Density and Winding,Towards a View with Vista:Study on Changyuan in Suzhou
In the Documentation of Gardens in Eastern China(Jiangnan Yuanlinzhi),Tong Jun put forward the"three realms"of gardening and garden appreciation:"Density-varying","Path-winding"and"Towards a view with vista".It highly summarizes the essence of Chinese classical gardens.This paper takes this as a clue to explore Changyuan.Changyuan is located in the Miaotang Lane,Suzhou.It is a small garden with only 1400 m2 area.The garden is centered on pools,with walled corridors linking up many pavilions.It has winding and endless routes,and takes rockery and hilltop Pavilion in the southwest corner as the highest point and visual landmark of the whole garden.The characteristics of this garden are quiet and clear,many but not disorderly,small in size and great in view.It is a masterpiece of Suzhou small garden in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.At present,there are few academic records and relevant documents.On the basis of on-site mapping and literature research,this paper makes a preliminary discussion on the historical evolution and layout of the garden,and discusses and comments on Tong Jun's"three realms"of gardening,especially in the small garden.The paper also hopes to have some reference significance for the research,sorting and excavation of similar generic and nameless relic gardens in south of the Yangtze River.
ChangyuanDensity-varyingPath-windingTowards a View with Vista