the Qing dynasty, but was rebuilt later. As the main residence of Kiangsu Provincial Governor in the late Qing dynasty, it was visited by the Qianlong Emperor and was restored after 1949."
Wikipedia
Gerard Dockery says:
He Garden (simplified Chinese: 何园; traditional Chinese: 何園; pinyin: Hé Yuán) is a park in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province. He Family Garden also known as “Jixiao Villa” is the last but best work among the private gardens in Yangzhou. Located on Xuningmen Street, it is a heritage site under state protection and a national AAAA-rated tourist attraction. It is the best-known private garden of the late Qing dynasty, and is one of 20 first-class key parks in China.
The name "He Garden" is from a poem by Tao Yuanming. The original owner's last name was also "He".
Born in 1835, He Zhidao (a 19th-century Chinese envoy to France) had been appointed as the governor of Hangyang Prefecture, Huang-zhou Prefecture and De`an Prefecture, and supervisor of Jianghan Barrier. He was also awarded to be a top ranking official of the consulting minister and later to be grand minister of consultation. National Affairs Crisis.
The He Garden is a typical residential garden, built in 1883 during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor in the Qing dynasty. The garden was built on the old site of the Garden of Double Pagoda Trees. And now there is still one pagoda tree left in He Garden. Its original name is translated "Mountain Villa for Ease of Singing". The owner was He Weijian, (also known as He Zhidao). He Zhidao was born in Wangjiang, Anhui. With his father's approval, he moved to Yangzhou, bought the site of the former Sliced Stone Mountain Villa, rebuilt and expanded it. When it was finished, the owner named the garden "Ease of singing" (borrowed from two lines of a poem, "On Returning Home", written by Tao Yuanming). Since the owner was named "He", the garden was called "He Yuan".
In Year 1937,the Japanese aggress China, occupied the three northeast provinces and a lot of parts of China. So some parts of hurt soldiers lived in "He Garden".
In Year 1988, "He Garden" was awarded the third "Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level" by the state council together with "Ge Garden".
In Year 1989, "Pian Shi Shan Fang" was repaired.
In Year 2005, "He Garden" referred to as "the best classic Chinese garden in Qing Dynasty" for its combination of western architecture and the brilliant features of a private garden in Jiangnan[1] by Luo Zhewen (a leading academic on classical Chinese gardens).
He Garden is recognized as one of the most remarkable private gardens recently created in Yangzhou.
The He Garden is a large private garden with a residence. The garden covers an area of 14,000 square metres (17,000 sq yd), of which 7,000 square metres (8,400 sq yd) are cultivated. The garden is highly cultivated; however, a visitor does not feel cramped because of the garden's layout. Around the garden there are only buildings, without mountains or running water. Absorbing the essence of traditional Chinese gardening, He Garden introduced western landscape architecture and has established its own style. Chinese experts on ancient gardens have long praised the art employed in building He Garden, calling it "a single case of gardens in South of the Yangtze River area".
The garden comprises three parts (the west and east gardens, the residential area and courtyard and the mountain villa) which are arranged in a chain. With both Chinese and Western features, the garden can be used as both a residence and a scenic spot. Its designer endeavored to create an ideal residence; their efforts are included in the book, The Wonders of Yangzhou City. He Garden is recognized as "the first celebrated garden in the city after the Xianfeng and Tongzhi emperors".
The Garden owner bring western architectural features back to the ancient China, and absorb Chinese royal gardens and jiangnan private gardens, also widespread use of new materials. So that make the garden absorb the experience of many gardens and at the same time have new stuff.
Wikipedia
Gerard Dockery says:
Couple's Retreat Garden (Chinese: 耦园; pinyin: Ǒu Yuán; Suzhou Wu: Ngeu yoe, Wu Chinese pronunciation: [ŋøʏ ɦyø]) located in Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, China is a famous classical Chinese garden. It is recognized with other classical Suzhou gardens as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The original garden was built by Lu Jin, prefect of Baoning district, in 1874. It was purchased by Shen Bingcheng, the magistrate of Susong. who rebuilt it in its current form. He also changed the name to the Couple's Garden Retreat. This name refers to the garden's two parts and alludes to a couple. It is recognized with other classical Suzhou gardens as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The 0.33 ha garden is divided into an east and west section by the residential core in the middle; an unusual composition for a classical garden. The eccentric design is continued in the form and details of many of the garden buildings, especially the Taoism Tower. The garden is located in the intersection of canals and is surrounded by water on three sides. It is accessible directly from the canal by boat. The West garden is composed of several structures grouped around a small grotto and a Library annex. It is structurally joined to the central residence. East Garden is the main garden of the complex. It consists of a grotto and pond ringed by a covered walkway that connects the structures. A smaller fruit orchard annex is attached.
Wikipedia
Gerard Dockery says:
Couple's Garden Retreat (expanded 1874 onward from an earlier garden) is a fairly large garden divided into three parts--a central living area flanked by an east and west garden (hence, the 'coupling' of the garden). The 0.8 hectare site is bordered on three sides by canals, with docks on the north and south sides permitting entrance from the waterways. It was first laid out in the early Qing period as the pleasure garden of Baoning prefect Lu Jingzhi. In 1874, Shen Bingcheng, the governor of Susong County in Anhui, acquired the garden and expanded it to its present size. In 1941, Liu Guojun, an industrialist from Changzhou, bought the garden and spent several years renovating it. In 1955, upon Liu's instruction, Tao Shunan, the Manager of the Zhenya Silk Weaving Mill, donated the garden to Suzhou city. It is currently registered as a World Heritage site.
Asian Historical Architecture
Gerard Dockery says:
Lion Grove Garden (first built 1342, rebuilt 1918)
The Lion Grove garden was first built in 1342 by the Monk Tianru and other disciples in memory of their teacher, the monk Zhongfeng. The garden is approximately 10,000 square meters and contains 22 pavilions, 71 steles, and numerous other works of art. The garden is famous for its rockery, which is mostly made of limestone taken from Taihu lake. The rocks have been piled up into forms resembling lions. The name of the garden "Lion Grove," came from a reference to lions in a Buddhist story which included descriptions of a rocky place in a bamboo forest (resembling the garden).
In its early years, the garden was famous as a place of retreat for painters and calligraphers. After Tianru's death, the garden passed through a number of hands and declined in later centuries.It was revived in 1918 by a wealthy industrialist named Mr. Pei, but was given to the State after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
It is said that Emperor Qianlong (18th century) visited the site six times and inscribed the word "Zhenqu" (true delight) to describe the garden's beauty.The inscription is still on display in a pavilion of the same name.
'Asian Historical Architecture'
Gerard Dockery says:
Kong Lin (Forest of Confucius) (5th century BC onward), "Forest of the Exalted Sage" or Confucian Family Cemetery has been the historic burial ground of the Kong family for over 2000 years and reflects an almost uninterrupted continuity of almost eighty generations. Members of the clan are still buried there today. Located several kilometers north of Qufu and the Confucian Temple and Mansion complexes, the forest covers an area of almost 200 hectares (500 sq. acres) and is enclosed by a 3 meter high and 5 meter thick wall that is over 10 (or 7?) km (over 6 mi, or almost 4.5 ?, mi) in length. Statistical statements about the forest, as suggested here, are often in conflict. The forest is China's largest and oldest clan cemetery.
In many ways the forest is both an ancient and historic botanical garden and, as one writer has suggested, "a walking tour into the Chinese past". There is a broad diversity of trees, since reportedly each Confucian student brought representative examples from his own birthplace. Others added to the numbers as acts of veneration or because of imperial or other edicts. As a result the forest contains perhaps 20,000 (or 100,000?) varieties of trees, many dating from the Song period.
Throughout the centuries, however, followers also erected numerous memorials and other structures in honor of Confucius and his followers in the forest. On 13 occasions various emperors have renovated or constructed buildings. During the dynastic periods from the Han through the Qing disciples and leaders constructed--in addition to over sixty halls and pavilions--sculptures, archways, stele, and literally countless numbers of tombstones (estimates suggest over 100,000 Kong relatives are buried there) and mounds indicating locations of long-forgotten graves that link the past to the present. Confucius' burial place is under a grassy barrow surrounded by a low wall near the center of the forest; the terrace dates from the Han Dynasty. The stele above his grave, though damaged in the Cultural Revolution, reads: "Tomb of the Prince of Literary Excellence and Sagely Achievements". It dates from 1443 and the reign of the Ming Zheng Tong emperor. Confucius' son and grandson are buried nearby. Even the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, who tried to destroy Confucian scholars, books and ideas in the 3rd century BC, unwittingly contributed to the sanctity of the forest. Reportedly, in an attempt to eradicate the fengshui of the Confucian burial site, the emperor forced the construction of a river through the forest near Confucius' tomb, inadvertently, according to geomancers, improving the fengshui around the tomb.
As with many imperial tombs, the forest contains a Spirit, or Divine, Road flanked by mandarins and sculpted animal forms that offer symbolic protection to the Sage's tomb. Many of the statues date from the Song and Qing dynasties, while the road is from the Ming period.
The Forest occasionally fell in to disrepair, and was often renovated; large-scale tree plantings occurred five times and the total area of the forest was expanded at least three. The 18th century Yong Zheng period was an era of intense reconstruction, though the fortunes of the forest and the Kongs declined during the latter Qings. The most recent cycle of destruction occurred during the Cultural Revolution, especially in the late 1960s, when Red Guards robbed, defaced and destroyed much in Qufu, including Confucius' tomb and other prominent elements of the forest. Since the late 1970s, however, much has been rebuilt, repaired or restored.
Although Confucian ideas no long have the hold as they once did, the restoration of Confucian sites throughout China has rekindled ties with its historic past. The Confucian Temple reflects of the imperial splendor of the Forbidden City and the ethical vision of the Exalted Sage. The Forest reflects the preeminence of the Kong clan throughout Chinese history. And within the pines and cypresses and other animate and inanimate elements of its past one finds a majestic beauty and a respite from the souvenir hawkers, pedicab drivers and throngs that visit the historic sites associated with the Exalted Sage.
Asian Historical Architecture
Gerard Dockery says:
Surging Waves Pavilion (Canglangting) (built c. 1040 onward) is one of the oldest gardens in Suzhou. Situated in the southwest quadrant of the city, it is located directly to the west of the Confucian temple. The garden was originally constructed during the reign of Emperor Qingli (1041-49) of the Northern Song Dynasty by Su Shunqin. He named the garden "The Surging Waves Pavilion" after a poem in the anthology Songs of Chu. During the Southern Song dynasty, the site was taken over by Han Shizhong. It underwent numerous renovations in the centuries to follow, but retains its essential form.
Unlike other gardens in Suzhou, there is a strong emphasis on the contrast between constructed natural settings and the built environment. For example, the front to the garden is dominated by a wide canal linked to the main entrance by a long stone bridge. The relatively massive built forms (the bridge, the tall entrance) provide a strong counterpoint to the water. On the same note, many spaces on the interior of the garden are narrow, claustrophobic, and framed more by walls and corridors than they are by natural forms such as rockeries or vegetation.
Asian Historical Architecture
Gerard Dockery says:
Lingering Garden (simplified Chinese: 留园; traditional Chinese: 留園; pinyin: Liú Yuán; Suzhou Wu: Leu yoe, Wu Chinese pronunciation: [løʏ ɦyø]) is a renowned classical Chinese garden, dating back to 1593. It is located at 338 Liuyuan Rd. Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China (留园路338号). The garden is divided into 4 themed sections connected by covered walkways. The central garden encircles a pond and a grotto constructed of yellow stone granite. It was created by the noted artist Zhou Binzhong.
In 1997, the Lingering Garden was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with seven other Classical Gardens of Suzhou. The garden also contains two UNESCO Intangible World Heritage Arts; Pingtan (评弹) and Guqin music.
Lingering Garden is located outside the Changmen gate (阊门) of Suzhou, Jiangsu province. It was commissioned by Xu Taishi (徐泰时), an impeached and later exonerated official in 1593 CE. Stonemason Zhou Shicheng (周时臣) designed and built the East Garden (东园) as it was initially called. 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.
Ownership passed to Liu Su, another official in 1798 CE. After extensive reconstruction, he renamed it Cold Green Village after a verse, "clean cold color of bamboo, limpid green light of water". Keeping with that theme, he added pine and bamboo groves. He was an avid collector of Scholar stones and added 12 more to the garden housing them in the "stone forest". It was also at this time the "Celestial Hall of Five Peaks" was built. The garden soon acquired the nickname "Liu Yuan" from the owner's surname. From 1823 the garden was opened to the public, and became a famed resort.
Ownership passed to Sheng Kang, a provincial treasurer of Hubei in 1873. He repaired the damaged caused to the garden by the chaos of the Taiping. After three years the reconstruction was completed in 1876, and the garden was renamed to Liu Yuan (留园). The name, while homophonous to an older name, connotes leisure and thus pays tribute to the former owner as well as the resort period of the garden. It was at this time the "Auspicious Cloud Capped Peak" stone was moved to its current location-.The garden was inherited by Sheng Xuanhuai from his father although he abandoned the garden in 1911 and it fell into disrepair.
During the Sino-Japanese War, the garden was abandoned again, and it even degenerated into a breeding zone for the army's horses. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Suzhou government took over and renovated the garden. It was reopened to the public in 1954. In 2001 the garden was added to the UNESCO Word Heritage list, and remains a major tourist destination.
Since its creation the Lingering Garden has been well received by critics and has inspired artists. 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). 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."
Wikipedia
Gerard Dockery says:
"The Master of the Nets Garden (Chinese: 网师园; pinyin: Wǎngshī yuán; Suzhouese: Wu Chinese pronunciation: [mɑ̃ sz̩ ɦyø]) in Suzhou is among the finest gardens in China. It is recognized with the other Classical Gardens of Suzhou as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The garden demonstrates Chinese garden designers' adept skills for synthesizing art, nature, and architecture to create unique metaphysical masterpieces. The Master of the Nets is particularly regarded among garden connoisseurs for its mastering the techniques of relative dimension, contrast, foil, sequence and depth, and borrowed scenery.
The Master of the Nets garden, then called Ten Thousand Volume Hall, was first constructed in 1140 by Shi Zhengzhi, the Deputy Civil Service Minister of the Southern Song dynasty government. Shi Zhengzhi was inspired by the simple and solitary life of a Chinese fisherman depicted in philosophical writings. After his death, the garden passed through numerous ownership and subsequently fell into disarray until around 1785 when it was restored by Song Zongyuan, a retired government official of the Qing dynasty. He drastically redesigned the garden and added multiple buildings, but retained the spirit of the site. He often referred to himself as a fisherman and renamed it the Master of the Nets Garden, as an allusion to the simple life of a fisherman.
Ownership passed to Qu Yuancun, a scholar well-versed in the classics and literature, in 1795. He added and remodelled buildings, planted trees, and arranged stones. The garden acquired the nickname of Qu's Garden during this period as well as its first acclaim by critics. Ownership passed to Li Hongyi, an imperial official and master calligrapher in 1868. About half of the steles in the garden are inscribed by him. Ownership passed to He Chang in 1940, who restored both the garden and returned the name back to Master of Nets Garden. He stipulated in his will the garden should be donated to the government. In 1958, his daughter He Zehui gave the garden to the Suzhou government.
During the late 18th century, it was recognized for its herbaceous peonies. In his Notes on the Master of Nets Garden, Qian Daxin stated, "A good integration of the delights of the village and town." Modern critic Chen Congzhou feels that the Master of the Nets Garden is the best representation of all classical Chinese garden art, as stated in Famous Classical Gardens of China."
-Wikipedia
Gerard Dockery says:
(current layout early 19th century onward)
The Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997 along with a number of other Suzhou gardens. It sits within the present-day property of the Embroidery Museum. The history of the site extends back to the eastern Jin dynasty, when Wang Min and his brother donated their residence to create the Jingde temple. After changing hands several times, the temple became the Xuedao Academy of Classical Literature during the Ming Dynasty, and then became a government office in charge of food supplies. In the early 16th century, during the reign of the Wanli Emperor, the site passed into the control of Sheng Shixing, an esteemed scholar. During the early Qing dynasty his descendant, Sheng Jikui, built the Qu Garden here.
In the late 18th century the garden became the residence of Jiang Ji, a director of the Jurisdiction Department. He had the site excavated, and after digging to a depth of one meter, a spring emerged which was fashioned into a pond called "Flying Snow". He also built the "Qiuzi Tower" and created a rockery behind it. The garden subsequently was owned by by minister Bi Yuan and Sun Shiyi, a renowned scholar. Around 1810 Sun's descendents invited the rockery master Ge Yuliang to reconstruct the garden in the limited confines of the site. Working within an area of about 2,180 square meters, Ge fashioned a man-made mountain occupying about 500 square meters.He constructed a series of interconnected pavilions placed in a manner such that wherever one stood in the garden, other pavilions could be seen at varying heights and altitudes. The effect is intended to make the space appear larger, and the illusion is one of the chief charms of this small gem of a garden.
Asian Historical Architecture
Gerard Dockery says:
Humble Administrator's Garden (16th century onward) (Zhuozheng Yuan) is considered the greatest of all southern Chinese gardens. During the reign of Emperor Zhengde (1506-1521), the site was occupied by Dahong Temple. At that time, a censor named Wang Xianchen appropriated the temple and converted it into a private villa, but the Wang family could not maintain the garden and sold it a few years later. In the coming centuries the garden repeatedly changed hands and was reconstructed many times, so the garden we see today is far removed from the one enjoyed by Wang Xianchen.
Today's garden consists of three parts: the central part which is properly called Zhuozheng Yuan, the eastern part once called Guitianyuanju (Dwelling Upon Return to the Countryside), and a western part formally called the Supplementary Garden.
The entire site was once a piece of level swampy land. When the garden was first constructed, the earth was scooped to make lakes and piled up to make islands. The original garden was simpler than the one today but just as large, containing a variety of pavilions and trees, as evidenced in such sources as the Records of the Wang's Zhuozheng Yuan and the "Painting of Zhouzheng Yuan." Despite its beauty, the garden fared badly in the later Ming dynasty. The eastern portion was parceled off while western and central halves became the villas of government officials. Neglect continued until the reigns of Emperor Shunhi and Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, when the garden was extensively repaired. The changes in the Kangxi period were particularly great, modifying whole portions of the plan.
During Emperor Qianlong's reign the gardens were again divided into two parts; the western being the Shu Yuan (Book of Study Garden) and the eastern being the "Restored Garden" (Fu Yuan). Repairs to the gardens continued throughout the Qing Dynasty, but the appearance of today closely resembles how the gardens appeared in the late Qing. However, the eastern portion of the garden only joined the center in 1949 when modifications were made to the eastern side.
Asian Historical Architecture
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