First Visit to Mei Garden in Taizhou

Exiting Peach Garden and passing Taizhou Old Street, you arrive at Mei Garden. The old street is like a carrying pole, with a garden at each end. Peach Garden is named after Kong Shangren's former residence and his 'Peach Blossom Fan', while Mei Garden is named after the Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall and his former residence. This is the classic tourist route of Taizhou.

On July 27, 2017, an unforgettable day, I visited the Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall at No. 9 Huguosi Street in Beijing's Xicheng District. It was a siheyuan (courtyard house) where Mei Lanfang spent the last ten years of his life before his death in 1961. After that visit, my respect for Master Mei deepened. Today, arriving at Taizhou's Mei Garden, I am full of excitement.

'Phoenix Mound holds historic relics; lake waters carry pure fragrance.'

The couplet outside the gate piqued my interest. What is 'Phoenix Mound'?

Guide Wang, a senior guide, answered: There is a mound outside the north gate of Taizhou that looks like a phoenix spreading its wings. Phoenix Mound refers to Taizhou.

-- Ah, literati always like to use fancy terms, making it hard for ordinary people to understand!

Guide Wang's remark made me laugh.

Not far inside the gate, I saw a bronze statue of Mei Lanfang. The master's personality and temperament were vividly portrayed, with his right foot slightly raised — it turns out Mr. Mei was beating time with his foot. Such attention to detail was breathtaking. It is said that this statue was created by Liu Kaiqu, the master behind the Tiananmen Monument to the People's Heroes.

Entering Mei Garden and seeing Master Mei's statue, a question arose: Was his birthplace here?

Too embarrassed to keep asking Guide Wang, I opened my phone and Baidu searched: 'Mei Lanfang's birthplace.' The answer surprised me:

Mei Lanfang, his ancestral home is Taizhou, Jiangsu. He was born on October 22, 1894, in a Peking opera family in Beijing.

Three years ago, when I visited Mei Lanfang's former residence in Beijing, that was not his birthplace either. I wonder if Mr. Mei's birthplace is open to the public now.

Just inside the main gate, I also saw a poem by Guo Moruo dedicated to Mei Lanfang. The first line of the poem echoes the statue's inner meaning:

'Fairy form and fragrant charm lead the flock of beauties,

Swallow's cuts and oriole's song entwine around the beams.

I dare believe the divine land's spring will last forever,

I will pour my heart's blood to make music and song.

Do not boast about sparse shadows that love to slant,

Iron bones defy the cold, laughing at corrupt crows.

Shedding blood calls back spring all over the earth,

From north to south spreading fragrance.'