Qiyuan Garden is located in Haiyan County, on the north bank of Hangzhou Bay, a famous garden in the south of the Yangtze River. Professor Chen Congzhou, a contemporary landscape scientist, praised it as "the first in Zhejiang". It is one of the top ten gardens in China-Qiyuan.
The rest garden, formerly known as Feng Garden, is a typical private garden style in Jiangnan. In the ninth year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (A.D. 187 1), the owner of the garden, Feng Renzhai, built three houses here. The following year, Feng Renzhai integrated the essence of two abandoned gardens, Zhuoyi Garden and Yanyuan Garden, which were run by his father-in-law Huang Xieqing, and built a garden, Feng Sanle Hall, behind his residence, thus building the present Seven Gardens.
In the ninth year of Tongzhi, Feng Jianzhai built a house in the center of the old county town of Haiyan County, and built a private garden behind the house the following year. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the descendants of Feng Zanzhai renovated the homestead and named it the Seventh Hospital. Although Qiyuan Garden was built in the late Qing Dynasty, its gardening history can be traced back to the middle of Ming Dynasty. In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty, the scholar Peng built Peng Garden in the south of the city, which was the earliest garden in the history of Wuyuan Town, Haiyan County. In the Qing Dynasty, Pengyuan was abandoned several times, and the number of owners changed. From the late Qing Dynasty to the hands of dramatist and poet Huang Xieqing. He first bought the abandoned site of the west inkstone garden, and then renovated it together with his own garden, adding scenic spots. But when he married his second daughter, Huang Xiu, the garden was also destroyed by the war. Later, Huang Xiuzhi's husband, Feng Jianzhai, planned to rebuild the garden, which not only retained the styles of the two old gardens, but also adopted modern gardening techniques based on natural landscapes, and followed the layout principle of "Water follows the mountains, and the mountains follow the water" to make the garden unique. Later, Feng's wife named it "Romance", which means "dressed up beautifully". Perhaps this is out of respect and nostalgia for Huang Xiu! After liberation, Feng Renzhai's descendants donated the homestead to the people.
Qiyuan Garden covers an area of 10000 square meters, with a water surface of about 2000 square meters and trees of 7000 square meters. The whole garden is almost covered with green trees, and there are nearly 1000 trees in the garden. Among them, more than 40 ancient and famous trees have been weathered for hundreds of years. Some trees stand on the top of the mountain, some are still in the valley, some are spreading their wings on the cliff, and some are pitching on the water. There are also small bamboo bushes and vines clinging to tall trees, and the clouds are lingering.
The construction of the whole garden skillfully applies the theory that water turns with mountains and mountains live with water. Featuring trees and ponds, with a little architectural decoration, it is similar to today's landscape-oriented gardening method; Park is a self-contained area, not attached to residential areas; Large-scale water use is mainly based on gathering, supplemented by scattering, and the water turns with the mountains, and the mountains live with the water; There are hills and valleys before and after the big rockery, which is different from the small garden area in Suzhou. The garden starts from the west entrance, with a drawing room, a curved bridge in front and a rockery opposite the pool. The water flows around the hall from east to north, and the layout is similar to that of Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden. The water flows through the hole to the big pool behind it. There are nine melodies: Chiying, Butterfly, Green Flowers, Morning Painting, Hidden Sea, Moon, Listening to the Qin in the Valley, Sunset in the Wind, Beauty in the Mirror, Bird Singing and Mud Fragrance in Gu Teng. Its path consists of caves, shore roads, flying beams, boats and underground tunnels, forming a complex maze, which is only available in Jiangnan gardens. The rockery in the park is divided into front, middle and back areas, and there is a poetic landscape that looks like a mountain peak on one side of the mountain. The buildings in the park, such as Tan Yingxuan, Xiaoyin Pavilion, Cuidi Pavilion and Fenghexuan, decorate the park and provide a place for tourists to rest. There are nine bridges, four bridges and seven flower bridges in the park, which connect mountains and rivers and form an independent landscape. For example, the fourth Cambridge, which is composed of three-span stone slabs, is an isolated case of the landscape of China Garden Bridge. Qizhao Bridge is a stone arch bridge that divides the lake in the garden into two boundaries. There are two water mirrors beside the arch, and the double bridge falls into a rainbow, forming a picturesque landscape with the surrounding scenery. To the south of the garden is Sanle Hall, a typical Jiangnan residence with seven floors and seven white walls and black tiles, which complements the garden.
The rest garden can be divided into three parts: the southern part of the garden is mainly rockery, winding from south to north, and then turning to west and east, separating the middle and north of the garden from each other. Downward, the cave is flat, the loop is deep, and the narrow place has to be close to the body. You can cross the bridge and turn to the mountain road to climb to the top, or you can leave the garden to the north-central part. The layout of the whole southern district resembles Suzhou and Hangzhou gardens, which is compact and exquisite, while the beautiful and lively mountains are more varied than the famous gardens. The south hall building is Tanyingxuan, which is the main hall of the whole garden, surrounded by rockeries in the north, south and east, and there is a celebrity looking in the mirror in front of the door. In the north of the park is a big earthen mountain, which spans the northern border and overlooks the whole park. It also smells like Yangzhou gardens, but the shady side of the mountain is a fine building with gullies, ponds and scenery, which is unique and the pavilion is named Evian, making people look very high. In the middle of the park, there is a large pool with a wide water surface, with a fake mountain area in the south and a big earth mountain in the north, which is the spirit of the whole park. The pond water comes from a stream in the fake mountain area in the south, and there is a nozzle in the west, which is more flexible. The east dike connecting the north and south mountains and the south dike in the west divide the pond into three parts, hoping to see the high artistic conception of landscape designers. There is a stone arch bridge on the east dike with nine stone steps. The bridge is connected by two waters, and a rainbow is cut by two bridges, which carries the whole garden and is the visual focus. The south embankment is parallel to the rockery in the south, and the embankment is decorated with two flat bridges, but when you see light waves and shadows, people are like walking on a shady road. One of them is called Cambridge, and the pier is built with four stone pillars like the tip of a sword, which is an isolated case of bridge construction. At the foot of Tandongshan is the gathering place of all the scenic spots, and there is a dripping pavilion. There are several buildings like Lin Hongshui Pavilion in Tanxi.
Two-thirds of the seven hospitals are mainly mountainous, located in the southeast; 1/3 is mainly water, located in the northwest. The mountain is Z-shaped, low in the south and high in the north. The whole of Shan Tong is covered by continuous and intermittent peaks. There are caves at the foot of the mountain and many holes in the rocks. Some of them are expected to be caves, and some can enjoy picturesque scenery outside the caves. It is interesting to swim and watch in the cave. The park is dominated by water collection, supplemented by scattered water, covering an area of about 2000 square meters, with ponds accounting for the majority. The big pool in the northwest has an east dike, which borders the small pool near the west foot of Beishan Mountain. Only a small single arch stone bridge connects the two pools. The south embankment is at right angles to the east embankment, and there is a small stone slab bridge at the east and west ends. Except that the west bank of Dachai is flat and the southeast bank is relatively flat, the stone banks of ponds and swamps are uneven and irregular. There is a deep valley under the cliff of Beishan Mountain, a small pool at the bottom, an island in the pool, and Koitabashi in the north and south, which is connected with the stone path. Taking the potential as a hidden song, life is in nature, which is the characteristic of the strange landscape. Strange bridges and stone paths just follow the landscape, giving people various angles, and you can get a pleasing landscape painting no matter where you stand.
There are more than a dozen bridges in Qiyuan. Except for a single arch bridge and a zigzag bridge, the rest are slab bridges. The small stone arch bridge is built on the east embankment, and it is called colorful bridge. The side of the bridge is semi-hexagonal, and there are four stone lions on the left and right stone pillars of the bridge fence. Under the railing at the top of the bridge, there is a couplet on each side of the arch ring. One of them quoted Li Bai's poem: "Two waters sandwich a mirror. The rainbow falls on the double bridge. " The East Pool and the West Pool in the park are "two waters": the arch ring of the bridge and its reflection are combined into a "round mirror"; "Double Bridge" refers to the bridge between the entity and the overseas Chinese silhouette, such as a rainbow falling into the water. The practice of dividing the water surface by overseas Chinese is rare in private gardens of Jiangnan literati. Obviously, the designer learned the experience of water control from West Lake in Hangzhou and Slender West Lake in Yangzhou, and applied it flexibly in small gardens. Become the most distinctive scenic spot in Qiyuan.
Qiyuan covers an area of more than 7000 square meters and has nearly 1000 trees. Among them, more than 40 ancient and famous trees have been weathered for hundreds of years. Some trees stand on the top of the mountain, some are still in the valley, some are spreading their wings on the cliff, and some are pitching on the water. There are also small bamboo bushes and vines clinging to tall trees, and the clouds are lingering. The most attractive place for tourists to stay is Gu Teng, under the cliff of Beishan Mountain, with a bowl as thick as a python's flat body. Roots are feet off the ground. You can sit, swing, climb and climb. Trees are green, water is green, and flowers sometimes appear all year round on banks, lawns, roadsides and mountains. For example, there are spring roses, summer lotus roses, autumn chrysanthemum osmanthus, and winter narcissus wintersweet. All the flowers are brilliant. Why don't tourists feel refreshed when wandering in the garden!
Generally, there are many halls and buildings in the private gardens of Jiangnan literati, but the layout of Qiyuan Garden is not stereotyped. There are only four pavilions in the whole park. First, Tan Yingxuan, the main hall of the southwest entrance, is spacious and bright, and can accommodate nearly 100 people. 2. Evian enjoys the highest position in the whole park at the top of Beishan Mountain, also known as Haiting. Then, at the foot of Beishan Mountain and the edge of Dongchi, Didi Cui Xiang blends with the surrounding landscape and green trees, forming a charming landscape. The TV series A Dream of Red Mansions was shot in this area. Finally, the Shui Ge Building in the northwest of Dachi. Rest in the pavilion, overlooking the railing, and have a panoramic view of the whole garden.