Brief History of Xu-style Gardens in the Qin and Han Dynasties

This paper studied the gardening activities and characteristics of Xu-style gardens in the Qin and Han Dynasties by combining ancient literature with the study of Han Dynasty stone reliefs.The results showed that by Qin and Han Dynasties,the imperial(royal)gardens and private gardens in ancient Xuzhou had developed in parallel.Imperial(royal)gardens were built by or for vassal kings,First Emperor of Qin Dynasty,Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty Liu Bang,for example,Pei Palace,Yanqi Tai,Xima Tai,Hanzu Temple,Lingguang Palace of Lu and so on.As for private gardens,stone reliefs in medium or small tombs owned by the bigwigs or the rich were collected from ancient Xuzhou,and from which we can see clearly the development of private garden from the court,the yard to the garden,rich garden plants and animal species,garden architecture types such as hall,building,pavilion,platform,boat,corridor,gate,gatetower,ornamental column etc.,particularly,hanging waterside pavilion was a unique architectural form of Xu-style garden.These achievements showed that Xu-style garden architecture had been transformed from the pre-Qin incubation period to the generation period.

Brief History of Xu-style Garden: Private Gardens in Xuzhou during the Republic of China

Through literature review and fi eld investigation,famous private gardens in Xuzhou city and countryside during the Republic of China period were investigated.According to the main uses,the private gardens in this period were divided into 4 types:house garden,library garden,restaurant garden and for-profi t(fl owers,trees and vegetables)garden.In addition,this paper sorted out the owner of each private garden,the construction process,the scale of the garden and the general situation of the garden,and analyzed the idea,site selection,layout,the characteristics of the key private garden elements and style of these gardens.

Brief History of Xu-style Garden in the Middle Ancient Times of China

According to ancient books and documents,this paper collected and sorted out the people and things related to Xu-style gardens in the middle ancient period of Chinese history,during the 400 years from the division of“Three Kingdoms”to the unifi cation of Sui Dynasty.For the frequent war chaos,gardening constructions in Xuzhou were hardly seen in this period,but the gardening fruits of Xu-style garden had spread all over the country with a large number of Xu people moving south.While inheriting the splendid and rough style of Qin and Han Dynasties,Xu-style garden attached more importance to“spectacular”,summarized and put forward the ideas of“master nature”and“artistic conception”,and raised the gardening technique to a theoretical height,thus pioneered the idea of“master nature”in Chinese classical gardens.

Textual Research on The Great Conqueror's Building Garden

The Great Conqueror’s Building Garden (Bawanglou Garden) evolved from the Great Conqueror’s Hall of Xiang Yu’s royal architecture in the Chu and Han Dynasties,and it was the stately main building where General Xiang Yu was busy with the country governing,symbolizing the imperial palace of the Western Chu State.Its demolition in the Northern Song Dynasty came into being as a result of Huanglou Tower built by Su shi.In the Qing Dynasty,the new Great Conqueror’s Building became an official garden building dedicated to Xiang Yu,and his concubine Yu as well as the government office.The relevant literatures and historical data have shown that the architectural form,scale,layout and morphological characteristics of the Great Conqueror’s Building in the Qing dynasty were quite different from those of the original one,not only in the form evolution from hall to building,but also in the evolution of use function from administrative place to sacrificial place.

Research on Qian Yuan the Famous Private Garden of the Late Qing Dynasty in Xuzhou

Through sorting out and analyzing the decriptions about Qian Yuan in poems and literatures,the paper analyzed the personality characteristics and gardening value orientations of its owner,explored the planar and spatial layouts of the garden,and expounded the composition features and the interaction between the layouts of rockery,water,path,building and plant,elaborated the landscape style of Qian Yuan,as well as the garden environment,cultural rhyme and landscape beauty formed by these elements,finally it successfully represented the glory of this famous private garden of the late Qing Dynasty.

Interpretation of Peitai Real Scene by Tang Yin in the Ming Dynasty

Peitai Real Scene clearly shows us the gorgeous image of Xu-style gardens in the Ming Dynasty,and discloses the achievement of ancient Xu-style gardens,which is of great significance for studying Xu-style gardens.From the perspective of spatial processing,plant landscaping,architectural style,stone and water layout,this paper brought us back to the ancient glory of Peitai through analyzing this painting,which was extremely valuable for the research on Xu-style gardens.

Su Shi's Yellow Tower and Its History

This paper introduced the history of Su Shi ordering to build the Yellow Tower in the Northern Song Dynasty,and also the cause and effect of rebuilding the Yellow Tower in the 1980s.From its first construction to the process of its several times of collapsing and rebuilding,the Yellow Tower has reflected cultural connotations and spiritual value of different periods,thus the textual research on the history of Yellow Tower is essential for the research on the development of Xu-style landscape architecture.