Guide words: Suzhou Lingering Garden (2)

To the north of the Greenery Pavilion, you can see a two-story building on your left. This is the Mingsi Building named after the meaning of "seeing fish and birds with eyes, seeing the water with eyes" in Shui Jing Zhu. There is clear pool water and green maple trees beside the building, and the environment is elegant and clean. The ground floor of the Ming-colored building is named "Yihang" because of the external image of the forecastle of the ancient painting ship, so it takes the meaning of "autumn water only adds four or five feet, and wild air only receives two or three people" in Du Fu's poem "South Neighborhood" in the Tang Dynasty. "Hangzhou" here is connected with "navigation". There is a lake rockery in the south of Ming Ze Building, and the stone steps on the second floor are hidden in it. The stone in Yifeng Lake here is engraved with the word "ladder", which means "the monk stepped on the ladder and went upstairs". The "ladder" takes the cloud as the ladder. The ancients thought that clouds were born by touching stones, so they called stones cloud roots. If tourists climb the stairs between the clouds and the roots, they will feel like immortals.

Hanbi Mountain House North Terrace

Bypassing Mincer House, we came to the spacious terrace in the center of Lingering Garden. It's close to the pool. Whenever the lotus blooms in the pool in midsummer, it's an excellent place to enjoy the lotus. So it is also called Lotus Terrace. To the south of Lotus Terrace is the Hanbi Mountain House built next to Minse Building. This is the main hall of the Central Garden. It is named after Zhu, a Neo-Confucianism scholar in the Song Dynasty. He said, "Thousands of forests are dyed red." . There is almost no decoration in the hall, and there are no walls on the north and south sides. It is simple and generous, flat and clean. The flat-forehead seal script in the "Hanbishan Room" in the temple was written by Pan Suo, a monk invited by the old gardener.

There is a peony flower bed in the south yard of the hall, next to which are magnolia, pomegranate, hydrangea and other flowers and trees. Spring and autumn are bustling and beautiful.

Standing on the lotus platform, we can also enjoy the unique landscape of the central part of Lingering Garden. On the rockery in the middle of the lake, strange rocks and Huangshi are strewn at random, and the strange rocks and ancient trees are towering, showing masculinity. In particular, several ancient ginkgo and camphor trees that can block out the sun are integrated with the rockery, which will make people feel like entering the deep mountain canyon. In Suzhou classical gardens, it is also a model of "urban forest". Because the mountain is close to the pool, it fully embodies the visual difference between ancient trees, rockeries and the water surface. This is the landscaping technique of "low versus high" in classical garden landscaping. In addition, from the perspective of landscape layout, although the water is in the middle and the landscape is on its side, from the aesthetic point of view, the momentum of the mountain is far above the vitality of water. Water here is only a "supporting role" to set off the momentum of the mountain. On the contrary. The aesthetic position of the mountain and water in the middle of Humble Administrator's Garden, both masterpieces of Suzhou gardens, is the same as that of the rockery in the middle of Humble Administrator's Garden. Although it is built in the center of the pool according to the regulation of "one pool and three islands", its purpose of attracting attention is still the changeable water surface. There, the mountain is a prop, which causes the aesthetic effect of water surface breaking, covering and separation. Mountains have become the foil of water, and the beauty of water often exceeds the gentleness of mountains.

Climbing gallery

On the west side of Hanbi Mountain House, a long corridor twists and turns on the rockery in the middle. We generally call this corridor that fluctuates along the mountain a climbing corridor. This climbing corridor is not only divided into uphill corridor and downhill corridor, but also has a corresponding relationship between the real corridor along the wall and the empty corridor far away from the wall. The whole corridor is always in a changing process under different light and terrain, which makes people feel very interesting. At the same time, this climbing corridor has the following practical functions: first, it can shade the sun in summer and block the rain in rainy days; Second, the connection between scenic spots is a natural tour route; Three: euphemistically and implicitly guide tourists to the "Smelling Osmanthus Fragrant Garden" above the rockery in Central China. On the west wall in the middle of the climbing corridor, there is a "second-hand calligraphy post" carved by Dong Hance, a famous musician in Songling, Wujiang in Ming Dynasty. "Two Kings" refers to the great calligraphers Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi. Among them, Wang Xizhi is good at writing cursive script, official script, regular script and running script, with a unique style, and is known as the "book saint". Among the "two-king stickers" here, there are mainly famous Fa Tie such as "abundant orange iron", "quick snow clearing iron" and "pear sending iron". The calligraphy of "Erwang" is only collected in the "Erwang Fatie" in the garden, and the inscriptions and inscriptions written by famous artists in past dynasties are omitted. The "Two Kings Fatie" was carved in Jiajing period and Wanli period of Ming Dynasty, which lasted for 25 years. It is said that Liu Rongfeng, the owner of the former garden, loves stones and likes to seal the beautiful poems of the ancients on bluestones and embed them in the walls. Since then, this kind of calligraphy stone, about one meter long and forty centimeters wide, engraved with articles, poems or famous calligraphy, has become a major cultural feature of Lingering Garden. It greatly enriches the cultural connotation of Lingering Garden as a classical garden. Up to now, more than 370 calligraphy stones have been preserved in the garden, which is a must for staying in the garden.

Wen mu Xi Xiang Xuan

Along the climbing corridor, we came to Wenmu Xiangxuan, the tallest building in the central garden. From the architectural form, this is actually a semi-pavilion built along the corridor. Named after planting osmanthus around. There is a couplet in front of the entrance: "The strange stone is full of eternal beauty, and the osmanthus moves the mountains and the autumn." This is a scene map. Here, under the shade of osmanthus trees, all kinds of lakes and rocks are exquisite and quaint, but every autumn equinox is cool, and osmanthus fragrance ripples all over the mountain. The word "dynamic" is used wonderfully here, which vividly shows the virtual landscape of "fragrance". Not only that, Smelling Osmanthus fragrans is full of Zen. It seems to imply to others that Buddhism is just like the fragrance of osmanthus. Although we can't see or touch it, it is everywhere. As long as you meditate with your heart, everyone can be enlightened.

On the rockery in the middle

I heard that Guihua Pavilion was heading east, so I crossed the small stone bridge on the mountain stream and meandered along the stone road. You can see several ancient ginkgo trees with a age of one or two hundred years standing tall and straight among the strange peaks and rocks. Ginkgo biloba, also known as Ginkgo biloba, is one of the rare species endemic to China. Because it takes a long time from planting to fruiting, it is also called "Gongsun Tree". Ginkgo biloba is a dioecious deciduous tree. Its nut, ginkgo biloba, can be eaten or used as medicine. Wood is dense and can be used for carving.

Between the ancient ginkgo biloba, you can see a pavilion with a pyramid roof and cornices with 16 corners. This is the pavilion. It means a pavilion where tourists can stay and rest. There is a small stone table in the pavilion, which is made of Lingbi stone produced in Lingbi County, Anhui Province. Lingbi stone has always been regarded as the top grade among stones.

Looking south from Keting, it can be separated from Minser Building and Hanbishan Building in the south by water. Whenever a pool of clear water in Xu Lai is wrinkled by the breeze, the Minser Building and the Hanbi Mountain Room opposite it are like an original boat sailing slowly, drifting with the tide. Here, the gardener adds a sense of movement to the still building aesthetically with freehand brushwork. It can be called one of the best landscaping in Suzhou.

At the same time, the pavilion and the Hanbi Mountain House stand opposite to each other in the north and south of the pool, which is an excellent contrast in terms of the scale and geographical location of the building and the lightness and solidity of the architectural form. There are plum blossoms around the pavilion, which is suitable for watching the snow scene. Therefore, the pavilion is also known as a good place to enjoy the winter scenery in the center of Lingering Garden.

Behind the rockery in the north of Keting, there is a flower street more than 50 meters long. It is composed of pebbles, broken porcelain, stone chips, tiles and other materials, giving people a brocade floor-like aesthetic feeling. In the north of this flower street, there is a long corridor built along the winding wall, which is the continuation of the climbing corridor on the rockery in the middle. It not only has the functions of connecting scenic spots, sheltering from rain and sun, but also cleverly shields the white wall as the boundary between the north and the middle of the garden, thus diluting the sense of separation between the north and the middle.

Xiaopenglai

Crossing the Pinglan Bend Bridge, we came to the small island "Little Penglai" in the central pool. Legend has it that there are three fairy mountains in Bohai: Penglai, abbot and Yingzhou. Qin Shihuang once sent Xu Fu to seek the elixir of life, and at the same time copied three fairy mountains in his own court. After that, building three "fairy mountains" in the pool, the so-called "three islands in one pool", became a common gardening technique in classical gardens. The pool in the middle of the garden is slightly square and relatively regular. While dividing the water surface, the bridge island makes the water surface have two different water surface effects: spacious and quiet. In addition, when the rockery was built in the middle, a narrow mountain stream was specially built in the west of the pool, which made people feel that the water in the pool was inexhaustible and made the water come alive.

Hao Puting

Crossing the small bridge on the east side of Xiaopenglai, we came to a small square pavilion, which is Haopu Pavilion. Haopu is the name of an ancient river. It is said that Zhuangzi once fished on Pu water and watched fish with Keiko on Haoliang. Here, the ancients watched fish and fished to arouse a sense of freedom beyond worldly troubles, showing the transcendental interest of seclusion. This is also a theme of Suzhou classical gardens, which is manifested in all aspects of gardening.

Quxilou-West Building-Qingfeng Pool Hall

Out of Haopu Pavilion, eastward into the mouth of the cave, we now come to Quxi Building. This is a beautiful two-story building. Its ground floor is actually a wide corridor with large empty windows and caves on the west wall. Through them, you can see the beautiful scenery of the central garden, which is a typical application of the landscaping technique of "moving for change" At the same time, window frames and doorways are also regarded as "landscaping frames", so every window scene seen in the gallery is also a three-dimensional and vivid painting.

If we want to look at the empty windows and caves in the western wall dynamically, then more than 20 square calligraphy stones embedded in the eastern wall need to stop and watch to taste their charm. Here, you can enjoy the works of Ou Yangxun, Chu, Yan Zhenqing and other famous calligraphers in the Tang Dynasty, as well as the calligraphy works of Wen Zhiming, a gifted scholar in Wumen in the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, from the aesthetic point of view of garden architecture, the big hole in the west wall, the cave entrance and the small square stone in the east wall have formed the contrast between big and small, bright and dark, virtual and real, and at the same time, people's psychology has organically linked the beautiful real world with the distant historical clouds.

Go up two or three steps from Quxi Building to the north and enter the ground floor of the West Building. Here, like the Western Wall and Quxi Building, there are two large empty windows, which naturally reveal the central landscape, while there is no wall in the east, replaced by a row of floor-to-ceiling windows, which is in harmony with the style of the Wu Fengxian Pavilion outside.

From the west building to the north, the left hand side bypasses a wisp of flower partition fan, which is the Spring Breeze Pool Pavilion. This is a waterside pavilion open to the west, which forms a small water courtyard with Xiaopenglai and Haopu Pavilion. The surrounding balcony is reflected in the clear pool water, quiet and elegant.

Look at the buildings with different shapes, such as Quxi Building, West Building and Qingfengchi Pavilion. With their ingenious ideas, the landscape in the central part of Lingering Garden is organically connected with the deep courtyard in the east, so that tourists can unconsciously complete the natural transition in aesthetic psychology. This was also built in the garden; An excellent example of dividing the artistic features of space.

Wufeng side pavilion

Now you come to Wufeng Xiantang, the main building in the east of Lingering Garden. This large and spacious hall, beautifully decorated and antique, is known as "the first hall in the south of the Yangtze River". In the past, the beams and columns in the main hall were all nanmu, so it was also called Nanmu Hall. Because there is a rockery in the middle of the lake in the South Yard, which is quite enjoyable, according to Li Bai's poem "Five Old Peaks in the Southeast of Lushan Mountain, Jin Furong is beautiful in the blue sky" in the Tang Dynasty, the temple was named Wu Fengxian Mountain Pavilion. The words "Wu Fengxian Mountain Pavilion" on the forehead of the main hall are the inscription of the famous stone carving artist Wu Da invited by Master Kang Sheng.

This is the place where garden owners used to hold important banquets, weddings, funerals and birthday celebrations. In feudal times, men and women were not clear about giving and receiving, so in the middle and back of the main hall, a row of screen doors, screens and flying covers divided the main hall into two parts: north and south. South, spacious and bright, the seats are placed in strict accordance with the regulations, which is the place where the host entertains male guests. The north is cramped and specially designed for women. In the middle of the ginkgo wooden screen, the full text of Preface to Lanting written by Ma Xifan during Guangxu period is engraved. The "Dark Eight Immortals" patterns, such as flower baskets, gourds and bamboo flutes, are engraved on the assembly board below the 24-yarn partition. Zhang Xinjia's silk flower-and-bird paintings are hung on the upper part of the screen partition.

In addition, there is a circular marble pedestal screen with a diameter of 1.4m in the corner of the north side of the main hall, which is rare in China. The texture and color of the stone surface constitute a natural ink painting. What is particularly amazing is that there is a natural "hazy moon" on the upper left of the stone surface, giving people an artistic conception of "seeing the mountains after the rain". Yundingfeng, marble and Taihu stone, and fish fossils in Guanyunlou are usually called "the three treasures in the garden".

In addition to the marble seat screen, there are four solemn and elegant marble paintings hanging on the east and west walls of the hall. Two marbles, one round and one square, are embedded in a dark brown marble screen. Its natural stone patterns are like natural landscape paintings, and the arrangement below the upper circle shows the meaning of the ancient "round place".