Yan's Garden

Yan Family Garden in Mudu Town, Shantang Street, Wangjia Bridge, the door to the Xiangxi, backed by Lingyan, "although in the mountains and forests, but the structure of the garden of the fine, do not let the city" (Tong Jiu, "Journal of Jiangnan gardens"), for the south of Jiangnan one of the famous gardens.

The former Yan Family Garden was the apartment of Shen Deqian, a famous scholar in Suzhou and the editor of "The Source of Ancient Poetry" during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. In the eighth year of Daoguang (1828 AD), the descendants of Shen's family ceded this compound to Qian Duanxi, a poet from Mudu. Qian stacked stones and thinning pools, pavilions and buildings, there are friends in the bookstore, overlooking the Nong building, Yanqing Pavilion wins, the inscription is quite abundant. Gong Zizhen said of this garden, "The wonderful structure is extremely natural, and the meaning is not created by human intention", "Leaning on the stone like a beautiful woman" and other beautiful sentences. In 1902, the richest man in Mudu, Yan Guoxin (grandfather of Mr. Yan Jiajian, a dignitary from Taiwan), bought the Duan Garden, renovated it and renamed it "Envy Garden". Because the owner's surname was Yan, the local people called it "Yan Family Garden". After three generations of masters' efforts, Yan Family Garden has lasted for more than 170 years before and after, whether it is the vicissitudes of time or the humanistic heritage, all of them have given Yan Family Garden a cultural flavor and a famous garden style. 1935, Professor Liu Dunzhen, a modern architect, went to this garden twice and lingered on the garden, and he highly admired the layout and local treatment of Yan Family Garden, which he regarded as the "best" of the local gardens in Suzhou. The Yan Family Garden was considered to be the "best" of the local gardens in Suzhou.

Yan Family Garden covers an area of 16 acres. There are five main buildings in the middle of the road, which are, in order, the Gate Hall, Yibin Hall, Shangxiantang, Mingyeolou and Overlook Nonglou. Among them, Shangxian Hall in the third entry is a rare Ming-style nanmu hall in Suzhou, which has a history of more than 400 years, with a wooden base of stone, elegant and simple; straight nanmu columns, rounded and soft; simple and sparse carvings, and elegant and simple colors, which have both practical and aesthetic functions. Shangxian Hall and Ming is a building in front of each of the Qing Dynasty brick carving a doorway, the carving of the man and the horse play text exquisite, meaningful, although attached to the hall, but is not an independent work of art, extremely rich in artistic value and aesthetic interest.

Yan family garden hall building grand spacious and exquisite, high hall, showing the Yan Zheng's temperament and character. And into the park, its architecture is delicate and lively, colorful, pavilion pavilion corridor and salon staggered, rich in change, reflecting the gardeners exquisite art of gardening.

There are two study halls in the garden, respectively named Youyu and Begonia, especially the Youyu Study Hall, located in the remote area, through the long and winding corridor, through the Qingyinju and Jingzhongguan, before winding to. You Yu Study House is a self-contained independent courtyard, with several pieces of lake stones in the front yard, sparse flowers and trees, and indoor classic and ancient books, the aroma of books, which is really a "hidden and secret place" to concentrate on studying. In the Yan family garden in a quiet and beautiful environment, you in the bookstore and other buildings in a corner, quiet and quiet Qiu, with a ghost-like feelings; with its very different is that there are some other buildings, such as overlooking the farm building, see the mountain building, around the mountain hut, Yiren Pavilion, Yan Qingge and so on is located in the high open, the space is free and open, with the open-minded like a warrior. Leaning on the railings, not only the garden scenery at a glance, but also can see the garden outside the field scenery and Lingyan Mountain's full of verdure. A couplet on the Yanqing Pavilion summarizes it all: "The Pavilion is adjacent to the Buddhist temple, and the window is facing the Lingyan Mountain". Yan Family Garden also has some architectural shapes that are quite unique and rare in the classical gardens of Suzhou. Such as the Yanqing Pavilion back wall and the wall is not in a line, steeply skewed out of a corner, breaking the smooth board law situation, so that people have unlimited reverie. Smell Muxuxiang Hall for the halls and pavilions in one type of building, the front part of the water pavilion built on the water, the number of fish for fun, the rear part of the four halls bright and clear, as much as possible to collect the surrounding scenery in the window panes. Envy garden in the east of the climbing corridor is also rare, this corridor built according to the terrain, with the topography of the elevated, connected to the natural, elegant modeling, so that people in the unknowingly stroll from the ground to the second floor of the hut around the mountain.

Garden without flowers and trees, mountain without life. Yan's garden in the layout of plants and flowers configuration is also more distinctive, cleverly planted seasonal flowers and trees, constituting the spring, summer, autumn and winter four small scenic spots with their own characteristics. Flowers and trees and buildings reflect each other and complement each other. Flowers and trees, the Yan family garden is more and more deep and far-reaching, changing, throughout the garden, there is a step by step, the scenery is different, the right and left of the wonderful.

From the right door of Shangxiantang through a long and quiet alley, that is, into the ancient magnolia as the center of the spring scenery. The ancient magnolia is an old thing of the Envy Garden, which is the witness of the former scenic beauty of the garden, and although it has gone through a hundred years of vicissitudes, it is as luxuriant as before. In spring and summer, the garden is full of flowers. The neighboring Youyu Bookstore is the old name of the Envy Garden, which is quoted from the Analects of Confucius, "You Yu Brothers", referring to brotherly love. Youyu Bookstore was the place where the Yan family hid many books, and Mr. Yan Jingbo (Jiajin) used to read the classics here in his childhood, reciting Tang poems at the age of four, and familiarizing himself with the I Ching at the age of six. Stopping at Youyu Bookstore, enjoying the pure white flower color of the century-old magnolia, and smelling the pleasant fragrance of the orchid, which is good for literary thinking, is an elegant move of the literati and ink masters.

Out of friends in the bookstore, into the cave stretching rockery, the breeze, also mixed with a light lotus fragrance, telling people that this is a summer scenic spot. At the end of the rockery, the vision was open, but see the blue water and clear sky, the lotus wind in all directions, the heart of the summer dust has long been dispersed with the breeze. Looking around, weaving CuiXuan, clear pavilion, JinYinShanFang and YanQingGe are covered in the green bushes, back to a couplet for the scene for the point of the title: "resort four times in the shade, cave day a faction of blue fresh".

With the extension of the corridor to the north, over the pond, that is, into the fall scenic area. This area consists of two parts, a suitable folding laurel, a suitable climbing, are autumn seasonal scenery. Smell Muxuxiang Hall around the planting of osmanthus, mid-autumn moonlit night, Dan Gui Xiang, fragrant, fragrant, smell people frank as if swinging, relaxed and happy. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar every year, the owner of the garden burns incense and lights candles here to worship the moon god. Yan's children and grandchildren play with the laurel to symbolize the meaning of "toad palace and laurel" high school. Through the overlook of the farm building and see the quiet courtyard in front of the mountain building winding east, to the mountain hut, a spacious platform built against the water, the field of view is wide open. Looking across the water, a lake rock rockery undulating stretches, a pavilion on the top of the mountain wing, between the mountain gurgling. The east side of the rockery is Caixiu Mountain House, and the north side is connected to the mountain-climbing corridor. Whether in the second floor of the mountain hut, or stand on the top of the mountain pavilion, can look north, the distant Lingyan mountain tower bell tower of the silhouette is clearly discernible.

Set in the mountain hut seems to have been the end of the garden, which is expected by the northeast corner of a side door right fold is actually a different world. This has been the winter scenery. Here the building density is very high, corridor hall, cross lap, forming a number of distinctive small courtyard. In the courtyard there is a small pool of water, across the stone beams, for the word shape, around the pool of lake stone staggered, cultivating trees and bushes, the depth of each other, the environment is absolutely secluded. Sparse shadow in front of the lounge, full of planted plum blossoms, the first clearing of the snow, red Ying green calyx, quite Song Dynasty lyricist Jiang Kui "dark fragrance and sparse shadow" of the mood.

Outside the winter scenery is a new garden, open waters, the garden of the pink wall, pavilion, rockery, vine trees are reflected in this clear, water bridge, water side pavilion, water waves ripple, water fragrance. Willow on the shore, birds and cicadas, has been a lively natural scenery of the Jiangnan water town.