Shanghai Fangta Garden

Fangta park is located in the southeast corner of Songjiang District, adjacent to Songjiang No.2 Middle School. It was built and opened in 1981, covering an area of about 180 mu. The garden design takes Fangta as the center. It is a cultural relic garden with modern garden design and traditional Jiangnan classical garden style. The main scenic spots are the square tower and the Ming Dynasty. Songjiang square pagoda is one of the best protected ancient pagodas in China.

It was built and opened in 1981, covering an area of 182 mu. The site of the garden was originally the downtown center of the ancient Huating Pavilion in the Tang and Song Dynasties, with Aimin street in the East and Sangong street in the West. It is not only the gathering place of ancient scholars, but also the epitome of the Songjiang site. In 1978, the garden was built with the main scenery square tower as the center. The layout of the garden is well arranged, broad-minded and open-minded. It is a cultural relic garden integrating modern garden design with traditional Jiangnan classical garden style. Walking into Fangta Garden, a place full of magical ancient buildings and cultural relics, you will naturally feel nostalgic for the past. The main landscape in the park are: the square tower in Song Dynasty, Wangxian bridge in Song Dynasty, brick wall in Ming Dynasty, lanruitang, Shuilu pool, etc. Zhaobi is a large relief, located in the north of the square tower. It was built in the third year of Hongwu (1370 A.D.) of Ming Dynasty. It is a shadow wall in front of the gate of Taoism. The wall is 6.1 meters wide and 4.75 meters high. It was the oldest and most exquisite and most well preserved brick carving art in Shanghai area before the Town God's Temple gate of Songjiang Prefecture. The monster on Zhaobi, named "greedy", has a dragon head, a lion's tail, a cow's body, a deer's hoof and a piece of Unicorn. Its moral is to teach people to avoid corruption. Rich pictures and strong three-dimensional sense can be called art treasures.

Shanghai Fangta Garden

Fangta Garden is a garden with the theme of viewing historical relics in the ancient city of Songjiang. The garden covers an area of 182 mu. It was originally the downtown center of Guhua Pavilion in the Tang and Song dynasties. There are Aimin street in the East and Sangong street in the West. It is not only the gathering place of ancient literati, but also the epitome of Songjiang site. The Zhaobi in the garden is the oldest, most exquisite and best preserved large-scale brick carving art treasures in Shanghai and even in the whole country. It is the crystallization of wisdom of ancient working people. With a height of 4.75 meters and a width of 6.1 meters, the screen wall is a large-scale brick relief, which is magnificent and unique. About 30 square meters of wall, carving content is very rich, vivid picture design, exquisite carving, three-dimensional sense.

Historical evolution

Around the Zhongfang Pagoda in the garden was the Xingguo Changshou Temple rebuilt from the residence in the second year of Qianyou (949) of the Han Dynasty after the Five Dynasties. It was renamed xingshengjiao temple in the reign of emperor dazhongxiang of Song Dynasty (1008-1016). The pagoda (commonly known as Fangta) was built in the reign of emperor Xining of Song Dynasty to Yuanyou (1068-1093). According to textual research, the site is located in the center of Huating County in the Tang and Song dynasties. A large number of relics of the Tang and Song Dynasties and some revetments of an east-west river of the Tang Dynasty were found about two meters underground there. The monastery destroyed the tower in the Yuan Dynasty, and built the Town God's Temple and Xing Sheng tower in the early Ming Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, close to the north of the square tower, there were three famous Songjiang celebrities in Fengyi, namely, the famous calligrapher Dong Wenmin, the famous general Li Zhonghan and the famous calligrapher Shen Wenluo. It can be said that the place where Fangta Garden is located is the epitome of Songjiang's history and culture. After the Anti Japanese War, temples and courtyards no longer existed. Before it was built as a park, there were some residential buildings, and the rest were vegetable fields and nursery. 　

The square pagoda was repaired several times before the end of Ming Dynasty. When it was overhauled in the 35th year of Qianlong (1770), most of the top three floors were rebuilt, and the Tasha was replaced in the 24th year of Daoguang (1844). After the end of the Qing Dynasty, the square tower was seriously damaged. On the eve of liberation, all the corridors under the tower were abandoned, most of the wooden structures in the tower were destroyed, and only one floor of the escalator was left. After liberation, the county people's government took some protective measures, but did not repair them. In May 1974, according to the requirement of "repair the old as before", the construction of overhaul was started, with a total investment of more than 200000 yuan. It was completed at the beginning of 1977. On December 7 of the same year, the Shanghai Municipal Revolutionary Committee re announced the Fangta as a cultural relic protection unit of the city. In 1981, when the national cultural relic survey was conducted, relevant experts believed that the square pagoda was one of the best examples of restoration of ancient buildings in China since liberation.

In 1978, the Shanghai Municipal Capital Construction Committee approved the construction of a historical and cultural relics park with the square tower as the center. Feng Jizhong of Tongji University is responsible for the overall planning of the Fangta Garden construction project, and Liu LvHua of the design office of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of landscape architecture participates in the planning and is responsible for the greening design. The plan takes the square pagoda as the main body, and preserves the adjacent large-scale brick carvings of Ming Dynasty, stone bridges of Song Dynasty and seven ancient trees; moves from outside the garden to build nanmu Hall of Ming Dynasty, Wulaofeng and meimeifeng of Hushi, rockery, and Tianfei palace hall of Qing Dynasty; the Terrain Reconstruction imitates the famous Jiufeng Sanmao in the county, builds nine mounds in the garden, excavates rivers and pools, and decorates pavilions; retains the original large bamboo forest, with turf and theme The tree species unify the whole garden background color. The goal of the plan is to build a natural, open, quiet and cultural relic oriented garden. The construction project is constructed by Shanghai landscape engineering company and Songjiang construction engineering company. The first phase of the project lasted from May 1978 to the end of 1980, and completed the land acquisition and demolition, enclosure, terrain transformation, road floor, and the relocation of Tianfei palace. The second phase of the project lasted from 1981 to the end of 1987. The nanmu hall was relocated, the greening in the park was improved, and the park's two gates, long corridors, cutting roads, pavilions, service agencies, sales department and living facilities were newly built. Since May 1, 1982, the park has been open at the same time of construction.

The ancient culture of Fangta Garden has not only attracted many visitors to ancient times, but also attracted many film and television workers shooting historical themes. More than 10 films and TV plays, such as Romance of the west chamber, Peony Pavilion, Dou E yuan, Liaozhai, Fengshenbang, Jigong, Yang Naiwu and xiaobaicai, and the Legend of zhuzhishan, have been shot in the garden.

Landscape overview

The garden is centered on the national cultural relic Song Dynasty square pagoda (formerly known as xingshengjiao Temple Pagoda), surrounded by ancient buildings. There are municipal cultural relic Ming Dynasty large brick wall, district cultural relic Song Dynasty Wangxian bridge, Ming Dynasty lanruitang (also known as nanmu Hall), Qing Dynasty Tianfei palace, Qing Dynasty chenhuacheng ancestral hall, antique corridor (with Dong Qichang huaisu paste), ancient moat, he houxuan, tower Yingfang, Wulao Peak, etc.

On the north side of the square tower, there is a square paved with unique granite, where tourists can enjoy themselves. Close to the east side of the square, there is a cutting road made of granite, which is the main passage from the east gate to the garden. It is 3 meters high and 5-6 meters wide. The stone walls are high and low, straight and curved, and full of changes, which makes visitors feel like entering the building as a whole, thus accumulating expectations and adding surprise to the sudden appearance of the square tower. On the lower side of the stone wall of the cutting road, there are footlights at every corner. The garden opens at night, and the footlights shine with colorful light, which makes the stone wall glow and increases the interest of visitors.

There is also a large bamboo forest in the east of Fangta Garden, covering an area of 25 mu, which is a major feature of the garden. When you enter the garden from the east gate, you can first see the bamboo forest and the spire on the bamboo forest, which is quite fascinating. These bamboo gardens are built on the basis of the small bamboo gardens of old private houses. In the forest, there are stone path, winding path, quiet and interesting bamboo garden pool, antique rectangular stone bench and rare thatched pavilion in the south. There are many kinds of bamboo in the garden, such as Phoenix Tail Bamboo, swallow bamboo, purple bamboo, round bamboo, basket bamboo, light bamboo and so on.

On the west side of the square tower, there is a long corridor with a unique style, which is in harmony with the ancient buildings such as the square tower in the form of antique. It can be seen that the natural color of mountain wood, the plain column of Dou Gong, the square brick and stone column and so on are antique. The corridor rises and falls naturally with the rise and fall of the mound. Visitors can have a panoramic view of the square tower and the waterside Lake in the corridor.

In order to show its nature, craziness and interest, Fangta Garden also built pools and mountains in 1980. An S-shaped Lake surrounds the south of the tower, stretching from west to East. The lake is rippling, reflecting the shadow of the tower. The scenery is very beautiful. On the surface of the lake, there are groups of point cluster lotus, which are square, round and prismatic. In summer and autumn, the lotus is in full bloom, making the surface of the lake particularly beautiful. Hunan bank is an open and flat lawn with gentle slope into the water. Maple trees are scattered on the bank. Looking from north to south, Sapium sebiferum sets off maple trees on the back of the sun.

From the magic of ancient architecture to the beauty of natural scenery, from the elegant bamboo forest to the wonderful flowers, the whole square tower garden is not only strict and harmonious, but also natural and interesting. In the garden, there are no trees, flowers or entertainment spots between the main scenery such as the square pagoda and the screen wall, which highlights the status of cultural relics and shows the elegance, simplicity, tranquility and purity of ancient Chinese culture. The ancillary facilities in the garden, such as teahouse, sales department, reception room, office and other buildings, also reflect the inherent style of cultural relics garden.

Main attractions

Square tower

It is a brick and wood structure, nine level square, 42.5m high. In the form and structure, it follows the style of brick tower in Tang Dynasty. Most of the Dougong remains the original objects of the Song Dynasty; the moon beam on the coupons door, the luohanfang and tiaoyianfang on the outer eaves are all original objects, which is one of the most preserved ancient pagodas in the south of the Yangtze River. The Tasha on the top of the square pagoda is 7.85 meters high. From 1974 to 1977, it was rebuilt and restored the waist eaves, flat seats, railings, etc. Songjiang square tower is beautiful and exquisite, which is rarely seen in ancient buildings in southern China. It is one of the best protected ancient towers in China and has become the symbol of the ancient city of Songjiang.

Chinese PinYin : Shang Hai Fang Ta Yuan