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Published: April 10th 2013
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Yangzhou has a history of almost 2,500 years, being founded in the Spring and Autumn Period when it was called Guangling. It was called Hancheng during Warring States Period (403-221 BC) (Perkins). In 590 AD, the city began to be called Yangzhou, which was the traditional name of what was then the entire southeastern part of China. Situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, Yangzhou is located in the middle of
Jiangsu province. The place is famous for its natural scenery of lakes and gardens.
The famous Grand Canal that stretched more than 1,000 miles linking the southern part with the northern part.
The Grand Canal, aside from being known as the longest man-made canal, played a very significant role in shaping the economic and cultural development of the
Jiangsu province. Without this canal, it would be difficult to transport the materials and commodities from one place to the other. It is in fact named as the "transport center of the nine provinces" in China. The outstanding value of the canal made it possible for the reunification of China as well as the preservation of the accurate document records which are part of the world's heritage.
Must see attractions: The
Slender West Lake in the western suburb of Yangzhou was originally known as the Baozhang River, a natural river course through which runoffs from Zhugang Mountain empties into the Grand Canal.
In comparison with the West Lake of Hangzhou, the Slender West Lake is marked for its natural elfish beauty. The lake extends for 4.3 kilometers, and more than 30 hectares is surrounded by weeping willows and various attractions including the white pagoda, the five-pavilion bridge, the Bridge Twenty-Four, a moon-watchers' observational deck, and a square pavilion, which have all incorporated the grace of southern gardens and the grandeur of northern ones.
The Geyuan Garden is one of the four most well-known classic Chinese gardens. The garden was originally the home for the Monk Shi Tao, a famous Buddhist Monk and painter in the Qing Dynasty. Later, a salt merchant bought the villa and did a critical renovation by planting enormous amount of bamboos. The garden was given its name as the shape of bamboo leaves looks like the Chinese Character "个“.
Ge Garden uses bamboo and rocks as its principal elements and is characterized by stone-piling. Different rockeries are formed
from different kinds of rocks to represent different scenes in the four seasons, hence the name 'four-season-rockery'. The spring scene is the stalagmite south of Osmanthus Hall; the summer scene is rock, rockery, cave and winding bank in the northwest of the garden; the autumn scene is Yellow-Stone Rockery in the northeast, and the winter scene is piled white stones at the small court in the southeast. All of these are ingeniously laid out and perfect looking.
He Garden or He Yuan in Chinese (何园), is a major cultural relic site under national protection, built in later Qing Dynasty with an area of more than 14,000 square meters. The construction built in the garden takes up about half of the area, which is also the feature of late Qing Dynasty gardens. Built by He Zhidao, an official of Qing Dynasty, He Garden widely employed new materials to combine Chinese royal gardens and private gardens with western elements.He Garden is divided into
four parts: East Park, West Park, Yuan Ju Yuan Luo (the residential area) and Pian Shi Shan Fang Rockery. The main characteristic of He Garden is the covered flyover corridor. The 1500 meters long winding corridor connects two parks with buildings, which is a unique brilliant view in Chinese gardens and is considered as the embryo of modern flyover in China. There is a saying goes that He Garden consists of four number 1s. No.1 for covered flyover corridor, No.1 lattice windows in the corridor, No.1 pavilion in the central of the pool water and the No.1 Rockery (Pian Shi Shan Fang).
East Park of He Garden: A Peony Hall with brick carving peony, a rockery leaning on the wall, a Boat-Shaped Hall and a Reading Hall are included in the East Park. At the back side of the Boat-Shaped Hall, the rockery is against the wall and extends about 60 meters with a pavilion and steps above and waters below.
West Park of He Garden: Except for the covered flyover corridor, a pavilion standing in the middle of the
lake, Butterfly Hall, a rockery, a Moon-watching Pavilion and a Tongren Hall are also in the West Park. The corridor intersects the whole garden; walking along the corridor, visitors can view the beautiful scenery of the Garden from different angles; even in raining days, visitors also need not worry and just feast their eyes going alone the corridor. The pavilion in the center of the pool water is built for a special shadow reverb which make full of the echoes from corridors and waters; it is the place for garden master to enjoy operas, songs and dances as well as a hot shooting spot for ancient series and films, e.g. the famous movie "A Dream in Red Mansions".
Residential Area of He Garden: This residential part is composed of three buildings, the master's residential building Yuxiu Building, the guests' residential rooms Riding Building and a reception hall made of nanmu, which is the biggest and best-preserved hall of nanmu in Yangzhou city. Yuxiu Building is a two-storied building, which constructed in traditional Chinese style with western style ornaments, e.g. French shutters, Japanese sliding doors, fireplaces and iron craft beds.
Pian Shi Shan Fang Rockery of He Garden: It
is the only existing copy of the work by the great painting master Shi Tao in late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. This stone-laid rockery is an artificial one but a marvelous creation excelling nature, which attracts visitors from home and abroad every day. The man-made moon reflected on the pool water is a deep impressive sight of the rockery, and the stone house is a super secluded place to be away from the summer heat.
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