Why is the Confucius Garden comparable to the Imperial Garden?

In our country, the only ancient garden that can be preserved intact for more than 900 years is the Confucius Mansion, which is known as "the first in the world".

Confucius Garden was built in 1055. At that time, Kong Zongyuan, the 46th generation grandson of Confucius, changed his title from "Wenxuan Gong" to "Yanshenggong", expanded the Confucius Mansion, and started building gardens at the same time.

At first, it was very small in scale. It was later repaired by the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, especially Li Dongyang, the prime minister in the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, and Yan Song, a powerful minister, official minister and national history president in the Zhengde and Jiajing years of the Ming Dynasty. And Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, etc., after three major repairs, the Confucius Mansion Garden was completely renewed, antique and comparable to the royal garden.

The Confucius Mansion Garden is located in the last part of the Jiujin Courtyard of the Confucius Mansion, covering an area of ​​more than 50 acres. Although it is not extensive, it has rockeries, ponds, bamboo forests, stone islands, pavilions, waterside pavilions, flower docks, curved bridges, incense altars, living rooms, etc.

The garden rockery is located in the southeast of the garden. It is composed of strange rocks from various places. According to the mountain topography, there are distant mountains and near water, high peaks and low mountains, rocky valleys, twists and turns, and deep caves. The peaks are strange and looming, with winding paths, steps, and sparse flowers and trees growing from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain.

The gardener is very ingenious. In order to make the rockery sprinkle with pearls and jade, Taihu stones are specially placed on the edge of the mountain. The spring water drips normally, and the waterfall flies on rainy days. The beauty of the scenery is like a fairyland.

The famous flowers and exotic flowers in Confucius Garden are unique in the garden. The iron tree, which is more than 500 years old, has a rough trunk, fat leaves and tall stems, and its flowers are blooming and falling. It is still full of vitality. The "King Cypress Holding Sophora japonica" that has been growing for more than 400 years is a king trunk. The Sophora japonica grows through the body of the cypress. It makes a noise like a tiger and leopard, and its trunk and branches are like a horned dragon.

The wintersweets that are more than 300 years old, with sparse shadows and slanting shadows, floating dark fragrance, folded old trunks and thousands of green branches, give people a sense of iron and steel and are indestructible.

There are also more than 200 spring and autumn jujube vines with intertwined roots. They support the trees and stretch out. Two people hug each other, and the crown is like a ceiling. In particular, the rare bergamot in the north is even more unique to the garden. The peculiar hand-shaped fruit is golden in color and has a refreshing fragrance. If you touch it for a moment, the fragrance will still linger all over your body for three days.

As for the precious flowers in the garden, there are more than hundreds and thousands of species. The owner of the Confucius Mansion wanted to be able to enjoy the blooming flowers all year round. He gathered all the famous flowers in the world in one garden, which bloomed all year round and remained unbeatable every month. .

Such as wintersweet in January, narcissus in February, spring greeting in March, peony in April, peony in May, lilac in June, lily in July, phoenix in August, 9 The osmanthus in the month, the hibiscus in October, the golden chrysanthemum in November, the rose tooth red in December, etc., all come and go, competing for their fragrance.

The garden of the Confucius Mansion can be said to be built up from the palace's silver. The first major overhaul was in 1504. The person responsible for the design and supervision was Li Dongyang, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Prince and Tutor, the Bachelor of Huagaidian and the President of National History.

Why did Li Dongyang exert so much effort and painstakingly manage the Confucius Garden?

It turns out that Li Dongyang had a daughter who was the first-class wife of Kong Wenshao, the 62nd generation grandson of Confucius and Yanshenggong. Li Dongyang regarded this lady who was born in Changsha as the apple of his eye. Not only was she very beautiful, but she was also very interested in traveling around the mountains and rivers, watching the moon and flowers.

One day, Li Nu heard that her future husband was the little saint of the Confucius family at that time, so she told her father that although the mansion and character were satisfactory, if the garden was not satisfactory, she could not marry.

Li Dongyang decided on the spot that he would build a garden for his beloved daughter so that she could enjoy the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan without leaving the Confucius Mansion. As a result, the Confucius Garden, which combines the scenery of the north and the south, was completed under his supervision. For this reason, Li Dongyang wrote poems and carved steles four times to record this grand event.

Another large-scale construction of the Confucius Garden was during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Yan Song, a powerful traitor in the dynasty, saw that in the whole country, except for the imperial palace, the most powerful person was the Confucius family. In order to expand his power and influence, he decided to get married to the Confucius family and marry his granddaughter. Kong Shangxian, the 64th generation grandson of Confucius, Yanshenggong, was a first-class wife.

After Yan's daughter entered the mansion, Yan Song firstly wanted to show his boundless power; secondly, he wanted his granddaughter to live a leisurely life, so he mobilized famous gardeners from all over the country to search for exotic flowers and stones from all over the world, and expanded and renovated the Confucius Mansion. garden. Later, Yan Song was impeached and sentenced, and although his family property was wiped out, the Confucius Garden he built was not damaged at all.

It is said that Yan Song fell into poverty after he was dismissed from office and once went to the granddaughter's house of Confucius Mansion to ask for help. Unfortunately, the court issued an order that anyone who helped Yan Song would be severely punished.

Kong Shangxian, the Duke of Yansheng, was also worried about the pressure of public opinion and deliberately avoided Yan Song's request for permission.

Yan Song’s granddaughter secretly hid Yan Song in the garden of the Confucius Mansion and provided three meals a day with the extra food she left behind during meals.

When people from the government asked about it, she said that she had a dog in the garden, and it refused to eat food fed by others. She liked the mistress to give it food.

As a first-class lady, who would dare to pursue her? Yan Song was in such a state of desolation that it could be said that "any unjust deeds will lead to death." It is said that he died not long after such a day.

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Confucius Mansion underwent its third large-scale reconstruction and expansion, and the person in charge was Emperor Qianlong. It turned out that Qianlong also took a fancy to the Confucius Mansion, a holy land that would be prosperous for all ages. Therefore, he also became relatives with the Confucius family. Qianlong married his beloved daughter to Kong Xianpei, the 72nd generation grandson of Confucius, and became the first-class wife of Duke Yansheng. However, Qianlong was a Manchu and Kong Xianpei was a Han.

According to feudal regulations, Manchus and Han people could not intermarry. As a result of the advice given by the ministers, Qianlong asked his daughter to change her surname, recognize Yu Minzhong, a Han nationality official, as her adoptive father, and marry Yu's daughter into the Confucian mansion.

The Confucius Garden has been renovated and expanded by emperors, generals, princes and counts in the past dynasties. The mountains and forests are quiet, the caves are elegant, the gardens are like brocade, and the ponds and bridges are full of waves, making it difficult to distinguish the northern country from the south.

The garden is located in the northernmost part of the axis of the Confucius Mansion. It is also laid out on an axis, which is a characteristic of the north. Its layout imitates the layout of the Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City. This layout is only dared by the Confucius Mansion.

Yuanzhong Road is also an axis, very clear. There is a cypress planting platform at the south end of the axis, surrounded by a low brick wall. There are steps on three sides leading up and down. A cypress is planted in Taichung, and a bonsai iron stone is placed on the supporting platform. , there are reliefs on the four sides of the support platform, including double dragons, double unicorns, double phoenixes, etc. There is a stone plaque on the edge of the stone with the inscription "The first Confucius family in the world".

As you walk down the stage, you can see a scene of five cypresses hugging a locust tree. This cypress is named "Five Gentlemen Cypress". One tree is divided into 5 stems at the root. The most surprising thing is that there is a locust tree in the middle of the 5 stems. Tree, this locust tree grows through the body of cypress, it is really a wonder. It is said that this locust tree has a history of more than 400 years.

Kong Qingrong once wrote a poem praising it:

The five stems have the same branches and leaves, and they can withstand the winter. The sound sounds like a tiger and leopard, but the shape wants to turn into a horned dragon. The winding paths provide shade to protect you from the heat, and the high locust trees reduce the density of their greenery. Natural gentleman quality, combined with Ao Daiyan pine.

The northernmost end of the axis is a flower hall, which is adjacent to the back wall of Confucius Mansion in the north. This hall has a "T" shape in plan. The front is similar to a Baoxia pavilion. The Baoxia Pavilion is connected to the back main hall. The pavilion is open and has no walls. The hall is built with thick blue bricks. This combination is both symmetrical and stable. , transparent and open, lively and cute.

The two pillars in front of the Baoxia Pavilion are inscribed with a couplet: "The poet comes looking for plums and bamboos, and the sage comes to enjoy the orchids and chrysanthemums."

A viewing platform is set up around the Baoxia Pavilion in front of the flower hall. , the platform is surrounded by low walls made of green bricks, which are consistent with the Baitai in the south of the axis, forming a north-south echo. The Flower Hall is where the master of the Confucius Mansion usually enjoys flowers, the moon, and meets with important guests. Banquets are sometimes held here. There are flowers, trees and bamboo bushes in the east and west of the hall.

Going out of the hall to the west, you will see a hexagonal double-eaves pavilion with a smaller dome and beads standing on thin columns. The facade composition is tall and light, which is somewhat influenced by southern garden architecture, but The method is based on the northern style, with a thick roof and very little warping.

The panels between the pillars are only made of rhombus patterns, without color paintings, and are all painted in vermilion. There are single-board stools between the pillars, and a stone table in the pavilion. There is no stone table, which seems too simple. To the west of the pavilion is the flower room.

To the east of the new flower hall on the central axis is the old flower hall, which is three rooms wide and covered with dragon tiles. The beams and beams are all painted with flowers, and the two plum blossoms on the beams are shaped like clouds, making it look quaint and gorgeous. It was once called "tanwu". There is a T-shaped grape trellis in front of the house. Following the road south, we came to the lotus pond. The pond is very small, only a few square meters, but the lotus flowers are in full bloom in the pond, which is very elegant.

Go through the lotus pond and come to the fish pond, where fish are raised and a curved bridge is built. The bridge deck is very narrow, and the wooden railings on both sides look too artificial, but the railings are very distinctive, with horizontal railings and vertical poles, and the tops of the poles are carved with lotus heads, and the composition is simple. There are many lake stones in the pool as solitary ornamental stones.

To the north of the bridge is the Fan Pavilion. The south, east and west sides of the pavilion are built with blue brick railings, which can be used as thresholds. The beams and beams of the pavilion are all decorated with colorful paintings, mostly about plums, orchids, chrysanthemums, bamboos, elk, landscapes, etc. , Fangjian board with Chinese knot pattern. To the south of the bridge is a large lake stone rockery. Three sides of the mountain are surrounded by railings to prevent people from climbing. Only the north side is connected to the bridge, giving people a sense of closeness. The western part of the garden is the peony garden and peony garden.

Looking at the whole garden, the characteristics of northern gardens are mainly reflected in the obvious central axis, the building beams and paintings, and the landscape combinations such as water surfaces have the style of Jiangnan gardens. The plant characteristics of the north are more intense, with pine, There are many cypresses and locust trees.

Qufu Kongfu Rockery

Qufu Kongfu Rockery