Orient Gardens Masterpiece----Suzhou Gardens(China)
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With a history of more than 2,500 years, the ancient city of Suzhou,boasting
splendid scenery,rich cultural heritage and abundant agricultural products
,is situated in the Lower Yangtze basin by the side of lake tai. Ever since
the founding of Suzhou as the capital of the Wu Kingdom in 514 B.C.,it has
been the political, economic and cultural center of the region.As a place
famed for its well-known scholars,successful merchants, great architects and
distinguished artists,Suzhou provides favorable conditions for the creation
and development of classical gardens.
The earliest gardens of Suzhou ,which belonged to the King of Wu, can be
traced far back to the Spring and Autumn period in the 6th century B.C. The
Pijiang Garden was recorded as the earliest private garden--house dating from
the 4th century Eastern Jin Dynasties. More gardens were built in the
centuries that followed. During the prosperous Ming and Qing Dynasties, from
the 16th to the 18th centuries that followed. During the prosperous Ming and
Qing Dynasties,from the 16th to the 18th century in particular . Suzhou saw a
booming economy . Consequently, the number of gardens in the city of Suzhou
and its environs increased a great deal ,mounting to 200 odd.Dozens of them
have survived to the present and are kept in a good state of
preservation.With their numerical superiority and artistic perfection ,the
classical gardens of Suzhou has had a good reputation in this part of
China,popularly known as "the earthly paradise".
Laid out within a limited area by the house,a classical garden of Suzhou is a
microcosm of the world made of the basic elements of water,stones,plants and
different kinds of buildings with literary allusions.Like a freehand
brushwork in traditional Chinese painting, it is the creation of "urban
scenery" or an amicable environment that brings man into harmony with
nature.Built in a period when privately-owned gardens were most flourishing,
the Humble Administrator's Garden,the Lingering Garden ,the Master-of-Nets
Garden and the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty,noted for their beautiful
scenes,elegant buildings and literary connotations,represent the concentrated
essence of wisdom of the Chinese and the finest specimens of all classical
gardens of Suzhou. Like shining pearls, they are a brilliant part of Chinese
cultural heritage.Their characteristics are as follows:
Firstly,they set fine examples of how garden spaces are ingeniously handled.
Interwoven with Taoist metaphysics of Laozi and Zhangzi,the classical gardens
of Suzhou were laid out in imitation of natural scenery to meet the
intellectual and emotional needs of the Chinese. The terrestrial contours of
the site is always made good use of. Methods and techniques are
numerous,including borrowed views,barred views,opposite views,framed views,the
decorative and functional alteration,and the abstract and concrete
alteration.The stress is put on meandering through a labyrinth of complexity
and continuous surprises. Within limits the garden spaces are so ingeniously
handled that the effect of infinitude is produced . In the Humble
Administrator's Garden ,the Lingering Garden, the Master-of -Nets Garden and
the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty,there are many instances in
illustration of traditional Chinese aesthetics.
Secondly, they are the re-creation of the splendors of natural scenery through
the processes of the decoration of land by planting trees,shrubs and
flowers,and designing and materializing mountains and watercourses.
The classical gardens of Suzhou were designed and built by great masters of
different dynasties,emplying extraordinary methods and techniques.AS a
result, they are unnaturally natural. Noted for their wonderful landscapes
and waterscapes, the Humble Administrator's garden,the Lingering Garden,the
Master- of-Nets Garden and the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty are the
vivid re presentation of natural scenery easy to be found locally. The
miniature mountains made of yellowstones in the Master-of-Nets Garden or from
earth with stones sticking out of them in the Humble Administrator's Garden
and the Lingering Garden look so natural and spontaneous that they seem to be
rendered without human aid. A number of fine limestones hauled from Lake Tai
to the Lingering Garden,some of which are believed to be left behind by the
imperial collector from the Song court,have the qualities of being
slender,wrinkled, pierced with holes,yet capable of draining by
themselves.The best lime stone mountain designed and piled up by the great
master Gu Yuliang in the Qing Dynasty is to be found in the Mountain Villa
with Embracing Beauty. Great attention is paid to sequential loveliness.An
abundant variety of flowers and trees are grown in the gardens.Valued highly
for their several hundred years of age are the ginkoes in the Lingering
garden,the wistaria in the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Sabina
chinensis in the Master-of-Nets garden.
Thirdly,they are an epitome of exquisite and multifarious buildings of old
times in the south of the Lower Yangtze .
The classical gardens of Suzhou have many varieties of little pavilions and
large constructions with their basic beam--framing systems such as Ting,Tang,
Xuan,Guan,Lou,Ge,Xie,Fang,Ting(rising tone),and lang, to satisfy the needs of
reading,writing,painting,resting,viewing,meditating,playing chess,performing
on a musical instrument,sipping tea,holding banquets and so forth. With
traditional Chinese furnishings,these buildings richly ornamented with
exquisitely carved door frames,windows,hangings,balustrades and screens
inside and many kinds of lattic--windows,pavements and moon gates
outside,have harmonized impeccably with functional,structural and aesthetical
considerations.
Fourthly,they are rich in literary connotations ,carrying a tremendous amound
of information about Chinese culture.
Intertwined with ancient chinese philosophy ,ideology and aesthetics , the
classical gardens of Suzhou are noteworthy places with unique architectural
forms carrying poetic names in plateaux and parallel couplets in excellent
calligraphy with literary allusion which help to enhance the beauty of the
whole property .Also, there are numerous inscribed stelae of great antiquity
celebrated for their delicate workmanship and literary connotations .Indeed
the classical gardens of Suzhou are the invaluable reservoir from which we
can draw cultural substances.
To sum up,the classical gardens of Suzhou in the course of over two millennia
have experienced many ups and downs,and gradually reached a state of artistic
perfection.The sublimities of the classical gardens of Suzhou will endure
forever and ever.
E-mail: szga...@public1.sz.js.cn
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Victoria Clare
>A Masterpiece of Orient Gardens----Suzhou Gardens(China)
>
>For Detail: visit our web site --http://www.szgarden.com.cn
>welcome to contact us: szga...@public1.sz.js.cn
>
>
Thank you for this delightful posting - a work of art in its own right
and beautifully written.
victoria
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Victoria Clare - vict...@nogrod.u-net.com
http://www.nogrod.u-net.com/ Cheshire
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