Bay Area Art Exploration | Lingnan Gardens Are Different
Chinese gardens integrate architecture, painting, sculpture, literature, gardening and other arts. They are the embodiment of Chinese aesthetics and a reflection of the Chinese people’s lifestyle. There are many types of Chinese gardens, which can be divided into four categories according to local characteristics: royal gardens, Jiangnan gardens, Sichuan gardens and Lingnan gardens. According to the gardening system, the Imperial, Jiangnan and Lingnan constitute three major classical garden systems. Royal gardens include the Summer Palace in Beijing, Jiangnan gardens include the Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou, Sichuan gardens include Du Fu Thatched Cottage, and Lingnan gardens are represented by the four famous gardens in Guangdong.
On the one hand, Lingnan gardens are a geographical concept and are the general name for gardens south of the Five Ridges, especially Guangdong gardens, including Shunde Qinghui Garden, Panyu Yuyin Garden, Dongguan Keyuan, and Foshan Liang Garden. Others include Chaozhou Shun Garden, the West Garden, the most representative of the three gardens in Chaoyang, Chenghai Xitang, Macao Lu Family Garden, etc. Newly built in modern times include Dageng Garden in Huilai, Baomo Garden in Shawan, Panyu, Heyuan Garden in Shunde, Kaiping Liyuan Garden and Zhanyuan Garden in Zhongshan. On the other hand, Lingnan gardens also represent a unique garden design style. The majesty of the royal family and the beauty of Jiangnan, but what about Lingnan? I'm afraid one word can't describe its beauty, right?
The Wuling Mountains form a natural barrier, and the Lingnan region is located on the border of the mainland, which has enabled the local area to retain its unique culture for a long time. People in Lingnan mostly engage in business and pursue a pragmatic life attitude. The function of private gardens is to meet the needs of daily life. The local temperature is high, humid and rainy all year round. The architectural design requires that the interior be cool and there should not be too many changes in light.
In ancient China, wars, politics and other reasons triggered five great population migrations. Northerners moved south in large numbers, bringing with them the culture of the Central Plains. At the same time, because Lingnan was far away from the political center, it avoided the turmoil caused by dynasty changes.
01? Square Pond
As long as you have been to royal or Jiangnan gardens, you will find that the pools in the gardens have natural shapes. The saying goes, "Although they were made by man, they look like they were made by nature." But in Lingnan, take Yuyin Shanfang in Panyu as an example. There is a lotus pond inside which is square. In fact, as early as the Song Dynasty, square pools were more common. ? Zhu Xi, a scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote a poem about "half an acre of square pond blooming in full bloom", which he wrote after seeing a lotus pond at a friend's house in Fujian. The Fangtang is like a mirror, and literati in the Song and Song Dynasties often used it to reflect on themselves. However, ponds of this shape gradually disappeared after the Ming Dynasty, but they remain in Lingnan.
02? High platform architecture
?Jiangnan gardens have multi-planar structures, while Lingnan gardens are different. Take Keyuan in Dongguan as an example. It is a three-dimensional high-rise garden. Both the first and second floors can be walked through the inner corridor and climbed to the upper floor. It can reach up to four floors. It is called a watchtower for guests coming and going. Each floor of the garden offers different views due to its high angle. This kind of high-rise buildings existed as early as the Qin Dynasty, such as Qin Shihuang's Epang Palace. It can be seen that the architectural style in the Lingnan area is the accumulation of medieval culture before the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The Lingnan area is geographically close to Southeast Asia. From the Han Dynasty until the maritime ban in the Ming Dynasty, it was an important intersection of the Maritime Silk Road. Even though the Ming and Qing Dynasties implemented a maritime ban policy for nearly two hundred years, starting from the middle of the Qing Dynasty, only Guangdong Customs was opened to trade in one place in the country. Until the Opium War, Guangdong was a very important window for foreign trade and had close foreign exchanges.
Therefore, Lingnan has been influenced by Western culture since ancient times, and most of the existing gardens were built in the second half of the 19th century. This period also happened to be the heyday of the spread of Western learning to the east.
01? Learn from geometric layout
Unlike other traditional gardens that adopt free layout, Lingnan gardens adopt Western geometric style. For example, the octagonal pavilion in Yuyin Shanfang is surrounded by an octagonal pool.
Speaking of Lingnan gardens that combine Chinese and Western styles, the West Garden in Chaoyang is indispensable. Its appearance is in the shape of an irregular ladder, and its structure adopts the layout of "left house and right garden" with an atrium, which is very different from the gardens mentioned above. The buildings in the house include Western-style buildings, as well as traditional Chinese study rooms and living rooms, which can be described as a combination of earth and western style.
This gardening technique breaks through traditional limitations and innovates and develops Chinese gardens. Unfortunately, the West Garden is not open to the public as a private garden.
02? Use colored windows for decoration
?Openness, compatibility and diversity are the biggest characteristics that distinguish Lingnan gardens from royal and Jiangnan gardens. Window is an important component in garden architecture, and the uniqueness of Lingnan is also reflected in the window. Take Qinghui Garden in Shunde as an example. It uses a large number of stained windows inlaid with stained glass as decorative elements. Stained windows were originally Western architectural decorations, often found in churches. When sunlight hits the glass, it creates a dazzling effect. Later this decoration was also used on buildings with other functions. With the frequent cultural exchanges with foreign countries, colored windows also came to the Lingnan area. Combined with traditional Chinese windows, the beautiful Manchurian windows were born. Nowadays, it can be seen on buildings in Guangzhou, Foshan and other places.
1. Unorthodoxy
Because Lingnan’s traditional ideology is far away from the imperial court, it has always had unorthodox characteristics. Its far-confucianism, rebelliousness, and non-normativity are all unorthodox. reflect.
The aesthetics of traditional courtyard construction have gradually been formed under the influence of long-term cultural and social development. At the same time, they are also influenced by secular ideas that emphasize business over Confucianism. The decorations do not conceal the pursuit of wealth, fame and fortune, and the Feng Shui layout and plants all reflect the pursuit of auspicious images.
2. Pragmatism
Influenced by the aesthetic thought of being pragmatic and pragmatic, the design of Lingnan courtyard reflects obvious pragmatic characteristics. The layout and design of the courtyard are closely integrated with daily life. Emphasize that the garden landscape is beautiful and practical, and the layout is clear and practical. For example, the distinctive oyster shell walls, oyster shell windows and the Xuwen Coral House in Zhanjiang all have a specific maritime cultural influence from the Lingnan region.
Three? Naturalness?
Different from royal and Jiangnan gardens, Lingnan gardens are mostly located in the countryside or mountain forest areas, showing an obvious natural orientation and reflecting the traditional aesthetics. The idea of taking nature as beauty is very similar to the aesthetic values in the thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi.
At the same time, Lingnan traditional culture is influenced by Confucius' Confucianism and Qu Yuan's "Chu Sao" aesthetics. It pursues the beauty of objects and the artificiality of art, which is reflected in the extensive and detailed decorative expressions in traditional art. . Floor tiles and surface tiles with carved patterns can be seen everywhere in the courtyard, with geometric patterns, floral patterns, cloud patterns, rhombus patterns and other styles; courtyards like to be decorated with various sculptures and sculptures. Take the unique gray sculptures in the Lingnan area as an example. They have a wide range of themes, mostly in the shape of mythical animals, and are decorated on the roof ridges. Due to the dense and impermeable nature of the lime, it can be inferred that the early gray sculptures on the roof ridges were probably to conceal the joints of the roof tiles. A layer of mortar is applied to rectify defects and prevent rainwater from penetrating, and then gradually gives shape and color. At the same time, the gray plastic material is light and will not put pressure on the eaves. It is also highly decorative, so it is mostly used in Lingnan courtyards.