Wang's garden

Wang's garden is one of the most complete preserved large-scale salt merchant houses in Yangzhou in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. Its house layout reflects the Confucian doctrine of the mean. Balanced proportion, adequate ventilation and lighting, vertical and horizontal interconnection, and free internal and external separation and integration are one of the traditional patterns of Yangzhou mansion. The gardens are exquisite and exquisite, and the habitable garden is a famous garden in the garden. Interestingly, the bathroom is boldly set in the garden out of the kitchen. Walking in the garden, there are fine gardens everywhere Beautiful wood carving, brick carving, stone carving decoration, combined with the Chinese and Western style, the small garden, though small, is full of the master's mind.

Wang's garden

Wangshixiaoyuan is one of the traditional Chinese residential buildings in Jiangsu Province. Located in No. 14, Dongshou diguan, dongquanmen Historic District, Yangzhou City, it is called Wang's small garden because its owner's surname is Wang, and the residence is the main one, while the garden is complementary.

Visiting Wang's garden in Yangzhou

Xiaoyuan, covering an area of more than 3000 square meters, is one of the most complete salt merchants' houses in Yangzhou in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. The house is characterized by regular layout, exquisite decoration, exquisite garden and rich cultural heritage. Wangshixiaoyuan has attracted many Chinese and foreign tourists for its unique characteristics and little-known secrets of salt merchants. Now it is a key cultural relic protection unit in China.

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The layout of Xiaoyuan group is regular: the houses are three parallel roads horizontally, the main houses are extended in three directions vertically, the front and rear central axes run through, and the left and right chambers are symmetrical, reflecting the Confucian doctrine of the mean. The main hall, the side porch, and the back bedroom reflect the feudal ethics of equality between men and women. The odd number combination reflects the mysterious geomantic consciousness of odd number as Yang and even number as Yin, and fully embodies the intelligence and artistic creativity of ancient Chinese working people.

The residential courtyard proportion is balanced, the ventilation and lighting are sufficient, the vertical and horizontal interconnection is interlinked, and the internal and external division is free, which is one of the traditional pattern forms of Yangzhou big house gate. The garden is exquisite and exquisite: there are "Keqi", "Xiaoyuan Chunshen" and "Yingxi" small gardens in front of the hall and behind the house, which make the residential small garden become a whole, tortuous and changeable. Exquisite decoration and carving: wood carving, brick carving and stone carving are combined with decoration, wall and ground to complement each other. The materials are precious, such as white marble, Phoebe, mahogany, cypress, etc.; the techniques are various, such as intaglio, flat, shallow, deep relief, single-sided, double-sided openwork; the themes are rich, including geometric patterns, birds and animals, flowers, birds, fish and insects, characters, mountains and waters, profound meaning, good luck and good wishes. There are profound cultural and historical implications: the lintel, stone forehead, plaque and couplets contain calligraphy "Kai, Li, Xing, Cao and Zhuan", which is a masterpiece of famous artists. The allusions are exquisite and thought-provoking, and are integrated with the environment of the small garden. Little known secret: there are secret doors, secret rooms, secret walls, secret pavilions, secret treasure caves, basements, etc.

In front of the gate of Wang's small garden, there are high walls. The walls are thick, and there are no windows. Its function is to guard against theft and prevent fire. Look at the wall of this gate tower. The gate tower is not decorated, and the wall is not whitewashed. It looks simple, but in fact it is hidden and rich. Moreover, in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the salt merchants could not compare with the middle Qing Dynasty because of social unrest and wars. However, a pair of deep relief stone drums on both sides of the gate and the pattern of "five blessings facing the gate" inlaid with iron skin still vaguely revealed the wealth of the former owner. A pair of stones engraved with "double line" alum stone have the same shape and practice as the East Hall of "chengzhitang" ancient residents in Hongcun, Yi County, Anhui Province. Why is it the same shape and practice as that of Hongcun ancient residential hall? This is because Wang Zhuming, the former owner of Wang's small garden, was an Hui merchant.

Looking at the threshold, there are double rings on the threshold, which can be started up and down to facilitate the sedan in and out.

The exquisite brick "Fu Temple" (commonly known as the earth Temple) built against the wall is used to burn incense in the morning and evening, weddings and funerals. On the left side of the temple is the door of the instrument, and on the inside is the main hall.

The courtyard in front of Chunhui room is spacious, and the flower street floor is paved with pebbles, porcelain tiles, brick strips and tiles into pine, crane deer, bat, Shoutao, Ganoderma lucidum and Qilin, which means "crane and deer share the same pine", "happiness and longevity" and "Qilin gives birth". On both sides of the wall, there are a few rockeries decorated with lake stones and planted with flowers and trees of Qionghua, Chimonanthus praecox and yingteng. The stone on the east side of the front court is protruding and splashing close to the eaves. In the East, there is also a small corner door with polished brick veneer, which gives people a similar artistic conception.

Entering the Chunhui room, you can see the Haimei Huali relief screen in the Ming Dynasty. Although it has experienced a hundred years of vicissitudes, it is as bright as ever. The wood carvings of the skirt board under the screen are "lion dribbling", "cornucopia", "evergreen", etc., which are extremely exquisite. There are six natural landscape paintings inlaid with marble, such as fengluan Jiajian, Feibao stream and dragon snake. The couplets are engraved in seal script, and the plaque is like the finishing touch. In addition, the exquisite transparent carved flower cover of cypress wood between the two times adds to the simple and elegant atmosphere of Chunhui room. Professor Ruan Yisan of the national famous city protection committee sighs that it is "a rare boutique".

Through the exquisite decoration and carving of cypress openwork flower cover in Chunhui room, the flying cover behind the screen and the flying cover in the corridor of the wing room, it shows that the wood carving, stone carving, brick carving, decoration, wall (for example, Fu Temple, door cover) and ground (for example, courtyard flower street) of Wang's Xiaoyuan are skillfully used and complement each other. Its artistic style is not only different from the complicated northern style, but also different from the delicate southern style. It has both the influence of emblem carving and its own personality. It is characterized by delicacy, simplicity and variety of techniques, including Yin carving, flat carving, shallow relief, deep relief, single-sided openwork and double-sided openwork. Wide range of materials: Haimei, Huali, nanmu, cypress, Cunninghamia lanceolata, Citi, pine, etc., with rich themes; auspicious, geometric patterns, birds and beasts, flowers, birds, fish and insects, characters and landscapes, with profound implications; pine and crane Yannian (pine and crane), suisui Ping'an (flower arrangement on the bottle), siji'an (flower arrangement in the bottle), and sons and grandchildren Mantang (squirrel, monkey, grape) It also has auspicious meanings such as Phoenix, peony, pomegranate and lotus seed. Marble natural landscape painting, such as wind mountain Jiajian, such as flying waterfall stream, such as dragon snake swimming.

After the introduction of Chunhui room, the east side of the room faces north. The door is not a traditional opposite door, but a sliding door with a copper notch under the door sill. Look at the "treasure hole" on the floor. This is the carpenter who found two movable floors when he was repairing the floor. When he lifted the movable floor, he found a large piece of thick iron plate covered on the ground. There are two iron handles on the surface of the iron plate, and two thick iron rings (which are used to lock the iron plate with iron bolts) on the side. Although they are rusty and partially peeled off, they can switch freely. When the heavy iron plate cover is opened, they will be broken again It is found that there is a "treasure hole" under the iron plate. The hole is 1.5 meters deep, 1.2 meters wide by 1.2 meters square, and the four walls are smooth. It is speculated that the hole was hidden under the floor for storing valuable things. Later, the "treasure" was either taken out or stolen, or never used after it was built. Of course, it's just speculation.

From the back door of the East Road, turn right into the kitchen. Judging from the spacious degree of the kitchen, there were a lot of people, cooks and servants eating at home in Wang's garden at that time.

Enter the East Garden from the North hexagonal door of the kitchen. The stone forehead of the six Corner Gate, which means "spoon" in the official script, passes through the sidewalk beside the rockery of Shufeng in Xiaoyuan and goes northward into the octagonal gate. The stone forehead on the gate means "cherish the surplus" in cursive script, which means to cherish. This place is where chefs and servants live and store grain, oil and sundries.

The path by the wall of the cave leads westward to the "bathroom room", where the bathtub, tiles and floor tiles are the original objects of 70 or 80 years ago. On the lintel of the moon gate, the seal characters are "Huahaoyueyuan life" and the postscript is: "Mr. Boping and zhukunzhong have built a new house, restored the garden behind, and built a secluded pavilion with flowers and trees

When the blue clouds meet at the beginning, the toads in the Ming Dynasty are full, and the love of the Kunqu season is not in the meantime. I wonder if there is such joy in the peach and plum garden, the banquet of Taibai? The six characters in Zhuan, the lintel of the list, is to wish you a happy day. Chen Yan (Wei Hua) ". It means that the Wang brothers not only built a new house in front of them, but also built a small garden in the back, a secluded Pavilion, a curved corridor and flowers and trees. Whenever the moon is full, the Wang brothers get together to have fun. I don't know if Li Taibai's peach and plum garden has such fun, that is to say, Li Bai and his brothers get together in the peach and plum garden in the Tang Dynasty. It is recorded as "meeting the fragrant garden of peach and plum, and ordering the happiness of Tianlun". Wang Zhuming has four sons and two daughters. His sons are divided into Taiji, Tailin, Taike and Taidi, which means "Qilin of the upper level, imperial examination and imperial examination". The brand names are Boping, Zhongshi, Shuying and Jigao respectively. They also operate salt merchants, real estate (Shanghai), leather goods (Nanjing), financial bank (Shanghai) and the original B and Xiang salt stores in Zuowei Street (now zhongbaiyi store on Guangling Road).

Chunhuitang house on the East Road was expanded by Wang Boping, the eldest son in the early Republic of China, while the middle road and the West Road are the remains of houses in the late Qing Dynasty.

When you come out of the bathroom, you turn to the alum stone moon gate. The stone forehead on the moon gate faces east. It is written in the official script "Yingxi", which means that the sun rises in the East in the morning, and the sun continuously sprinkles into Xiaoyuan. The stone forehead on the moon gate faces west. It is "Xiaoyuan Chunshen", and the font is regular script. The stone forehead above the fire lane facing north is a seal cutting "Yi'an". The stone on the back is the running script "Cangmi". His calligraphy contains the Chinese calligraphy art of "Kai, Li, Xing, Cao and Zhuan". His Qingfeng writing skill is deep, and the theme is thought-provoking.

In the middle of "Xiaoyuan Chunshen" and "Yingxi" two gardens, there is a white jade moon cave door, and on both sides there are various kinds of water polished brick fine flowers and leaky windows to separate the East and west gardens, which are integrated into one through the scenery. Standing in front of the gate of the moon, looking east at the small garden, the stone peak rises, the ancient cypresses are towering, and the pomegranates are luxuriant. The top of the towering grey silk crevice Yunshan wall is like a dragon. In the west, you can see the small garden, the winding corridor, the pavilion, the flower hall, the study, and the green bamboo on the peony platform

Chinese PinYin : Wang Shi Xiao Yuan