A Brief Introduction of Suzhou Gardens
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by The Suzhou Municipal Administrative Bureau of Gardens
welcome to visit our web site for detail: http://www.szgarden.com.cn
welcome to contact us: szga...@public1.sz.js.cn
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.
by The Suzhou Municipal Administrative Bureau of Gardens
welcome to visit our web site for detail: http://www.szgarden.com.cn
welcome to contact us: szga...@public1.sz.js.cn
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Western Guerillas
there in 1981 when it was just opened to tourists. The rock gardens were
beautiful of course, but even nicer was the "rivers" crisscrossing the city
similar to Venice in Italy. We took some great pictures of the houses lining
the rivers. Haven't been back into the city proper for 4 years or so, but
have heard that the city government has paved over many of the rivers making
the into asphalt roads. Too bad. But maybe that is the price of modernity.
Another thing about Suzhou is there are lots of Singapore Chinese there now.
The average Singapore person is very smart and well educated. They can speak
5 languages but not one of them fluently. All have a STRONG Singapore accent
including English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, etc. We always
wanted to ask one of them just which language they felt was their mother
tongue. ;-)
Relax...we're just joking!
Western "Gim See Gao" Guerillas
-----
Western Guerillas In The China Mist
Stupid website for westerners trying to make their way in the China business
jungle.
http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Market/1806
**** Posted from RemarQ - http://www.remarq.com - Discussions Start Here (tm) ****
Richard
Guerillas) wrote:
>Suzhou is a nice place to visit if you are ever in China. We first visited
>there in 1981 when it was just opened to tourists. The rock gardens were
>beautiful of course, but even nicer was the "rivers" crisscrossing the city
>similar to Venice in Italy. We took some great pictures of the houses lining
>the rivers. Haven't been back into the city proper for 4 years or so, but
>have heard that the city government has paved over many of the rivers making
>the into asphalt roads. Too bad. But maybe that is the price of modernity.
>
>Another thing about Suzhou is there are lots of Singapore Chinese there now.
>The average Singapore person is very smart and well educated. They can speak
>5 languages but not one of them fluently.
You must know the five languages that they speak very well, otherwise,
how do you actually know that they are not speaking any one of them
fluently, including their mother tongue. This is an insult to them as
well.