Yannan Garden

In the north of the garden, there are two stone tablets in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. According to the numbering sequence of all the Chinese and foreign classroom houses at that time, yannanyuan's house was designated as No. 51 to No. 66, which had not been changed from Yanda to Peking University. Today, at the gates of some houses, you can still see wooden doorplates with white characters on a black background. In the early 1950s, due to the expansion of the campus, the north end of the west wall of Yannan garden extended outward, so there was a new house, No. 50.

The architecture of Yannan garden is mainly of "foreign style", mostly two-story buildings with a small garden. The interior decoration industry has a typical Western style: laying wooden floors, stairs in the house, fireplace for heating in winter, and separate toilets on the upper and lower floors.

Yannan Garden

Yannan garden is located in the south of Yanyuan, covering an area of 48 mu. It is adjacent to Yannan cuisine in the East, Peking University Hospital in the west, the second gymnasium and basketball court in the north, student dormitory, post office and bank in the south. It covers an area of 20000 square meters. In 1952, it was incorporated into Peking University with Yan University. Yanyuan has the reputation of "garden in the garden".

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brief introduction

In the north of the garden, there are two stone tablets in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. According to the numbering sequence of all the Chinese and foreign classroom houses at that time, yannanyuan's house was designated as No. 51 to No. 66, which had not been changed from Yanda to Peking University. Today, at the gates of some houses, you can still see wooden doorplates with white characters on a black background. In the early 1950s, due to the expansion of the campus, the north end of the west wall of Yannan garden extended outward, so there was a new house, No. 50.

The architecture of Yannan garden is mainly of "foreign style", mostly two-story buildings with a small garden. The interior decoration industry has a typical Western style: laying wooden floors, stairs in the house, fireplace for heating in winter, and separate toilets on the upper and lower floors.

history

In the 1920s, Leighton Stuart was the president of Yanjing University. On the basis of the former sites of Shaoyuan in Ming Dynasty (former residence of Ming Dynasty painter Mi Wanzhong) and Shuchun garden in Qing Dynasty (one of the royal gardens bestowed by Emperor Qianlong to Heyao), he built a garden style campus with Chinese and Western characteristics Yanyuan.

Yannan garden is named for its location in the south of Yanyuan. It is a residential area specially built for teachers at Yanyuan University in the early stage of its construction, covering an area of 48 mu. According to the numbering sequence of all the Chinese and foreign teachers' houses at Yanyuan University at that time, the houses in Yannan garden were designated as No. 51 to No. 66 (later added No. 50).

Yanjing University is a well-known institution with "high salary for teachers". In order to provide first-class conditions for professors and scholars, Yannan garden has spared no cost in its construction. Different from the traditional Chinese architectural style of the cornice and bucket arch in the teaching area and office area, Yannan garden adopts the model of suburban Courtyard Villa in the United States. In addition to the mud and stone tiles, other building materials are mostly transported from abroad. The door and window frames are made of fine Korean pine, the exquisite door handles are all made of brass, the rooms are paved with waxed floors, there is an elegant fireplace in the corner, the cold and hot water in the bathroom are supplied separately, each house has an independent boiler room for heating in winter, and there is a spacious courtyard in front of and behind the house with luxuriant flowers and plants.

Yannanyuan's "small western style building" was famous in the capital at that time, and there were few teachers' houses comparable to it in the following decades. Nowadays, teachers' residential buildings have sprung up in Colleges and universities all over the world, and the weather beaten Yannan garden has long gone. Now, at the gate of those small buildings in Yannan garden, you can still see the house signs with white characters on black background, which are silent and laughing at the vicissitudes of time.

66: Wu Wenzao and Bing Xin's new house

When you enter the garden from the northwest of Yannan garden, the first thing you see is building 66. This small building is located in the corner of Yannan garden, which is very quiet. Two "gardener's steles" stand beside the building, which were erected by several managers of Yuanmingyuan during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. After Yuanmingyuan was burned, it was moved here, as if guarding generations of "Gardeners" who lived here.

In 1926, Bing Xin returned from studying in the United States and was employed as a teaching assistant in the Department of Chinese by his alma mater, Yanjing University. In February 1929, Wu Wenzao came back from the United States and was employed as a teacher by Tsinghua University and Yan Da. The couple, who had been in love for many years, got married in June. Leighton Stuart acted as the witness of marriage, and assigned the building No. 60 to the newlyweds (the back door number was adjusted to No. 66).

No wonder Bing Xin called Wu Wenzao a "nerd". When he entered the new house, the head of the family didn't care about anything. He only asked the carpenter to make a "towering" bookshelf on the north wall of the study on the first floor. The rest of the interior decoration and courtyard renovation were all taken care of by Bing Xin, who was keen on life.

Bing Xin planted a lot of lilac flowers in the yard. During the blooming season, she called out Wu Wenzao. The "nerd" stood in front of the lilac tree, and her soul was still in the study. She asked her wife, "what kind of flower is this?" Bing Xin deliberately teases him and answers "xiangding" with a smile. Wu Wenzao nods and says: "ah, xiangding." Everyone laughed.

It is said that the living room of building 66 was the "periodical reading room" of Yanda at that time, where there was a semicircular carved mahogany table. The couple ordered many newspapers and academic journals on it, which were updated almost every week, attracting many friends and students to have a look at it. Bing Xin is full of feelings for the place where she lived for nearly 10 years after her marriage. In her articles, she mentioned Yannan garden more than once. It's a pity that good times don't last long in troubled times. In 1937, when Peiping was occupied by the Japanese invaders, Bingxin and his wife wandered in the flames of war. They returned to their hometown in July 1946. They sadly found that the small building was still there, while the lilac, wisteria, red rose and white rose planted by Bingxin had all disappeared. The building was beyond recognition. When Wu Wenzao left, dozens of boxes of notes and textbooks hidden in the attic were all gone

It turned out that the day after the Pearl Harbor incident, the Japanese devils broke into Yanda, which is affiliated to the American church, and plundered it wantonly. Yannanyuan 66 was occupied by Japanese gendarmes. Wu Wenzao's study turned into an interrogation room for torture professors!

Bing Xin left Yannan garden in tears and never lived here.

On the 66th, there were several new masters, especially the aesthetician Zhu Guangqian. A Yi, an associate professor and TV host of the school of Journalism and communication at Peking University, recalls that when he was in high school, he often went to Peking University with his classmates. Once he passed Yannan garden and saw a short old man sitting quietly on a bluestone board. Seeing them approaching, the old man, leaning on crutches, walked slowly around to the ruins of Yannan garden. A blooming flower passed by the partition wall. Not until she was admitted to Peking University did a Yi know that the old man who handed the flowers was Zhu Guangqian!

Perhaps, only a lovely person who permeates the whole life with aesthetic thinking can pass the flowers to strangers without any reason. A Yi wrote: "up to now, I have been paranoid and superstitious that it is not an ordinary flower in nature, it is clearly the fruit of the tree of human spirit, and it is the silent hint of a generation of masters. In the years when the fire of life is about to be extinguished, Mr. Wang has been crossing the partition wall and blowing his uncommon demeanor into the hearts of the younger generation. "

No.56: Zhou Peiyuan's "Zhou garden"

After the founding of the people's Republic of China, Yanda resumed its education. In 1952, it was incorporated into Peking University when its departments were adjusted. A large number of famous scholars were transferred to Peking University, and most of them lived in Yannan garden. Yannanyuan successively welcomed four presidents, eight vice presidents, more than 20 members of the faculty and academicians of the Academy of Sciences of Peking University. At that time, there was a very popular saying: "well known scholars do not necessarily live in Yannan garden. Those who live in Yannan garden must be well-known scholars." There is also a young student who once uttered "crazy words": "struggle for 20 years, into Yannan garden." It can be seen that Yannan garden was sacred in people's hearts at that time.

The most lively courtyard here is No. 56 in the east of Yannan garden. The owner here is Zhou Peiyuan, then president of Peking University. Zhou Peiyuan graduated from Princeton University in the United States as a student of Einstein. He is undoubtedly the leader in the field of mechanics in China and one of the world recognized "four giants" of fluid mechanics. Almost nine times out of ten, he is his student.

Zhou Peiyuan is one of the few masters of science and Engineering in Yannan garden, which is famous for the gathering of humanities scholars, but he is more romantic than a writer. Zhou Peiyuan loves flowers very much. The cherry blossoms in front of gate 56 are like snow. He is called "Zhou's garden". The door of "garden" is always open to all kinds of guests, no matter leading professors or ordinary students can "break in".

Zhou's family has four daughters and an old wife, and he is the only one man, so he calls his family "five golden flowers". He is deaf in his right ear and used to amplify his voice when speaking. It is said that he would go to his wife's house every day to say hello and express his love aloud: "I have only loved you for more than 60 years. You are the best to me and I love you!" Day by day, for years.

When it comes to Zhou Peiyuan's wife, she is a famous beauty from Qinghua garden to Yanyuan, and Zhou Peiyuan is still a charming and attractive "handsome guy" even when he is old. Until a few decades later, Cao Yu said to Zhou Peiyuan's daughter, "in those days, your mother was really a beauty, and your father was really smart. At that time, as long as they go out, we young students will chase after them. "

63: the past is not like smoke

It is said that Yannan garden was built in China

Chinese PinYin : Yan Nan Yuan