The Writing Background of Ye Shengtao's Suzhou Gardens

Creation background:

Suzhou Gardens is a preface written by Ye Lao for a Suzhou Garden Photo Album. At the beginning of 1979, a publishing house in Hong Kong planned to publish a photo album introducing Suzhou gardens, and asked Ye Lao to write a preface. Ye Lao lived in Suzhou until he was 22 years old. In his spare time, he often visited Suzhou gardens with his friends and had a deep understanding of the interests and characteristics of Suzhou gardens.

When writing this preface, I referred to the book Suzhou Gardens compiled by Professor Chen Congzhou. The preface was written and handed over to the publishing house in Hong Kong, but the photo album has never been published. The editorial department of Encyclopedia Knowledge knew that Ye Lao had such an article and asked them to publish it first. Therefore, this preface was published in the fourth issue of Encyclopedia Knowledge in 1979.

The last few sentences of the preface were deleted when it was published. When People's Education Publishing House compiled it into a Chinese textbook, it also deleted the first paragraph of the preface, and the original title "I am deeply concerned about Suzhou Gardens" was changed to "Suzhou Gardens".

Extended information:

1. Appreciation of Suzhou Gardens

From the perspective of tourists, the author summarized the similarities and differences of numerous Suzhou Gardens, and then explained them in many ways. This text is like a key that opens the door to the mystery of the beauty of Suzhou gardens.

2. Original text of Suzhou Gardens:

It is said that there are more than one hundred gardens in Suzhou, but I have been to more than a dozen. I have also been to some gardens in other places. If you want me to talk about the general impression, I think Suzhou gardens are specimens of gardens all over China, and gardens all over China are more or less influenced by Suzhou gardens. Therefore, if anyone wants to appreciate Chinese gardens, Suzhou gardens should not be missed.

Designers and artisans are different from each other in terms of local conditions and ingenuity, and the successful gardens are of course different. However, there is a similarity between the gardens in Suzhou. It seems that designers and craftsmen are pursuing the same thing: make sure that visitors always have a perfect picture in front of them no matter where they stand.

in order to achieve this goal, they pay attention to the layout of pavilions and pavilions, the coordination of rockeries and ponds, the setting off of flowers and trees, and the level of close-range vision. In short, everything must exist to form a perfect picture, and there must be no failure to hurt the beauty.

They only want visitors to get the aesthetic feeling of "as in drawing", and their achievements have realized their wishes. When visitors come to the garden, there is no one who does not think about saying "as in drawing" orally.

Most buildings in China, from ancient palaces to modern houses, are symmetrical, no matter what happens on the left or on the right. Suzhou gardens can never pay attention to symmetry, as if they were deliberately avoided. There is a pavilion or a cloister in the east, and there will never be a same pavilion or a same cloister in the west. Why is this?

I think, taking pictures as an example, a symmetrical building is a pattern painting, not an art painting, but a garden is an art painting, and art painting requires natural interest, not symmetry. There are rockeries and ponds in Suzhou gardens. The stacking of rockeries can be said to be an art rather than just a technology.

either the mountains are overlapping, or several hills are matched with bamboo flowers and trees, all of which depend on the designers and craftsmen's life experience and the hills and valleys in their chests, so that visitors can forget Suzhou city when climbing and only feel that they are in the mountains. As for ponds, most of them refer to running water. Some gardens have spacious ponds, so the ponds are regarded as the center of the whole garden, and other scenery is arranged in coordination.

if the water surface looks like a river, bridges are often arranged. If more than two bridges are arranged, they will be the same, never the same. There are few neat stone banks along the edge of ponds or rivers, and they are always left to their own devices. There are also some exquisite stones arranged there, or some flowers and plants planted: this is also to achieve the effect of looking at a picture from all angles.

Goldfish or carp of various colors are kept in the pond, and lotus flowers or water lilies are in bloom in summer and autumn. Visitors can see the "fish playing among lotus leaves", which is another scene of painting. Planting and pruning trees in Suzhou gardens also focus on painting. The tall tree and the low tree are pitching. Deciduous trees and evergreen trees alternate with each other, and different kinds of flower trees alternate with each other when they bloom, so that you don't feel lonely all year round.

There are no pines and cypresses trimmed like pagodas, and there are no roadside trees like parade: because from the aesthetic point of view of Chinese painting, this is not worth taking. There are ancient vines in several gardens, and the winding and rugged branches are a good painting. When the flowers bloom, the eyes are full of jewels, which makes visitors feel infinite prosperity and joy, but they can't say it.

When you visit Suzhou gardens, you will inevitably notice the flower walls and corridors. Separated by walls and bordered by porches, there are more levels, and the scenery can be seen deeply. However, there are all kinds of hollow patterns made of bricks on the walls, and the verandah is borderless on both sides. In fact, it is separated but not separated, and it is bounded but not bounded, thus increasing the depth of the scenery.

A few gardens have installed a big mirror in the proper position, and there are more layers, which can almost be said to have doubled the whole garden. Visitors will certainly not ignore another point, that is, Suzhou gardens pay attention to the beauty of pictures in every corner. A few books with grass are planted next to the steps. The wall is covered with Parthenocissus tricuspidata or Rosewood.

If the window is facing the white wall, it's too monotonous. Give some bamboo or banana. And so on, it is nothing more than that visitors can enjoy beauty even if they look at a very small range of parts. The doors and windows in Suzhou gardens, pattern design and carving skills are all top-grade arts and crafts. Generally speaking, those doors and windows are as fine as possible and never vulgar, even if they are simple and ingenious.

four fans, eight fans and twelve fans. Taken together, everyone must admire this is a high degree of pattern beauty. Photographers like these doors and windows very much. They consider light and shadow and take satisfactory photos. Suzhou gardens are different from those in Beijing, and painting is rarely used. Most of the beams and columns, as well as the railings of doors and windows, are painted widely, which is a non-dazzling color.

the walls are white. Some indoor walls are paved with square tiles in the lower half, with light gray and white as the contrast. Roof tiles and eaves leaks are all light gray. These colors cooperate with the green of vegetation, causing people to feel quiet and leisurely. When the flowers bloom, all kinds of flowers are more bright. Of course, you can say more than what you wrote above, so I won't write any more here.

Baidu encyclopedia-Suzhou gardens