Gardens in Yangzhou City
Chinese ancient gardens, enjoying great fame since ancient times, traditionally fall into two styles: northern and southern styles. Northern ancient gardens are represented by imperial gardens and southern, private gardens of merchants and the wealthy. However, gardens in Yangzhou City of Jiangsu Province are an exception, forming their unique style between the above-mentioned two schools. Yangzhou gardens not only feature the spectacularity of northern gardens, but also boast a large number of elaborate architectural works, which is the main characteristic of southern gardens.
There is a saying that gardens in Yangzhou are innumerous just like residential houses. The number of gardens in Yangzhou and their refined architectural design are far beyond the reach of gardens in other places.
Yangzhou gardens are most famous for their oddly layered rockeries.
Geyuan Garden in Yangzhou
The best representative among all gardens in the city is the Ge Garden, built during the reigns of Emperor Jiaqing (1796-1820) and Daoguang (1821-1850) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It was privately owned by Huang Zhijun, a salt merchant of the period. Doting on bamboo, he had many bamboos planted in his garden. And since the shape of the bamboo resembles the Chinese character "ge (个)", it was named "Ge Garden". The garden is famous for its man-mande hills. There is a rockery called Summer Hill. It is six m high and riddled with caves which afford cool shade in summer.
Situated in the northeastern corner of Yangzhou City, the Ge Garden covers a total area of about 30 mu (2 hectares). It is famous for rockeries that are piled up with stones from Huangshan Mountain and Taihu Lake. They are elaborate in shape and present different grand views that are rare within the country in four seasons. Ponds and gullies, dotted everywhere, are another highlight of this garden.
Heyuan Garden in Yangzhou
Heyuan Garden is a famous private garden in Yangzhou.It features towers and pavilions arranged around a pond, connected with each other by an unusual two-story corridor.Added attractions are exotic rocks and stone bridges.
Coverd Corridor Beside the Water
To creat a mountian-and-water encironment in alimited area, the private gardens of south China often use covered corridors to divide the space.This covered corridor has water on one side and a painted wall on the other side. In the wall there are loophole windows,which divide neighboring parts of the garden from each other each other, yet they are not completely separated.
Windy Terrace on Narrow West Lake
The long and winding Narrow West Lake (Shouxihu) in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, is a famous scenic area in south China. The Windy Terrace is surrounded by water on three sides, and has a square pavilion. Through the round gate of the pavilion, bridges, pavilions and a Lamaist dagoba can be seen in the distance.
Fuzhuang on Narrow West Lake
On both sides of Narrow West Lake stand pavilions, terraces, towers and houses. Fuzhuang is a group of buildings which face the lake on two sides, surrounded by covered corridors and pavilions. Leaning in its balustrades, people can appreciate the scenery far and near.
