Although Yangzhou is only a prefecture level city, it still has a lot of connotation. There are several world cultural heritage sites in Yangzhou, and the Slender West Lake I saw a few days ago belongs to the world cultural heritage. Today I went to see another place, which is the famous individual garden. The red sign at the entrance of the garden says it is one of the four famous gardens in China, but I don't know how it got its title. I know that the recognized four famous gardens in China refer to the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units announced by the State Council in 1961. In the category of "ancient buildings and historical memorial buildings", there are four gardens: Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden, Beijing Summer Palace, Chengde Mountain Resort and Suzhou Garden. Yangzhou Geyuan was listed as the third batch of national key cultural relics protection units in 1988, including Yangzhou Heyuan.

Yangzhou Geyuan is located on the busiest East Street in the old city of Yangzhou, and is the most impressive private residence on this street. There is not only a shadow wall in front of its gate, but also a figure eight shadow wall.

Not only is the shadow wall impressive, but what's even more impressive is that it has a tall courtyard wall.

Even the walls of the Yangzhou government are probably not as tall as his home. Actually, his front door is not very exaggerated.

It is either a broad and bright gate, or an ordinary wall mounted gate, with a door lintel adorned with wealthy peony brick carvings. There are many signs hanging in front of the door, indicating that it has many heads up. The "National Key Park" was awarded by the Ministry of Construction, the "AAAA level Tourist Attraction" was awarded by the National Tourism Administration, and the Jiangsu Provincial Tourism Bureau also recommended a scenic spot. On the other side of the gate stands a World Heritage sign. Originally, Geyuan was included in the "Grand Canal" project of the World Heritage. In addition to the river channel, there are 58 related buildings under this project, including Shouxi Lake and Geyuan in Yangzhou, as well as several others to be discussed later.

The reason why Geyuan is included in the category of the Grand Canal is because its owner is Huang Zhiyun, the leader of the Salt Gang on the Grand Canal. It is widely circulated that this homestead used to be the Shouzhi Garden of the Ming Dynasty, and later Huang Zhiyun converted it for personal use. Shouzhi Garden and its owner have been erased from history by an unknown person, and there is no evidence to prove it. Some people say that its owner was not from the Ming Dynasty, but from Anqi in the early Qing Dynasty, who also made a fortune by selling salt and enjoyed calligraphy and painting. Legend has it that Anqi was a beloved relative of Nalan Mingzhu, who used Mingzhu's wealth to sell salt and accumulate wealth. He was very high-profile and had several mansions in Yangzhou. During the Kangxi period, Anqi was implicated in the Mingzhu gang case and narrowly escaped death. Since then, people have become more low-key, donating a lot of money to the Kangxi family and giving up selling salt to become collectors. An Qi gradually sold his Yangzhou mansion to buy calligraphy and paintings, and Huang Zhiyun seized an opportunity to use money to strip An Jia of the property rights of Shouzhi Garden. There is a big gap in time in this story. An Qi died in the ninth year of the Qianlong reign (1744 AD), while Huang Zhiyun entered Shouzhi Garden in the twenty third year of the Jiaqing reign (1818 AD), with a gap of eighty years in between. Can the descendants of Anqi survive until the Jiaqing period by selling paintings before selling their houses?

Huang Zhiyun is an outstanding person. His hometown is Zhejiang, and he was born under the famous Zhaozhou Bridge in Hebei. He met the salt administration of the two Huai regions in Beijing with a letter of introduction from an uncle, and then went to Yangzhou with a letter of appointment issued by the salt administration of the two Huai regions to serve as the general manager of the two Huai merchants. Finally, he settled in Ganquan County, Yangzhou Prefecture. Look, this is the pioneer of the curve making industry. After earning his first bucket of gold, he did not lend it to high interest loans, nor did he buy private equity funds for financial management. Instead, he donated it to Emperor Jiaqing to rescue the people in the midst of fire and water. Emperor Jiaqing appointed him as the Salt Transport Commissioner, rewarded him with the rank of second grade official and adorned him with flower feathers. He went to the imperial palace to attend the royal birthday banquet and to listen to royal dramas in the Yuanmingyuan. In fact, the birthday banquet he went to eat was donated by himself, and the royal drama in Yuanmingyuan may have been performed by himself on stage. Anyway, Huang Zhiyun was a red crowned merchant in the mid Qing Dynasty. Although the Yangzhou Salt Gang was not as prosperous as it was during its heyday, Huang Zhiyun was dismissed in the 18th year of the Daoguang reign (1838 AD) amidst applause. In the late Qing Dynasty, Hu Xueyan learned from Huang Zhiyun and became a second-class red crowned merchant wearing flower feathers. However, in the end, Hu Xueyan was dismissed and his family was raided, and no one cheered him before he left. The red top of a merchant refers not only to wearing a red hat with a red collar, but also to having a red bead on top. The top pearl of a first-class official is a ruby, the top pearl of a second-class official is a red coral, and Huang Zhiyun and Hu Xueyan are both second-class red coral. Was there a red crowned merchant in the Qing Dynasty with a ruby top bead? Yes, Wang Chi from Yunnan in the late Qing Dynasty. In 1900, Empress Dowager Cixi provided unlimited interest free credit to Emperor Guangxu during his journey westward to avoid the Eight Bandits. After returning to Beijing, the court awarded him the title of Fourth Rank Taoist, the title of Ronglu Dafu, and the title of "Three Generations and One Rank". He also had a first rank ruby crown. The first hydroelectric power station in China was the Shilongba Hydroelectric Power Station, which was built in Kunming by Wang Chi in 1910 with the purchase of German Voith turbines and Siemens generators.

The Huang family declined after Huang Zhiyun and sold their garden to the Li family. The Li family doesn't owe much to Xu Baoshan, the owner of the Xu Garden in Shouxi Lake, and was forced by Xu Baoshan to use a garden to offset the debt. After Xu Baoshan was overthrown by the revolutionary party, the Li family did not live in a garden for long, and they sold everything among the salt gang bosses anyway. The individual parks in New China were nationalized and opened for the public to take turns visiting after renovation. Well, it's my turn to visit in the sunny March of this year.

Don't be fooled by the south facing gate of a garden, but if you look at its eight character shadow wall and high wall, it's probably quite impressive inside. Entering the east gate is a courtyard with short corridors on both sides.

Behind the courtyard is a large hall facing north and south.

The lobby has a width of three rooms and a depth of two rooms, with a raised beam structure, partition doors and windows, and partition panels hanging horizontally. The same lattice flower, wealth is not luxurious. This should be Mr. Huang's living room, where visitors and crowds are received. The horizontal plaque on the Mingjian screen reads "Qingmei Hall", and in front of the screen is a square table with imitation rosewood patterns and the Grand Tutor's Chair. This is the main guest seat, and the two sides below are the seats for delegation members. This is a standard configuration for Chinese living rooms.

There are screen doors on both sides of the screen leading to the backyard, and the door cover is of the same style as the partition door, but with different patterns.

Unlike in the north where there are courtyards, private houses in the south are separated by courtyards. There is also a courtyard behind Qingmei Hall, with corridors on both sides, similar to the layout of the front yard. The main room is called "Nanmu Hall".

According to the introduction, this hall is built entirely of golden nanmu wood. The original Jinsi Nanmu must be authentic, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see the Jinsi. The surface needs to be coated with a very thin layer of clear varnish to protect it and also has anti-corrosion properties. No place where paint is applied is made of nanmu. Look at this open door pillar below.

This is painted with red paint on the outside, and underneath the red paint is putty. The areas where the paint has peeled off can be seen from the pillar wood, which seems to be cedar wood. But if you look at the door frame, threshold, door leaf, door shaft, and even the door pillow, they are all made of natural wood. If the introduction says it is made of nanmu, then it must be nanmu. Anyway, the old level is so old that you can't see the original appearance anymore. You have to scrape off the surface layer of decay to see the essence inside. Golden nanmu is a very precious wood, and if used as a building material, it has been exclusively used by the royal family since the Ming Dynasty. The main hall of the imperial palace can only be used, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City in Beijing is the Golden Nanmu Hall. After being repeatedly burned down by fire, the reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Qing Dynasty could no longer find the main material of Nanmu, so they had to use Northeastern red pine instead. The existing golden nanmu hall, even as a royal building, is already one of the few. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, daring to use golden nanmu in folk architecture was considered presumptuous and punishable by death. There is a large house made of nanmu in the deep mountains of Hubei Province, which is located in a secluded place and unknown to the government. In the vast and prosperous city of Yangzhou, if you dare to build a house with nanmu, you will definitely take a big risk. The Nanmu production area in Guizhou is already scarce in terms of timber production and is closely monitored by the Royal Guard. Where did the old Huang family or the original owner obtain so many Nanmu materials?

Go inside and take a look.

There is a back screen in the room, and in front of it are conventional furniture: rosewood patterned tables, square tables, and grand chairs. On the back screen hung a sparse and sloppy black painted picture, with the words "Drinking is not just about getting drunk; elegant thoughts are like wandering immortals" written on both sides, also by Jin Nong. Originally, this was a restaurant with a main table in the center, with a yellow pear inlaid marble tabletop; There are two accompanying tables on each side, with a yellow pear tabletop. The main table must be occupied by the master and wife, the accompanying table by the children and grandchildren, the left hand by the eldest son and grandchildren, and the right hand by others. After the master and wife finish eating, they can sit on the Grand Preceptor's chair at the back and have tea, so that the female relatives in each room can come out and eat at the table. There are still several pictures hanging in the hall, all of which are flowers and birds. Those birds are not eating flowers, but looking at their owners in the hall. I call them the 'Bird Watching Old Yellow Eating Set'.

This is a wealthy family with many dining tables. If there is only one table, the master, wife, and men will eat first, and the women will eat later. Women from families with strict rules do not sit at the table and go to the kitchen to eat. Where is the kitchen? It's the main room at the back of the courtyard, not too far away, otherwise the owner won't be able to eat hot tofu.

This kitchen, like the previous two halls, has a width of three rooms and a depth of two rooms, with a slightly smaller span in depth. There were many people gathered at the entrance, and it turned out that a team leader was introducing the Huang family's three meals to her members. From what she said, it means drinking Wensi Tofu Soup for breakfast, having boiled shredded tofu for lunch, and having Huai'an tea and sesame in the evening. This Huang family eats really vegetarian food. I remember Ouyang Xiu's friends at Pingshan Hall all ate piled up fish belly and boiled chicken heads. It seems that there is still a significant gap between the official and folk recipes.

Take a look at Huang's old stove.

In "Shajiabang", Ah Qing's wife said, "Build a seven star stove and boil three rivers in a copper pot." Her stove has seven fire eyes and can start stewing, braising, simmering, steaming, boiling, and stir frying at the same time. The Huang family stove has five burners, which can only be used for frying, boiling, grilling, stewing, and boiling together.

After Ah Qing finished singing the line above, the next thing she sang was' Set up the Eight Immortals' table and entertain the Sixteen Directions'. Take a look at the Eight Immortals Table in the Huang family.

Look, two Eight Immortals tables are really entertaining sixteen parties. In the upper hall, there are all rosewood furniture. Here, old elm wood is painted yellow, but of course, old cucumbers painted green cannot be used in the dishes. The sixteen people sitting at the Eight Immortals' table are the male and female servants of the Huang family, some of whom must be paired up. You are like Zhou Rui, the butler of the Jia family in "Dream of the Red Chamber", who also became a maid in the Jia family.

The Huang family has a prosperous population, and this East Road is a public facility. In addition, there are Middle and West Roads, which are the residences of various small families. Since Mr. Huang has an official hat on top of his head, he should act like an official and not be idle all day long. In the Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination system was still implemented, which required those who excelled in their studies to be appointed to official positions. Before becoming an official, one had to read extensively in poetry and literature. Although Huang Laoye's officials are largely donated, they still have to appear as if they have articles in their stomachs. Those articles are not really in the stomach, the articles in the stomach cannot stay, they will be excreted. The article should be stored in a library, and it is not uncommon to ask people to borrow books or draw pictures of "The Old Man Reading at Night". Mr. Huang's library is located in this small courtyard.

The building is very ordinary, with two floors above and below, three bays wide and one bay deep. The first floor has a clear partition door, while the second floor and second floor have partition windows. This partition window is very high-end. In the past, it was called a sandwich partition, with two layers of wooden grids sandwiching a layer of fine yarn, which looks like the second layer. After the advent of glass in modern times, yarn was replaced with glass, forming a layered appearance. This kind of gauze partition fan indoors can be well decorated, and you can draw and write on the gauze or paper. The building is an old building, and the plaques and couplets are all newly written ancient phrases. The plaque of "Shushu Lou" is written by contemporary Yangzhou calligrapher Zhang Bingwen, and the couplet is an ancient couplet written by Jiangsu calligrapher Zhou Zhigao, which reads: "Clear and pure like orchids, empty like bamboo; joyful in the water, calm and interesting like mountains. This couplet should be taken from Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection", which means "here are towering mountains, lush forests, and bamboo groves, as well as clear and turbulent currents, reflecting the left and right.

In the past, the wealthy households in Zhumen were all front houses and back gardens, and their size was due to their gardens. Huang Zhiyun, a red crowned merchant, is definitely a wealthy family. His family is already very low-key without a vermilion gate. How can they not have a garden? The uniqueness of a garden lies in its large size, and each small gate leads to a garden. Hmm? By the way, the one in front is called the Huang Mansion, and behind the Huang Mansion is a garden.

There is a small square in front of the moonlit gate of the garden, with lush forests and bamboo groves on both sides. To the south is the high wall seen on the street, which is very crowded.

In addition to this main entrance, there are also side entrances to the garden.

This is the way to enter from the side door.

Outsiders often lack seriousness. What I'm talking about is not the lack of seriousness, but the inability to get to a serious place. I still take the right path. Entering through the main road of the Moon Bright Gate in a garden, there is a stacked rockery called "Spring Mountain" due to the presence of bamboo around it. There is a winding and sunny avenue in the middle. On the front is Yiyuxuan, the social center of the garden.

Yiyuxuan has a width of three bays and a depth of two bays, with a raised beam structure and a gray tile single eave gable roof on top. There are glass partitions on all sides, with a circle of eaves. Why is it called a social center? Look at the couplet on the eaves pillar in front of it in the morning, it says, 'It's good to tune the qin in the morning, and to play the zither in the evening; it's good for the old rain to come, and it's good for the new rain to come.'. The couplet states that in the Book of Songs, 'I have guests, playing the drums and zither.'. The couplet refers to Du Fu's "Autumn Annals", which states: "In autumn, Du Zi fell ill during his Chang'an trip, and it rained heavily, causing fish to grow and moss to fall. He was often a guest of carriages and horses. In the past, the rain came, but now it doesn't. What Du Fu said was that in the past, there were always cars and horses coming to the door, and when it rained, there were customers coming. Now, on rainy days, there are no customers coming. Later on, people used the term 'old rain' to refer to old friends and 'current rain' to refer to new friends. So this couplet is used to indicate that this pavilion is not for listening to the rain, but for gathering old and new rain. Yiyu Pavilion is the most suitable lobby for receiving guests.

How many tables and chairs do you have in this hall? There's no problem playing three tables of mahjong, even those who watch and offer tips can sit there.

Yi Yuxuan sat on a two foot high platform, with a hanging strap for stepping up and down the stairs, but the strap was made of stacked stones, which was very unique.

There is a circle of inverted lintels between the eaves pillars of the surrounding corridor, with railing lintels at the front and back, and beautiful women leaning on the left and right.

The beauty leaning on this chair is a characteristic of Huizhou architecture, usually located under the eaves of the second floor facing the courtyard. A bench with a goose neck backrest on the outer edge. The beauties of the older generation are easily locked up in their private chambers, unable to step out of the front door or step out of the second door. The beautiful woman sitting sideways on such a bench can catch a glimpse of the various activities of her beloved relatives and friends in the courtyard, and also show them her graceful demeanor. There is a famous ancient beauty who once sighed in secret, 'Lonely and secluded, with a soft heart filled with a thousand threads of sorrow. Cherish the spring and leave. What time does it rush the flowers and rain? Leaning against the dry, but without emotions. Where is she? The sky withers the grass, and the road back is cut off.' You must know who she is. Later on, this type of backrest bench under the eaves spread throughout the country with the Huizhou architectural style, and even descended from high above to the lower levels of pavilions and halls, giving flat beauties a graceful place.

There is a pool behind Yiyuxuan, with stones flying, piled up, and stacked on the edge of the pool. There is a first floor on the north bank.

The floor is seven rooms wide, with two floors above and below, and a porch in front. There is a paper plaque hanging outside the second floor eaves corridor, which reads "The Heaven of the Pot Comes from Spring". This is taken from the "Record of a Garden" by Liu Fenghao, a talented scholar from Jiangxi in the Qing Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, Liu Fenghao passed the imperial examination and was awarded the title of "Exploring Flowers". During the reign of Emperor Jiaqing, he served as a sacrificial wine master at the Imperial Academy and held various positions as a minister and a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. Liu Fenghao returned to his hometown when he was ill in his old age, and then went to Yangzhou old TCM doctors to drink medicine. Finally, he moved from Yangzhou old TCM doctors to the west during Daoguang's reign. During the interval between taking two doses of medicine, Liu Fenghao went to Lao Huang's house to eat alcohol. After drinking, he walked into the backyard and wrote "A Record of My Garden". The term 'Hutian' comes from a technique in the Book of Later Han, which is a 'hanging pot for the benefit of the world' pot, not a 'long sun and moon in the pot' pot. Hutian refers to a private garden like Geyuan, which may have a small entrance but a large interior, and is filled with mountains, orchids, bamboo, chrysanthemums, tigers, leopards, jackals, and birds. Under the plaque, there is a couplet that reads, "Huaizuo Ancient Capital, Remembering the Pearl Curtain for Ten Miles and the Bright Moon for Two Minutes; In the Garden, Today's Scenic Spot, Looking at the Thousand Gauls of Cold and Green Smoke and Clouds on All Sides. The ten mile pearl curtain in the couplet and the title mentioned in "One of My Yangzhou Series Travels" are from the same source, which is Du Mu's poem "Farewell". The phrase 'the moon is divided into two parts' also comes from a poem by the Tang Dynasty, which refers to the three parts of the moon night and the two parts of Yangzhou mentioned in Xu Ning's' One Billion Yangzhou'. The phrase 'Qian Gan Han Cui' in the couplet refers to the bamboo in the garden. Why is bamboo so cold and green? Because of Fei Leng Cui! Yanlan refers to the morning mist that permeates the bamboo forest during the sun.

This building is called the "Baoshan Building", and the mountain being held is indescribable. It is the flying, piled up, and stacked rocks in front of the building. Although these random stones are chaotic, they are also well-organized, following the pattern of 'looking horizontally like peaks and sideways like ridges'. Where is Ling? It's the weak stones on the north and south banks of the pond; That peak is the high stones on both sides of Baoshan Tower. These two peaks should not be underestimated. The one on the left is called "Qiushan". The stone color is dark yellow, and there is a pavilion on the mountain to live in autumn; The peak on the right hand is called "Xia Mountain", with blue and white stones and a crane pavilion on the mountain. There is also a 'Winter Mountain' in the garden, located southeast of Yiyuxuan, with snow-white stones. So, this area is called Four Seasons rockery, with four mountains in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In the center of the mountain peak is Yiyuxuan. Like Mount Wutai in Shanxi Province, there is a Taihuai town among the five.

Go upstairs and take a look, the eaves corridor is so long.

Ming room decoration, this is also the living room.

There is no back screen on the master's seat, nor is there a Taishi chair with a square table, but a yellow pear Arhat bed. This is not a place for receiving foreign guests, but a place for relatives to reunite. If this is rearranged according to the original layout, then this building is likely to be the residence of Mrs. Huang. There should be a Buddhist temple on the left side of the building, but after circling around, I didn't see it. They are all selling souvenirs.

Standing under the eaves corridor, looking forward.

The old lady of the Huang family can stand here and observe who is sitting in Yiyuxuan, making loud noises. She can also call out to Huang Guanren's son here, 'Son, come here and give me a back massage.'. The guests inside heard the voice of the old lady upstairs and quickly walked out to the back eaves to bow to her, saying "Old lady is auspicious". The old lady looked at it and said, 'Oh, Lao Wang next door, did you bring me squirrel mandarin fish?'? Lao Wang said helplessly, "I'll take it with you, okay?" and then hurriedly ordered a takeout.

Do you think the roof of Yiyuxuan ahead is very grand? This Baoshan Tower is a bit of a deal. I walked to the Xiashan Heting and looked back at the Baoshan Tower. Although it was also a gray tile single eave gable mountain top, the mountain flowers were completely blank. Why should you draw a picture of one fish, two bamboo, and three peach blossoms?

There is a corridor downstairs in Baoshan, with a set of engraved stone tablets embedded on the walls. This is Liu Fenghao's self written "Record of a Garden" mentioned earlier.

After passing the Baoshan Tower and heading north, there is another rockery, and behind the mountain is a larger pool of water. This can't be called a pond anymore, it's too big and needs to be called a fish pond. A winding plank road was built with stone slabs in the fish pond, which I call the fishing plank road. Mr. Huang built a pavilion, a pavilion, and a corridor on the north bank of the fish pond. The pavilion is called Bufang Pavilion, the pavilion is called Yingbi Water Pavilion, and of course, the corridor is called Lianlang.

There is a seal script couplet hanging on the front eave pillar of the Yingbi Water Pavilion, which comes from two Tang poems. The upper couplet is Du Fu's "Dark Water Flow Flower Path", referring to the flower path and thatched cottage in Du Fu's Thatched Cottage in Chengdu. The couplet is Cui Dong's "Clear Wind Fills the Bamboo Grove", referring to Wang Xizhi's Orchid Pavilion with lush forests and bamboo cultivation. Yingbi Shuixie is now a tea house, and this idea is very good, perfectly matched with the couplets in front of the door. You should know that although Wang Xizhi and his team took wine from the Qu Shui River, Du Fu drank tea in the thatched cottage.

Look at the mountain flowers on the top of Xieshan Mountain in Yingbi Water Pavilion. Although they were built later, there are relief lotus flowers and wild grass here, which is very auspicious.

Southern tourists who come here, whether thirsty or not, should drink a pot of tea. Let's first experience the artistic conception of Du Fu holding a teapot and standing in a thatched cottage, softly reciting "The dark water flows through the flower path, and the spring stars lead the thatched cottage". This is called standing chanting, which is different from Qu Yuan's wandering chanting. When Qu Yuan was singing by the marsh, his color was haggard and his appearance was withered. Tourists walking from the south gate to this place also looked like this. After arriving here, there are no old friends left at Yangguan in the west. To the north, there are no more buildings or halls. The only houses are a tourist service center and a convenience room.

After convenience, you can walk out of the north gate, which is now the main entrance of the garden because it is more spacious than the south gate. The street outside the North Gate is called Yanfu East Road, which should be the north wall of Guangling City. The small river on the north side of the road should be the former moat. Speaking of which, the Huang family's private residence covers an area from the east street in the city center all the way to the north city wall, which is really impressive! This also illustrates from another perspective that the first red crowned merchant in the Qing Dynasty, although not wealthy enough to rival the enemy, was also a wealthy party.

Southern private houses pursue elegance, which is different from the pursuit of burliness in the north. A garden has this meaning. Although the Huang mansion is not exquisite, the garden is quite wonderful, sigh! Sigh if necessary.

(To be continued)