Shen Garden, an antique garden with unique Jiangnan characteristics
After the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, part of the original Expo site was used for commercial purposes, while the other part was transformed into the Shanghai World Expo Cultural Park, a public place for Shanghai citizens to relax and have fun. In order to better continue the theme of the World Expo, "Better City, Better Life", the park created a "Shen Garden" with unique Jiangnan garden characteristics in the park.
Shen Garden is located on the bank of the Huangpu River in the northern area of Shanghai World Expo Cultural Park. The park is built with mountains and water, houses and bridges, and the overall planning forms a layout of North Mountain, South Water, East Garden and West Garden. This architectural complex surrounded by mountains and water presents the classic Jiangnan garden style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, vividly expressing the state of Jiangnan and conveying the soul of Jiangnan.
Entering Shen Garden, you will see a mountain-shaped garden screen called "Dujuan Slope". The screen is a unique composition technique of Jiangnan gardens, also known as a screen. Dujuan Slope is known as "Drunken Red Reflecting the Clouds", one of the eight scenic spots in the garden, because of the various colors of azaleas planted on the slope. Every spring, the flowers here are in full bloom, and people walking among the flowers are like being in a painting.
After passing Dujuanpo and walking west along the lake, the ancient trees, coke trees and rocks on the waterside are displayed in front of you, expressing the traditional life mode of living by the water in the Jiangnan water town. This is the "Coke Evening Ferry" among the eight scenic spots in Shenyuan. The surrounding water surface is wide. If it is evening, the clouds are reflected on the water surface, which adds a sunset evening ferry artistic conception to Shenyuan.
After passing Dujuan Slope, you will see a bright future with winding paths leading to secluded places, showing the scenery behind the slope. The pavilions and towers surrounded by mountains and water are like a slowly unfolding landscape painting. The back of Dujuan Slope is made of Taihu stones stacked into a huge rockery, with rugged mountains and winding caves. There are lush trees on the mountain, waterfalls hanging on the stone walls, and the "Pillow Waterfall Pavilion" stands on the top of the mountain, forming the "Pine Stone Spring Flow" in the eight scenic spots of Shenyuan.
Water is the lifeblood of Jiangnan gardens. A boundary river separates Shenyuan from the park, and three lakes connect them. The East Lake "Lotus Pond" is inward-looking, the West Lake "Danfeng Lake" is elegant, and the South Lake "Yingyunxia" is broad. There are also waterscapes composed of springs, waterfalls, streams, and pools scattered in between, forming various waterfront forms such as embankments, islands, reefs, and beaches.
Jiangnan gardens are very particular about layout. In the late Ming Dynasty, Ji Cheng, a garden designer, said in "Yuan Ye" that "when setting up a garden, the main hall should be the main building. The first thing to do is to choose the view, and the best thing is to face south." "Yulan Pavilion" is the main building complex of Shen Garden. It faces south and is located in the middle of Shen Garden. The shape of the pavilion is both solemn and harmonious, and the axis of the two courtyards is regular and the shape is dignified.
The Magnolia Pavilion is named after the city flower of Shanghai. The pavilion is divided into two parts, the first of which is the "Magnolia Courtyard". The Magnolia Courtyard is square and elegant, with magnolia and osmanthus planted in the courtyard with pink walls and black tiles, implying "rich and prosperous in the Jade Hall", which also coincides with the "Jade Hall Full of Spring" in the Eight Scenic Spots of Shanghai Garden. Perhaps because the garden was built not long ago, the magnolia tree has sparse branches, while the osmanthus tree next to it is lush and leafy.
The second entrance is the "Plum and Stone Courtyard", a small courtyard with white walls as paper and plum and stone as ink, forming a three-dimensional painting of "plum blossoms full of trees indicate early spring". This is the essence of Jiangnan gardens, where mountains, waters, flowers and trees can be naturally and harmoniously blended together in each building, making every mountain, water, grass and tree in the garden produce a remote artistic conception.
Li Yu of the Ming Dynasty once said, "There is nothing better than opening a window to borrow scenery." This is why I like Jiangnan gardens. Jiangnan gardens are mostly lattice windows, which are the most beautiful scenery in the gardens. If you look closely, you will find that these window lattices are carved with exquisite patterns of wealth and auspiciousness. When the window lattices are combined with the scenery outside the window, the scenery in the garden is framed with a circle of carved flowers.
"Qingyin Pavilion" is a waterside pavilion with dual functions of rest and performance. It features peony viewing and opera performance. Sitting in the pavilion, you can enjoy the spring plum painting on the wall in front and the opera performance in the peony garden on the other side of the pond in the back. Whenever there is a performance, the wind blows through the pavilion, and the lingering sound lingers in the air. The Jiangnan charm and traditional opera are organically integrated into the garden, bringing visitors a pleasant experience.
The "Peony Courtyard" separated from the Qingyin Pavilion by a river is a rockery made of Taihu stones, with peonies, pines and cypresses planted on the hill. The "Luxiang Pavilion" is built on the top of the rockery, surrounded by winding corridors, which is full of classical painting style. On the side facing the pond, there is a platform made of stacked stones, which is the place for opera performances in the garden. The Qingyin Pavilion and the Peony Courtyard together constitute the "Music Rhythm and Heavenly Fragrance" among the eight scenic spots in Shenyuan.
After passing through a circular archway on the east side of the Magnolia Pavilion, you will arrive at the waterside pavilion beside the lotus pond. A plaque with the words "Pine, Stone, and Spring" hangs under the eaves. Through the waterside pavilion, you can see the waterfall and spring on the Taihu stone rockery across the water, the sound of gurgling water, the reflection of pavilions and towers in the lotus pond, surrounded by pines and bamboos, and colorful flowers complementing each other.
Yaoyue Hall is located beside the lotus pond, and is separated from the pine, stone and spring by a river. Standing in front of the hall, you can either admire the rockery waterfall or gaze at the clear water of the pond. What you see is different, far and near, high and low, each with its own charm. Although Shenyuan is an antique garden, the buildings in the garden cleverly use the water of the lotus pond and are built by the water, making the garden scenery and water scenery complement each other, adding a touch of tenderness.
Shenyuan inherited the traditional garden style of blending scenes and changing scenery as you walk. I walked and looked around, and before I knew it, I turned a corner. The lotus pond appeared in front of me in the form of a stream. A covered bridge named Ningcui Suoyan spanned the stream. The bridge was surrounded by green willows and red peaches, which filled the whole garden with spring colors.
"Deep Bamboo and Clear Plum" is a waterfront hall beside the lotus pond. It is a shop selling cultural and creative products and tourist souvenirs in Shenyuan, where visitors can choose their favorite small items and souvenirs. The scenery outside the hall is even more attractive, with lush forests, bamboos, and plum blossoms. Its small and exquisite layout fully demonstrates the elegance of Jiangnan gardens.
The "Zhuli Pavilion" beside the bamboo forest and green lake is a very elegant and cool place in Shenyuan. The pavilion is surrounded by tall bamboos and plum blossoms are slanting on the waterside, forming the artistic conception of "a branch of plum blossoms in the bamboo forest, washed by rain and beautiful and quiet" by the Song Dynasty poet Xiang Zizhen. Algae and grass can be seen at the bottom of the elegant pool, and irises and red Polygonum are planted on the shore. This is a great place to enjoy plum blossoms in spring and lotus in summer.
Shenyuan inherited many traditional gardening techniques during its construction. Among the eight scenic spots in Shenyuan, "Misty Penglai" adopts the traditional garden pattern of "one pond and three mountains". There are three small islands built in Danfeng Lake on the west side of Shenyuan, namely "Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou", which represent the three fairy islands on the sea in mythology.
The "Yanyu Tower" by the Danfeng Lake is suspended in the air on all sides, and is isolated on the north side of the water and the south side of the mountain. The double-eaved hip roof pavilion has a clean and free-spirited shape. The front of the Yanyu Tower is sparkling, and the back of the building is planted with flowers and plants. This is a place for tourists to climb up and look far into the distance. Upstairs, you can enjoy the panoramic view of the entire Shen Garden, and downstairs is a place for people to take a rest.
"Shui Mu Qing Jia" is an antique waterside pavilion beside Danfeng Lake, and it is also a place where tourists like to take a rest. Sitting in the waterside pavilion, you can see the garden scenes in different directions. The pavilions, waterside pavilions and Sanxian Island in the lake are reflected clearly. The pavilions on the rockery are small and exquisite, and springs flow out from the rocks from time to time.
Sitting in the pavilion and looking at the whole garden, you can see that Shen Garden is a three-dimensional, multi-layered landscape structure with mountains surrounding water and water dividing mountains. A stacked mountain stretches from west to east, undulating and winding, forming an enclosed space with mountains on three sides and a flat middle. The North Mountain is wide, thick and tall, built with earth, while the East Mountain is built with earth and stone, making the west side of the mountain steep and steep.
The North Hill of Shen Garden is the highest point of the garden, where there are winding mountains and dense forests of changing colors. On the top of the mountain is a double-eaved hexagonal "Yilan Pavilion", from which you can see the bustling city outside the garden and the beautiful scenery inside the garden. It is said that the best time to enjoy the scenery in the pavilion is at sunset in autumn, so this place is also known as "Autumn River Sunset" among the eight scenic spots of Shen Garden.
The last of the eight scenic spots in Shen Garden, "Lotus Wind and Fish Joy", is located at the west entrance of Shen Garden. It is mainly composed of the Five-Curve Bridge, the Moon Cave Gate, the Lotus Fragrance Pavilion, and the South Lake "Reflecting the Clouds". Every summer, the Five-Curve Bridge and the Lotus Fragrance Pavilion are full of lotus flowers, fish are playing in the water reflecting the clouds, and the lotus leaves on the water are sweet and fragrant. Visitors here feel like they are walking in a painting.
Walking in Shen Garden, pavilions and towers come into view one after another, making people feel instantly returning from the metropolis to the simple and elegant Jiangnan region. The Expo theme of "Better City, Better Life" is perfectly interpreted in Shen Garden, with sustainable ecology and nature, cultural integration and innovation, and citizens gathering and sharing. "Shen" comes from the abbreviation of Shanghai, and the garden is named after Shen, which means inheriting the urban spirit of Shanghai.
