Suzhou Garden Text

Original text:

"Suzhou Gardens"? Author: Ye Shengtao

It is said that there are more than a hundred gardens in Suzhou, but I have been to only a dozen. I have also visited some gardens in other places. If I want to talk about the general impression, I think Suzhou gardens are specimens of gardens in various parts of my country, and gardens in various places are more or less influenced by Suzhou gardens. Therefore, anyone who wants to appreciate our country’s gardens should not miss Suzhou Gardens.

Designers and craftsmen adapt to local conditions and use their own creativity to build successful gardens in different ways. However, all the gardens in Suzhou have one thing in common among their differences. It seems that designers and craftsmen are pursuing the same goal: no matter where the visitors stand, there is always a perfect picture in front of them.

In order to achieve this goal, they pay attention to the layout of pavilions, terraces and pavilions, the coordination of rockeries and ponds, the contrast of flowers, plants and trees, and the hierarchy of close and distant views.

In short, everything must exist to form a perfect picture, and there will never be any mistakes that undermine the beauty. They only hope that visitors can get the aesthetic feeling of "like being in a painting", and their achievements have fulfilled their wish. When visitors come to the garden, every visitor comes to the garden without thinking orally saying "as if they are in a painting".

Most of the buildings in our country, from ancient palaces to modern ordinary houses, are symmetrical. What is on the left is what is on the right. Suzhou gardens never pay attention to symmetry, as if they are deliberately avoided. There is a pavilion or a corridor in the east, but the same pavilion or corridor will never come to the west. Why is this?

I think, using a picture as an analogy, a symmetrical building is a pattern painting, not an art painting, while a garden is an art painting, and art paintings require natural interest and do not pay attention to symmetry.

There are rockeries and ponds in Suzhou gardens. The stacking of rockeries can be said to be an art rather than just a technique. Either there are many mountains, or there are several hills with bamboos and flowers. It all depends on the designers and craftsmen’s many experiences in life and having hills and valleys in mind. Only then can visitors forget about the city of Suzhou and only feel like they are in the mountains when climbing. As for ponds and swamps, most of them use running water.

Some garden ponds are spacious, so the pond is used as the center of the whole garden, and other scenery is arranged accordingly. If the water surface looks like a river, bridges are often placed. If more than two bridges are arranged, they should be one of a kind and never the same. The edges of ponds or rivers are rarely neatly built with stone banks, and are always left to their own devices.

Also arrange a few exquisite stones or plant some flowers and plants there: this is also to achieve the effect of a painting from all angles. There are goldfish or carp of various colors in the pond, and lotus flowers or water lilies bloom in summer and autumn. Visitors can see "fish playing among the lotus leaves", which is another picturesque scene.

The planting and pruning of trees in Suzhou gardens also focus on painting. The tall trees and the low trees are pitched. There are alternating deciduous trees and evergreen trees, as well as various flowering trees with different flowering times, so you won't feel lonely all year round.

There are no pines and cypresses trimmed like pagodas, and no roadside trees like military parades: because from the aesthetic point of view of Chinese painting, this is not desirable. There are ancient vines in several gardens, and their winding branches are a beautiful painting. When it blooms, the eyes are full of jewels, making visitors feel infinite prosperity and joy, but they can't express it.

When visiting Suzhou gardens, you will inevitably notice the flower walls and corridors. It is separated by walls and bounded by corridors. The more layers there are, the deeper the scenery becomes.

However, there are various hollow patterns of bricks on the walls, and the corridors have nothing to rely on on both sides. In fact, they are separated but not separated, and they are bounded but not bounded, which adds to the depth of the scenery. Some gardens also install a large mirror at an appropriate location to add more layers, which can almost double the entire garden.

Visitors will definitely not ignore another point, which is that Suzhou gardens pay attention to the beauty of pictures in every corner. Several clusters of books and grass were planted next to the steps. The woody scent of creeper or rosewood spreads on the walls. If the window facing a white wall is too monotonous, add a few bamboo poles or plantain trees. And so on, it is nothing more than to allow visitors to enjoy the beauty even if they look at a very small area.

The doors and windows, pattern design and carving skills in Suzhou gardens are all top-notch arts and crafts. Generally speaking, the doors and windows were as detailed as possible and never vulgar, even if they were simple but original. Four leaves, eight leaves, twelve leaves, taken together, everyone will admire the high degree of pattern beauty. Photographers like these doors and windows very much. They consider light and shadow to take satisfying photos.

Suzhou gardens are different from Beijing gardens in that they rarely use colored paintings. The beams and pillars as well as the door and window railings are mostly painted with Guangqi, which is a color that is not eye-catching. The walls are white. The lower half of some indoor walls are paved with terrazzo tiles, contrasting with light gray and white. The roof tiles and eaves are all light gray. These colors, combined with the green of the vegetation, evoke a sense of tranquility and leisure. During the flower blooming season, all kinds of flowers are even more bright and dazzling.

Of course, there is more to say than what is written above, so I won’t write more here.

Extended information:

Creative background

This article is the preface written by Mr. Ye for a photo album of Suzhou gardens. In early 1979, a publishing house in Hong Kong planned to publish a photography book introducing Suzhou gardens, and asked Mr. Ye 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 profound understanding of the interest and characteristics of Suzhou gardens. When writing this preface, he also referred to "Suzhou Gardens" compiled by Professor Chen Congzhou. A book.

After the preface was written, it was handed over to the publishing house in Hong Kong, but the photo album was never published. The editorial board of "Encyclopedia Knowledge" knew that Mr. Ye had such an article and asked them to publish it first. Therefore, this preface was published in the 1979 issue 4 of "Encyclopedia Knowledge". The last few sentences of the preface were deleted when it was published.

When the People's Education Press compiled it into Chinese textbooks, it deleted the first paragraph of the preface, and the original title was "The Gardens of the Humble Administrator - A Talk about Suzhou Gardens" was also changed to "Suzhou Gardens".