The Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City
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| The commanding view-watching spot-The Pavilion of Imperial View in the Forbidden City. |
Built in the 18th year of the Ming Yong Le period (1420), the imperial garden was finished at the same time as the palatial architecture of the Forbidden City. Some minor reconstruction was made upon completion, but the overall layout was still preserved.
Lying at the northernmost end of the axis of the Forbidden City, the Imperial Garden consists of a group of structures. As this imperial garden is the most important garden with significant location inside the Forbidden City, the designers of the garden didn't adopt the kind of unrestricted and flexible ground layout usually found in private gardens south of the Yangtze River. Instead they employed the traditional pattern of bilateral symmetry typical of the palatial architecture.
First of all, diverse forms and shapes of architecture were adopted. One can see multi-layered pavilions or buildings and single-floor halls as well. The shape of the pavilion also varied from each other. For example, some pavilions are set on top of white marble foundation, while others are bridge pavilions
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(left) The roof of the Pavilion of Ten Thousands Spring and.
(right) The roof of the Pavilion of Thousand Autumn. |
standing above a pool. The lower floor of the Wan Chun Pavilion and the Qian Qiu Pavilion were arranged as a " +'" shape, but their upper floors had round roofs with spires. The creation of this new pavilion type combines the magnificence of the
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| Bonsai of plant fossils in the Imperial garden. |
imperial architecture with the liveliness of garden construction.
Secondly, the beauty created by the change of minute details can be found at every comer in the layout of bilateral symmetry. The Jiang Xue Room on the East echoes the Yang Xing Study on the West. The former one is a single-floor room with a colored
glaze flower platform in front on which flowers and plants are planted and bonsai placed. The latter is a two-floor building half-enclosed by artificial hills. The shape and the scenes they form are different between these two structures. Walking into the imperial garden from the side gates of the Cheng Guang Gate, one will find that the Imperial View Pavilion near the north wall and the Yan Hui Pavilion are in a symme- trical position, however one is a small pavilion on top of the man-made hill, and the other is a two-layer pavilion with roofs covered with glazed tiles. Though similar in shape with the Wan Chun and the Qian Qiu Pavilion, their roofs are different and their pattern of caisson ceilings are also different.
The Garden of the Tranquility and Lonqevity Palace
The garden of the Tranquility and Longevity Palace was built as a retreat for Emperor Qianlong
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| The ceiling with woodcarving in the Gu Hua Hall. |
after his retirement from active administration, so it is also called the Qianlong Garden. Built sometime between 177 i- 1776, the Tranquility and Longevity Palace consists of two parts-the front and the rear. Buildings in the rear section can be further divided into three rows-middle, east and west row. The garden is located in the west row of the architectural group.
Entering the garden from the Yan Qi Gate on the
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| The flowing-cup tunnels in the Xi Shang Pavilion. |
south, visitors will face a man-made hill. Then walking through the winding paths, we see the first courtyard appear in front of our eyes. Facing south, is the main room-the Gu Hua Room which was named after the old birch in front. The east, south and west side of the room are all surrounded with rockeries. The first courtyard features the natural charm of rocks and old trees.
Changes can be found in the third courtyard. A huge rockery was placed inside the yard with ridges and peaks stretching out and caves connecting each other. The Song Xiu Pavilion was built at the top. This quiet courtyard boasts of a huge rockery scene, which again offers visitors variety and surprises.
The Garden of Perfect Splendor
Buildings in 120 clusters were counted in the Garden of Perfect Splendor before it was burned into ruins. Small gardens were set inside big gardens, and every one was different and with astonishing beauty. The well-known French writer Victor Hugo once commented, "...collecting all the treasures from our churches and the final collection still could not be compared with this luxurious and magnificent architecture". The British royal architect Perth Zhang considered the garden "a lovely architectural complex consisting of the most beautiful and pleasant things in the world ". Later he designed the first Chinese style garden in Europe for the Duke of Kent - the Qiu Garden. It was observed that the Garden of Perfect Splendor had had far-reaching influences on the development of the world gardening art.
What features does the Garden of Perfect Splendor possess that distinguish it from other imperial gardens? What achievements have been accomplished in terms of the Chinese classical garden construction? The answers can be summarized as follows:
The most salient feature of the Garden of Perfect Splendor is that the garden was built on the site of flatland. This garden featuring landscape of water comprises of many smaller gardens scattered all over the place.
Another characteristic in the landscape construction is the transplanting of scenic spots and historical sites from all over the country. Emperor Qianlong went on six inspection tours of China's richest areas in the south, in the course of which he was able to visit numerous scenic spots and famous gardens in Suzhou, Yangzhou and Hangzhou. Paintings of his favorite spots drawn by accompanying royal painter were taken back to Beijing for future imitation. The result was that imitations of six well- known scenic views of the West Lake in Hangzhou, such as "Watching Fish in Jade Spring", "Dancing Lotus in the Courtyard", "Moon Reflected in Three Pools", "Bells Chime in Dusk in Nanping" "Autumn Moon in Peaceful Lake" and "Orioles Sing in Forest of Willows", were built in the Garden of Perfect Splendor in addition to the imitations of Lion Forest Garden, shopping street of Suzhou, the Zhan Garden in Nanjing and the Slender West Lake in Yangzhou.
The Garden of Clear Ripples (The Summer Palace)
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| The panoramic view of the three gardens of thee Garden of Perfect Splendor today. |
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| The destroyed marble boat now anchors at the banks forever. |
The predecessor of the present Summer Palace, the Garden of Clear Ripples was located between the Jing Ming Garden in the Jade Spring Hill and the Garden of Perfect Splendor. With the Weng Hill and the Weng Hill Lake in front, this perfect environment for building gardens was explored in as early as the Yuan Dynasty.
Most of the scenic spots inside the garden were built around or along the Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. On the south foot of the Longevity Hill, the Dispelling Cloud Hall covered with golden-colored glazed tiles shines and the imposing Tower of Buddhist Incense overlooks the whole garden. Climbing up to the Tower of Buddhist Incense and looking far into the distance, one may see the West Dike winding like a green ribbon, the reflection of the 17-Arch Bridge shining in the lake and the three islets- the Han Xu Hall, Zao Jian Hall and Zhi Jing Storied Building standing like the three tripods of an ancient caldron. Along the bank of the lake, there are the well- known Marble Boat, the lifelike Gilt Bronze Ox and the Knowing Spring Pavilion.
The Imperial Court Area
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| The Jiu Zhou Qing Yan scenic area in the Garden of Perfect Splendor, once the imperial banqueting place, was bunt into ashes in the flames of the Second Opium War. |
As an imperial garden serving as temporary imperial headquarters, like the Chang Chun Garden and the Garden of Perfect Splendor, the Garden of Clear Ripples had to meet emperors' needs of holding court, so an imperial court area was located right after entering the main gate. Located on the northeast part of the garden and at the southeast foot of the Longevity Hill, this area is facing the lake and near the main gate - East Palace Gate. The reason to choose here on one hand is because that this place is close to the Garden of Perfect Splendor, and it would be convenient for emperors to travel between the two gardens; and on the other hand is because that this layout - lying against the Longevity Hill on the north and facing the Kunming Lake on the east and adjacent to the scenic area - conforms to the convention of "'court in front and residence or garden in the rear".
The Scenic Area in Front of the Hill
As the main scenic area occupying 88% of the garden, this area consists of the area south of the Longevity Hill and the complete Kunming Lake area. It can be divided into two parts - the front hill and the front lake.
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| The old timely furnishing in the Hall of Dispelling Cloud in the Longevity Hill. |
The Longevity Hill faces south and is adjacent to the Kunming Lake. Because of the vast field of vision in front of the hill. the main scenic structures in the garden are concentrated around here. The most significant structure, the Great Gratitude and Longevity Temple built for celebrating the birthday of the empress, was placed in the central part of the front hill. This architectural group comprised of the Heavenly God Hall, the Great Hero Hall, the Hall of Treasures, the Tower of Buddhist Incense, the Zhong Xiang Jie Archway, the Hall of Wisdom of Sea. etc. They were placed starting from the foot of the hill to the ridge in the upper part of the hill. forming a south-north axis. On the two sides of the central axis, there are another two sub-axes. One axis is formed by the architectural group consisting of the Turning Wheel Temple and Kindness and Happiness Storied Building. The other axis is formed by the architectural group consisting of the Treasure and Cloud Storied Pavilion and Arhat Hail. The huge architectural complex built along the three axis towers in the central part of the front Longevity Hill. The imposing Buddhist Incense Tower lying on the high platform and the Sea of Wisdom stand out and form the main body of this complex.
Scenic Area behind the Hill
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| Overlooking the architectural group of the Hall of Dispelling Cloud and the Pagoda of Buddhist Incense in the Long evity Hill. |
During the reconstruction of the Garden of Clear Ripples, the builders expanded the lake in front of the hill, but for the rear part of the hill, they only enclosed it with walls at the hill foot, which limited the garden from developing further north. But even in this long but narrow space, with painstaking design and management, they still created a very unique landscape.
Another special scenic spot is the shopping street lying at the middle of the Xi River that imitates the style of business streets in Suzhou and Nanjing. In this 270-meter- long riverside shopping street, shops stand side by side on both banks with flags flying in the wind. When emperors came, eunuchs would be disguised as shop assistants and customers. Seeing this bustle in the street, one would wonder if he had come to the downtown busy streets of a southern waterside village.
Like the area in front of the hill, dozens of architectural groups were built in the relatively slow back hill slope, of those the most important being the Xu Mi Ling Jing Temple in the center of the back hill. As the largest Buddhist architecture in the imperial garden, the temple not only met the needs of emperor's Buddha worshipping, but also served the function of showing goodwill to the Tibetan and Mongolian minorities. In the rear part of the temple, a huge religious architectural group imitating the form of the famous Sang Ye Temple in Tibet was built.
The Mountainous Summer Resort in Chengde
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| View the Kunming Lake eastward. |
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| The lavishly decorated Long Corridor. |
The Mountainous Summer Resort in Chengde, commonly known as the Chengde Summer Palace, was originally called the Rehe Imperial Abode. Located in the north part of the Chengde city, it is the largest imperial garden still existing in China and a well-known historical scenic area that occupies an area of 5,640,000 square meters. The construction took 87 years starting from the 42nd year of Kangxi's reign (1704) and was completed in the 55th year of Qianlong (1790). More than 120 structures including storied buildings, terraces, hails, storied pavilions, studies, pavilions, waterside pavilions, temples, pagodas, corridors and bridges are constructed, of those 36 have Emperor Kangxrs imperial inscription. In the 16th year of Qianlong ( 175 i ), expansion was carried out and 36 scenic spots nominated by Qianlong were finished. In addition, 8 temples, arranged in a shape of arch, were successively built on the east bank of the Wu Lie River outside the resort. A huge ancient architectural complex consisting of imperial court, temple and garden had gradually taken shape.
Built in the convention of "court in front and garden in the rear", the resort is divided into two parts - imperial court area in the front and the garden area in the rear. The garden area is further divided into the lake area. plain area and hill area according to the different physiognomy and sights.
The Imperial Court Area
Located in the south of the resort, the imperial court area
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| The restored Shopping Street. |
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| Xu Mi Ling Jing Lama Temple. |
consists of three parallel groups of palatial structures. The Zheng Palace. the main body of the area, consists of 9 courtyards divided into two parts: the front court and the back living quarters. The Zheng palace was where emperors managed the state affairs, read and resided in, the most well-known building being the Yan Bo Zhi Shuang Hall, which is the main hall of living quarters in the Zheng Palace and also serves as the imperial sleeping palace of the Qing emperors. It is located in a place high and spacious, and embraced on four sides by rolling hills. In hot summer, cool wind blowing from peaceful lake brings pleasant coolness, so this structure was named Yan Bo Zhi Shuang Hall by Kangxi meaning "lake brings coolness" and was listed the top scenery among the 36 Kangxi nominated scenic spots.
The Lakes Scenic Area
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| A panoramic view of the refined and compact Garden of Harmonious Interests. |
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| Overlooking the architectural groups on the south and north sides of the Longevity Hill. |
One feature of the Summer Resort is that its layout was designed based on the natural hill and water in the garden. Located in the southeast of the resort, the lakes area occupies an area of 43 hectares. Similar to the Garden of Perfect Splendor. this garden, also built on the site of flatland, features largely on water scenery. The lakes area consists of eight man-made islets and eight lakes big or small interconnected by dyke, dam, watercourse and bridge. Only one tenth of the whole resort area, this lakes area concentrates half of the structures of the whole garden. They were built on different islets respectively. The Ru Yi Islet, Moonlight and River Music and the Lion Forest in Wen Garden are some of the large ones. Belbre the completion of the Zheng Palace, the Ru Yi Islet was the place where emperors managed state affairs and resided in. The Moonlight and River Music served as study and resting place of empresses. The Lion Forest in Wen Garden, lying southeast of the resort, was a beautiful "garden set in garden" enclosed with rockery, which imitated the Lion Forest in Suzhou.
The Plain Scenic Area
A piece of long but narrow flatland north of the lake area, the
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| A close look of the Cloud and Rain Storied Building. |
plain scenic area is about the same size as that of the lake area. In the east part of the plain area, there lies the Ten Thousand Trees Garden where thousands of elms were planted and flocks of elks raised in the forest. In the west part, there is the Trial Riding Land where grasses are thick as blankets, displaying a view of roughness north of the Great Wall. A unique area in the resort, the plain area served as not only field banqueting sites outside the palace for emperors, but also important places for political activities. In 1771, Qianlong received Wobaxi, leader of the Tuerhute Tribe, who submitted to Qing rulers. Qianlong wrote the epigraphs for the two stone tablets - Tuerhute Tribe's Submitting and Comforting and Compensating the Tuerhute Following. The tablets were still standing in the Pu Tuo Ancestral Temple outside Chengde city.
The Mountainous Landscape Area
This area occupies the complete northwest part of the resort, about four fifth of the resort's area. It
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| The natural transition from the plain area to the mountainous area. |
boasts of smooth rolling hills without odd peaks or dangerous cliffs, the hills covered with fertile soil and lush trees. In order to meet the needs of view watching, visiting and residing, the builders paved mountain paths vertically and horizontally and scattered more than 20 architectural groups of temples and gardens.
More than 20 temples or garden structures are scattered sparsely everywhere in the mountainous area. Except for the four of them standing on the mountaintop, all others are hiding in the valleys. Halls, storied buildings, pavilions and corridors were
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| Overlooking the Putuo Buddhist Temple from the Summer Resort in Chengde. |
arranged flexibly following the changes of topography. What the designers sought was the harmony between architecture and nature, so structures are not large in size, and the exteriors are not luxurious but simple and natural.
The Outer Eight Temples
Built in the rolling hills east and north of the resort, the Outer Eight Temples consist of in fact not eight but twelve temples. They were generally named the Outer Eight Temples because that firstly eight of them had lamas dispatched by imperial court to stay in and paid by the Border Affairs Department, and secondly the temples are located north of the Great Wall. Mainly in the style of Tibetan Buddhist temples, the Eight Outer Temples were built in the "flourishing age of Emperor Kangxi and Qianlong". With consummate building techniques and different styles, they are a fine example of the fusion of Ham Mongolian and Tibetan cultures. Here one could feel the magnificence of the Potala Palace in Tibet, the grandeur of the Tashilhungpo Monastery in Xikaze the charm of the Shuxiang Temple in Mt. Wu Tai and the shine of Guerzha Temple in Yili, Xingjiang province.The world's largest wooden Buddhist figure ¨C Bodhisattva Guanyin with one thousand hands and eyes, was placed here also.
