Gardens of a Chinese Emperor by Victoria M. Siu

Author:Victoria M. Siu
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781611461299
Publisher: Lehigh University Press

Chapter Three

The Garden of the

Clear Ripples (Qingyi Yuan)

on Longevity Hill (Shou Shan)

The Garden of the Clear Ripples on Longevity Hill, originally known as Jar Hill (Weng Shan) to the west of the Garden of Perfect Brightness was named by its creator, the Qianlong emperor. (Color Plate 3.1) After its 1860 destruction, it was partially restored in 1888 by the Empress Dowager Cixi who then changed its name to the Garden of Nurtured Harmony (Yihe Yuan). A careful examination of written and visual sources of both gardens reveals several key differences. Cixi’s modifications replaced the garden’s original spirit with one bearing her mark, but she did retain Qianlong’s fine basic design. Today, visitors to the New Summer Palace, which covers about 725 acres, can still appreciate the clear divisions of the garden. The front or south side of Longevity Hill, centering on the tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha Pavilion (Foxiang Ge), is the focal point of the whole garden; the back or north side of the hill centers on Back Lake (Ho Hu) with its temples, southern-style garden, and Suzhou Street; the area east of Longevity Hill consists of the Palace and official residence section; and the area of Inherited Clarity Lake (Kunming Hu), occupies about 550 acres. Its waters are unbroken except for three small islands and a long causeway connected by six bridges.1

In our study of this imperial garden, we will first sketch the significant stages in the earlier pre-Qing design of the general area around the hill in question, before describing the Qianlong emperor’s modifications to produce all four areas. Sources enable us to perceive what inspired his landscape design as well as some architectural forms on the front and back slopes and on the lake. Recent Chinese studies enable us to compare the eighteenth century garden with Cixi’s partially restored counterpart. Several changes indicate each creator’s preferences.

To recreate the original attractiveness of the north or back slope is a challenging task, as it was not only ruined by Anglo-French troops in 1860, but was left largely un-restored by Cixi. We will therefore give more detailed treatment in a second section to the emperor’s design of the waterway and northern slope before turning to the rear structural complexes to determine their purposes in the days of Qianlong. According to the 1756 Clothing Records, the emperor frequently supervised the shaping of his eight, sheltered, Jiangnan-inspired gardens and Tibetan-inspired temples. (Color Plate 3.2)

Since the Chinese garden is an extension of its creator and helps us see how he wanted himself to be seen, and what he thought a garden was, we will analyze how Qianlong projected his persona in the design of each particular sector distributed along the five main (three land and two water) routes, which he fashioned for his Garden of the Clear Ripples. For example, one land route is along the Long Corridor (Chang Lang) spanning the entire shore of the Inherited Clarity Lake, at the foot of the front of the hill. The emperor

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