A First Look at Jiangsu Garden Expo Park: Suyun Huigu (2)
Travel mode: self-driving
Travel time: June 2021
Attraction: Jiangsu Garden Expo Park
Address: northeast near the intersection of Husheng Road and Hufa Road, Jiangning District, Nanjing
Route: West Pingmen entrance of the scenic area – Yangzhou Garden – Suzhou Garden – Zhenjiang Garden – Nanjing Garden – Suqian Garden – Xuzhou Garden – Taizhou Garden – Huai'an Garden – West Pingmen
When leaving Suqian Garden, it started drizzling again. After the rain, the garden was pleasant and comfortable. As the drizzle fell and the sky darkened, we prepared to head back. Walking downhill, flowers were in full bloom along the way.
Passing by Taizhou Garden, we couldn't bear to skip it and decided to take a look. I'm not very familiar with Taizhou gardens, but I remember visiting the Mei Garden in Taizhou with my parents a few years ago. Taizhou is the hometown of master Mei Lanfang, and Mei Garden was built as a civic park to commemorate him. What impressed me most back then was the Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall and the spontaneous gathering of opera fans singing together. Seeing Taizhou Garden now brought back those memories.
The outer walls of Taizhou Garden are built with plain grey bricks in a 'one stretcher, one header' bonding pattern, creating a natural texture with the back of each brick.
The decorative windows on the simple plain brick walls are diverse in shape, each uniquely designed.
The prototype of Taizhou Garden is the Qiao Garden in Taizhou. Built during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Qiao Garden is one of the oldest gardens in northern Jiangsu and a well-preserved private garden in Taizhou, known as the 'First Garden of Huai Zuo'. Although I didn't visit Qiao Garden in Taizhou, seeing it here was a delightful experience. This scene is very characteristic of northern Jiangsu gardens. First, the architecture: a single-eave hip-and-gable roof with a surrounding veranda, and couplets on the columns supporting the eaves in front. Grey bricks and black tiles, unlike the whitewashed walls and black tiles of the Su-style buildings we saw earlier, but rather the Taizhou local style of black tiles and plain brick walls. The flying eaves and upturned corners are neither as gentle as those in the north nor as high as those in the south, representing a blend of northern and southern architecture that highlights the characteristics of Taizhou garden architecture. The buildings are embraced by rocks and adorned with flowers and plants, full of charm.
The Songchui Pavilion set on high ground; the Laiqing Pavilion accompanied by green pines; a winding pond embraced by rocks, with the Shuyu Pavilion standing atop the rocks.
Taizhou Garden is not large, with pavilions, terraces, and towers arranged at varying heights, in different sizes and shapes. But the buildings all feature plain brick walls, complemented by pine and bamboo vegetation, giving the garden a simple, restrained, yet dignified appearance. Pavilions and towers enhance each other's beauty, with flowers, pines, and bamboos dotted around, creating distinct layers.
A winding corridor, with rockeries, ponds, and pavilions sprinkled throughout, exudes a strong classical garden atmosphere.
The garden is divided into east and west sections, separated by a courtyard wall. Along this wall, hydrangeas bloom profusely, their blue-purple flowers making an elegant match with the grey brick walls.
Another notable feature is the emphasis on plant arrangement. Trees dominate the landscape, with tall pines and plum groves often accompanying the rockeries and high pavilions. Bamboo and cottages are hidden behind the hills, and wintersweet and osmanthus are planted around the courtyards. Along the paths, hydrangeas are in full bloom at this time.
The osmanthus tree in front of the pavilion is so tall.
The garden landscape is compact, elegant, and ingeniously designed, especially using pines, cypresses, unique rocks, and flowers to express the changes of the four seasons.
In the garden, there is a viewing pavilion with flying eaves and upturned corners – Laiqing Pavilion. In front of it, a rockery of jagged stones stands, with pathways and steps made of mountain rocks that blend seamlessly with the artificial hill, recreating the cliffs and peaks of nature. We made our way through a winding, secluded path to the pavilion.
Climbing up to Laiqing Pavilion, two sides of the upper floor have white walls with decorative windows, while the other two sides are open with a 'beauty's lean' railing to lean on. The pavilion is open on all sides, allowing a gentle breeze to blow through, so pleasant.
From this height, we could take in the garden's sights from a different perspective. A path at our feet led to another garden.
The tree before us had a sturdy, ancient appearance.
Now this pavilion houses a brand store. Taizhou Garden may be small and compact, but it lacks nothing in layout and landscape – truly 'a small sparrow with all its vital organs'.
8. Huai'an Garden: Qing Yan Chang Wan (Evening Song of Qing Yan)
Just now from Laiqing Pavilion, we saw a bridge crossing a small river, with a garden on the other side. After descending from Laiqing Pavilion in Taizhou Garden, we headed straight there.
Approaching, we realized it was Huai'an Garden. Through the doors and windows, we could already glimpse the hills and waters within.
Upon entering, the scene was expansive. Pavilions, terraces, towers, winding paths, and long corridors were all built by the water, accentuating the vastness of the water surface. A single view encompassed many elements of the garden. The pavilions, terraces, towers, rockeries are well-arranged, with winding paths, long corridors, and flowing water looping around. Lush flowers and trees thrive in all seasons, creating a lovely and elegant atmosphere.
In the pond, the garden's iconic structure 'Zhan Ting' (Deep Pavilion) floats in the center, offering an open view on all sides, borrowing the distant Jingyang Tower in Nanjing Garden embraced by the mountains.
Huai'an Garden draws inspiration from the only surviving yamen garden in Huai'an, 'Qing Yan Garden'. Originally the back garden of Ming and Qing official residences, it served as the yamen garden for the Qing Dynasty's governors of the Jiangnan River and Grain Transport. Huai'an Garden uses Qing Yan Garden as its blueprint to showcase Huai'an's characteristics.
We turned left and strolled along the square pond. The garden takes the 'square pond' as its core, embedding the landscape scenery, echoing the classic scene from historical records of Qing Yan Garden: 'a square pond, clear and peaceful, with a pavilion in the water's heart'.
From the corridor, we viewed the He Fang Academy, which connects to the square pond area. The pond is surrounded by rockeries and ornamented with flowers and trees, creating a spacious and grand vista. In the distance, Jingyang Tower on the hilltop was adorned with dazzling lights. Here, northern openness and southern delicacy blend together, making me marvel at the beauty.
The background garden, Qing Yan Garden, was the western garden of the Qing Dynasty's River Governor's Office. This once prominent yamen garden is the only well-preserved official garden in China's history of water management and grain transport, known as the 'First Garden of Jianghuai', and the most representative classical garden in northern Jiangsu. Its lingering charm of water bears witness to Huai'an's contribution and status in Chinese water conservancy history.
The buildings are constructed according to the characteristics of official architecture of the mid-Qing period in the Huai'an region, with grey bricks and white stones, and open on all sides. Now it houses a brand specialty store.
Jiaoyin Hall is nestled on the north side of the garden, serene and elegant.
The low wall of hollow bluestone bricks connects the scenery inside and outside the garden as one.
Walking around to the north corridor to view Zhan Ting, under the rain and illuminated by lights, it exuded a special charm.
The central building in the garden – He Fang Academy
The garden takes advantage of the terrain's height differences to arrange the scenery.
A window holds its own scenery.
Standing on a high rocky outcrop, we overlooked He Fang Academy, resting between the southern mountain and northern water. The He Fang Academy in Qing Yan Garden was built by the official Gao Bin to welcome Emperor Qianlong during his first southern inspection tour of the river. Later, it was mainly used to receive superior officials, convene subordinates for discussions, handle river affairs, and decide on river management strategies. Last month, I visited several places in Huai'an but didn't see any gardens there. Unexpectedly, I soon saw this 'First Garden of Jianghuai' right at my doorstep – how wonderful.
Exploring Huai'an Garden in the hazy, rainy dusk, we saw a garden that combines the refined elegance of a literati garden in the Jianghuai region with its official background. It possesses the grandeur of a northern garden while embracing the delicate beauty of a southern garden, letting us feel a harmonious beauty.
Viewing Jingyang Tower bathed in the evening light, it further highlights the classical aesthetics of Eastern humanism. It was getting dark. Together with the elderly, we had been walking non-stop for several hours. This was our first visit to Suyun Huigu at the Garden Expo Park, a centralized display of gardens from 13 cities in Jiangsu. Today, we visited eight city garden exhibition areas in one go without deliberately planning a route – we simply explored whatever we came across. Each city's garden creatively extracted representative classical garden elements, integrating local garden culture and techniques to showcase the essence of garden art, inheriting the classics while creating anew, reproducing the splendid garden landscapes of Jiangsu.
I was getting tired. My parents were even faster than me; most of the time I followed their pace. After leaving Huai'an Garden, we didn't linger any more. There were so many beautiful sights that you might get stuck again, so we headed straight to the West Pingmen parking lot, a 25-minute walk – quite a distance. If there had been some kind of shuttle service in the park to help with the tour, it would have been much easier.
