Suzhou has always been one of the important political, economic and cultural centers in the south of the Yangtze River. Urban gardens have an early origin and profound attainments, and occupy an important position in the history of garden art in China.
Suzhou gardens began in the Spring and Autumn Period. After the capital of Wu was established, He Lv, the king of Wu, made use of the natural landscape in the suburbs of Suzhou to build a large-scale detached palace such as Gusutai. In the fifth year of Focha (49 1 year ago), the King of Wu expanded the Gusutai, and "built a Hailing Pavilion, a Baby Pavilion, a Jade Que with a Copper Hook, and a Jade Water Horn Hall in the palace" (2). Fucha also has a Wu Tong Garden in Wuxian and a Huijing Garden in Jiaxing. These gardens dig through pools, build pavilions and bridges, and plant a variety of flowers and trees. They make full use of the favorable situation of natural landscapes and try their best to carve them to show their peculiar brilliance.
When Liu Bi was in Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he not only inherited and transformed Wuwan in the countryside, but also built Changzhou Maoyuan in the city, imitating the imperial palace. During the Six Dynasties, Sun Quan built Fanglin Garden and Luoxing Garden in Suzhou. Gu Bijiang, a scholar-bureaucrat in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, built a Bijiang Garden with natural landscape as the main body. This is the earliest private garden in Suzhou, and its garden is the first in Wuzhong. With the prosperity of Buddhism, the jungle of Buddhist temples has also made new development.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with the excavation of the Grand Canal, the economic center of gravity moved south, and Suzhou's urban economy flourished. Nobles and giants live in Wuzhong, and scholars gather in Suzhou, which makes Suzhou garden art have a new development, from natural landscape garden to freehand landscape garden. At that time, Huqiu Lingyan, Shihu, Dongting East and Xishan all became scenic spots.
During the Five Dynasties, Suzhou garden construction reached its climax. Qian Liu takes Hangzhou as its capital and Suzhou as its important stronghold. It is very popular for aristocratic bureaucrats to build houses and gardens here. Qian Yuanlin built South Garden, East Manor and Jingu Garden on a large scale. Among them, the South Garden "flows like a marsh, the accumulated soil is a mountain, and the island is mountainous, out of ingenuity" (1). South Garden pays attention to landscaping, with ancient trees and flowing water and beautiful scenery. Sun Chengyou, our envoy from Wu County, also built a garden pool to "worship the broad masses of people" and "repair bamboo with miscellaneous flowers". Canglang Pavilion is the oldest existing garden in Suzhou, which was rebuilt on the original site.
In the Song Dynasty, the wind of gardening was more prosperous, and Zhu Cuo built a paradise and a green water garden in Panmen. Some are Canglang Pavilion, Wanjuan Hall of Stone (the predecessor of Master Wang's Garden), Hidden Garden of Jiang Guanglu and Music Garden of Zhu. Among them, Canglang Pavilion built in Su Shunqin is the most famous. In the fourth year of Li Qing in the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Shunqin relegated Wuzhong and saw the site of Sun Chengyou's Chiting. Gao Shuang secluded wild water lingering, leaning against the North Pavilion. Because Mencius "surging water, crystal clear, can drown my tassels;" The water in Canglang is turbid and can satisfy my feet. It was named Canglang Pavilion. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the gardens and villas of bureaucratic landlords appeared in scenic spots such as Shihu, Yao Feng, Tianchi, Dongting East and Xishan in the suburbs of Suzhou. Many private parks have been built in this city. In the early years of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty, Canglang Pavilion was acquired by the famous anti-gold star Han Shizhong and renamed as "Hanyuan". Build a bridge between two mountains in the garden and name it "Hong Fei". There are Lilianshu on the mountain, Hanshan Hall, Lengfeng Pavilion, Yiyuantang, Zhuoying Pavilion, Mei Ting and other "Hua Yao Realm". Canglang Pavilion was abandoned as a monk's residence in Yuan Dynasty. The existing Canglang Pavilion retains the restoration style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
In the second year of Yuan Dynasty (1342), the monk Wei Zetian, like a Zen master, built the Lion Forest Temple in memory of his teacher Zhong Feng and the British teacher Shang Pu. There are many stone peaks in the park, which are exquisite and beautiful, and the mountains are undulating and magnificent. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, King Zhang Shicheng of Suzhou built Jinchun Garden, rockery ponds, pavilions and pavilions, and Jin Fanjing went deep into the royal garden river.
Suzhou became a famous garden city in Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to the Records of Suzhou, there were 7 1 garden in Suzhou in Ming Dynasty, and the density was 2.81garden per square kilometer. There were 130 sites in Qing dynasty, with a density of nearly 24 sites per square kilometer. At the same time, a number of gardening artists appeared in Jiangnan area.
Most of the first-class gardens built in Ming Dynasty are located in urban areas. The most famous is Humble Administrator's Garden, built in the early years, in the northeast corner of the city between Lou and Qi. Humble Administrator's Garden is one of the representative works of Jiangnan Gardens in China. During the Jiajing period, the great bureaucrat Xu Taishi built a private garden-Liuyuan outside Nagato. In the Ming Dynasty, there were Xiyuan Garden, Qiayin Garden, Art Garden and Cao Fang Garden. In Qing Dynasty, there were Yiyuan Garden, Lotus Garden, Quyuan Garden, Canyuan Garden, Changyuan Garden and Wufeng Garden. Among them, Huanxiu Mountain Villa, built by the famous Dieshan artist Ge, is even more famous.
Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, in addition to continuing to build the garden of the guild hall and the garden of the first house, the park garden has also been built. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the first house garden was Sui Garden, the hotel garden had a pavilion, the antique garden had a park garden, and the modern "Chinese and Western" house garden had a Tianxiang small courtyard. 1927, the "Imperial Waste Park" built on the former site of "Wu Yucheng", also known as the Park in the City (now Suzhou Park), was the beginning of Suzhou's modern parks.