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| Daguanyuan (Grand View Garden) |
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Located in Xuanwu District southwest of Beijing, the present Grand
View Garden is a replica of Daguanyuan the magnificent garden of an
imperial family described in the well-known Chinese novel "A
Dream of Red Mansions" by a Qing Dynasty writer Cao Xueqin (1715-1763).
The site used to be a park dotted with willows and pines. In l984,
the China Television Film Production Centre decided to use it as the
setting to shoot garden scenes for the TV series "A Dream of
Red Mansions". The Xuanwu District Government then suggested
that the temporary garden be turned into a permanent scenic spot.
Thus the plan to build the Grand View Garden faithful to the writer's
description has come into being.
The project started in June 1984 and is expected to be completed
in 1988. The Grand View Garden covers 110,000 square meters and
includes more than 40 scenic spots illustrating the main plots in
the garden. The stonework covers an area of more than 8,000 square
meters and the lakes and canals 24,000 sq.m. The construction work
is divided into three stages, of which the first stage in the southern
part of the garden cost about 4 million yuan (about l.4 million
US dollars) and was opened to the public in early 1985 . It includes
a front gate, four courtyards, Qinfang Bridge, Dicui Pavilion, winding
paths and other scenic sites. Every effort has been made to be accurate
in reproduction of Daguanyuan. Horticulturists, architects, archaeologists
and experts on the history of the famous novel were asked to pay
much attention to the layout of the whole garden, the location of
trees, the arrangement of the rockery, and the decoration of the
main characters' homes.
Yihongyuan (Happy Red Court), located west of Qinfang Bridge, used
to be the residence of Jia Baoyu, hero of the novel.
Xiaoxiangguan (Bamboo Lodge), a small and simple courtyard decorated
in light-green, with slim bamboos grown in the courtyard, housed
the weak and unlucky Lin Daiyu, heroine of the novel.
Jia Baoyu's sister-in-law, widow Li Wan lived in an eastern courtyard
dalled Daoxiangcun (Paddy-Sweet Cottage).
Two stone lions, carved by the veteran artisans from Quyang County
in Hebei Province, stand as guards at the front and the gate is
flanked by sloping walls. Inside the garden more than 2,000 flowers
and trees have been planted, 500 square metres of lawn laid out
and hundreds of potted plants arranged.
The famous Taihu Lake stones have been used here to pile the rockery
in different artistic postures. |
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