Beijing Grand View Garden is a unique scenic spot full of history and a favorite place for many old Beijingers. Many historical buildings and traditional cultural customs can be seen here, and it has become a treasure house with connotations. Here I would like to share with you a detailed guide to visiting Beijing Grand View Garden.
In 1984, in order to film the TV series "A Dream of Red Mansions", the classical cultural garden Beijing Grand View Garden was designed and built using traditional gardening techniques based on Cao Xueqin's description in "A Dream of Red Mansions". As the live filming location of the drama, it has attracted thousands of "Red Mansions fans" to the scenic spot to search and pursue the memory of the Red Mansions.
Stills from the 1987 TV series "A Dream of Red Mansions"
Beijing Grand View Garden is located in Nancaiyuan, Xuanwu District (now next to the moat in the southwest corner of Xicheng District), 5 kilometers away from Tiananmen Square. This area was a royal vegetable garden during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the vegetables grown were sent to the imperial kitchen.
Today the street on the west side of Grand View Garden is called South Caiyuan Street, and further north is Caiyuan Street.
Beijing Grand View Garden includes five garden scenic spots, three natural scenic spots, one Buddhist temple scenic spot, one temple scenic spot, and a total of more than 40 garden landscapes. The main attractions include Winding Paths, Qin Fang Pavilion, Jia Baoyu's Hongyi Courtyard, Lin Daiyu's Xiaoxiang Pavilion, Baochai's Wuhu Garden, Tanchun's Qiushuangzhai, Liwan's Daoxiang Village, Daguan Tower, Longcui Temple, Cuidi Pavilion, and Ziling. Island etc.
What are you doing in Grand View Garden? Just visiting and taking photos? Looking for reenactments of scenes from TV series? Or should you just sit down and write a sour message without adding a few friends, and pair it with a decadent selfie and a Daiyu? How to open the Grand View Garden correctly? If you want to appreciate its true charm, you have to look at it this way!
Every plant, tree, pavilion and scene in the Grand View Garden is full of literary significance given to them by the author. By carefully interpreting and understanding the poem, we should be able to achieve the unity of scenery and meaning.
To understand Beijing Grand View Garden, we must first understand why Beijing Grand View Garden is closest to the original work.
The "Grand View Garden" in Beijing follows this poem. It is really not easy to choose such a piece of land to restore the "Grand View Garden" in the center of the imperial city. On the other hand, the crew's intentions back then were genuine.
In landscape architecture, "mountains" are usually the easiest to work with. It can be built by moving stones. The difficulty lies in water, because water needs to be diverted into the park.
But this place was originally the royal vegetable garden of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it happened to contain the "water" of the southern vegetable garden moat. To be honest, it is not easy to have such a place in the "city" of Beijing.
When you enter the Grand View Garden, you are directly blocked by a rockery at first sight. The allusion of "winding paths leading to seclusion" is reflected here.
However, when you go around the rockery, it suddenly becomes clear. The garden architecture, mountain-shaped water system, plant landscaping, indoor furnishings, and sketch embellishments in the garden reproduce the style of the government garden in the AD "A Dream of Red Mansions" written by the literary great Cao Xueqin.
This is also consistent with the saying "everything in heaven and earth is prepared". At the end of the song "General Title of Grand View Garden", Yuan Chun also pointed out that the name of this provincial garden should be "Grand View Garden".
It is actually difficult to understand the Grand View Garden, even though I have been there many times and experienced it personally with various documents. So I only tell you these traces, you should be able to understand.
The location of Xiaoxiang Pavilion is still easy to find. When you walk around the rockery and see a piece of bamboo sticking out of the white wall, you know that the Xiaoxiang Pavilion is here.
This song "A Phoenix Comes to Yi" was written by Baoyu to Xiaoxiang Pavilion where Daiyu lived. Xiaoxiang Pavilion is a guest house with Jiangnan architectural style. It can also be said that it was specially built for Daiyu. The "beautiful jade" mentioned by Baoyu in the poem, and the place where Daiyu is staying, is exactly in line with the color reflected by the green bamboo forest in Xiaoxiang Pavilion. Most of the houses in Xiaoxiang Pavilion are decorated with bamboo, and the entire yard is lush and full of business. Even in this winter solstice season, it is considered the most energetic
Daiyu herself chose it when Yuan Chun ordered her to live in the Grand View Garden, because "I love those bamboo poles, and there is a curved bamboo pole hidden inside." The Gang makes me feel more peaceful than other places." Bamboo is the most abundant in Xiaoxiang Pavilion. "All the poles are green and cool." Green bamboo symbolizes an indomitable and valuable quality, noble and elegant, and subtle and energetic.
When the wind blows, you must stand on the winding path and feel "Don't shake the shadow, the dream has just begun to grow." It's so beautiful. Although Daiyu finally spent her miserable life here repairing bamboo, writing poems, suffering from bitterness, loneliness, and tears.
What's more, the whole poem "A Phoenix Comes to the Instrument" and the temperament of Xiaoxiang Pavilion and Daiyu in this dream are almost integrated. The green bamboo is slender, like Lin Daiyu's graceful figure and weak willow's gait. Bamboo is not associated with square groups, so it is always refined and simple. This is completely consistent with Lin Daiyu's aloof and aloof character without makeup.
When you arrive at Xiaoxiang Pavilion, don’t rush to take pictures. It is best to stand deep in the bamboo forest and experience your own state of mind to see if you can feel Daiyu's sadness.
The Red Courtyard is easier to find. Baoyu's residence is directly opposite the Xiaoxiang Pavilion. There is a "Qinfang Pavilion" in the middle, which can be seen in the past. (As the saying goes: If a nun is next door to the monk temple, something will happen sooner or later. Mr. Cao, you would really decorate the room like this
Qinfangguan
When Baoyu is on his forehead, he inscribes "Red Fragrance" "Green Jade" means banana and Tang trees.
When visiting relatives during the Lantern Festival, Yuan Chun didn't like the word "Xiangyu" (because it alluded to Daiyu), so he changed it to "Hongyi Kuailu" and named it "Hongyiyuan", and Baoyu was named "Hongyi Gongzi".
Don’t think that "Hongyi" will be a sissy for boys, but Baoyu already hates men! People feel disgusted when they see men, and they also like to play with young ladies.
Green wax, Baoyu originally wrote "green jade", but Baochai was afraid of disturbing Yuan Chun's thoughts, so he changed it to green wax and wrote the Tang poem "Cold candle smokeless green wax dry".
As you can see here, our "baoyu" is full of Daiyu. I can't wait to fly over Qinfang Pavilion and live in Xiaoxiang Pavilion!
The entire Hongyi Courtyard, like the entire poem, is full of Baoyu's thoughts and talents.
As soon as you enter the main entrance of Hongyi Courtyard, you can see Begonia and Basho written in three or four lines of the poem, one on the left side of the atrium and the other on the right side of the atrium. Although withered, it is not difficult to imagine their beauty in spring and midsummer.
The last sentence of the poem says: "In the east wind, the master must be compassionate." It seems to say that the red of begonia and the green of banana are opposite in the east wind, making people fall in love with each other. In fact, I think these two plants refer to Baoyu and Daiyu.
Because it is the middle of winter, I really feel the tranquility of "the long day of silence in the deep pavilion". It is located in the South Second Ring Road, standing in the center of Hongyi Compound, looking up at the sky, but you can't see a tall building. Quiet, unknown birds can perch on low branches, giving our lenses a clear shot.
You can see clearly from this deep pavilion, but you can't see the "single cuckoo" flowers.
The Corridor in the Red Courtyard
Go to the cloister in the Hongyi Courtyard and experience the rare tranquility of the imperial capital and the gentleness of the Hongyi Courtyard~
This courtyard is located in the Grand View Garden upper right corner.
"Garden" originally refers to the royal courtyard, and Grand View Garden is the courtyard named after "Garden". It is famous for various herbs and fairy vines, and is the residence of Xue Baochai.
The overall scenery of Wuhu Garden exactly corresponds to the first two lines of the poem. It is strongly recommended that you go to Wuhu Garden during the spring season, otherwise you won’t be able to see or smell the weeds.
Heng, the name of vanilla. Zhiben is also the name of vanilla, but combined with the context, it should refer to the knotweed that smells like Zhiben. Qingfen means fragrant fragrance. Couplet of Wang Fuzhi's Thatched Cottage in Western Hunan: Zhi Xiangxiang was originally from Sanlu, Wuhu Thatched Cottage in Western Hunan.
The last sentence quotes Xie Lingyun's poem "Climbing the Pond and Going Up the Floor", "Spring grass grows in the pond, and willows turn into sparrows." It is said that the two smart lines were obtained in dreams, so they are fresh, natural and full of vitality. It has always been praised by poets. Baoyu's doing this also echoes his own couplet
But in my opinion, some of the scenery here, its elegance and nobility, are out of reach. This kind of "elegance" corresponds to Baochai's "elegant and vulgar" character, achieving a state of unity of image and landscape.
When visiting Wuhu Garden, you must carefully feel its elegant "elegance".
Daoxiang Village, also known as Huange Villa (named after Yuan Chun), is the residence of Li Wan.
Daoxiang Village is different from other buildings in Grand View Garden. The idyllic farmhouse here has a rustic appearance, which once attracted Jia Zheng to "return to agriculture." Daiyu's poem "Apricot Curtain in View", not Baoyu's, won Yuan Fei's heart, so he took the meaning of his poem "Ten Miles of Fragrant Rice Blossoms" and changed "Huange Villa" to "Daoxiang Village".
Outside the yard of Daoxiang Village, you can see the apricot grove. I wonder if the garden designer planted the apricot tree using this poem? Although it is bare, it can be regarded as a space for everyone's imagination.
The second sentence of the poem is a classic. "Ling falls over Hubei, mulberry elm swallows Liang" constitutes a vivid picture. If there were no swallows, there were quite a few magpies. This is extremely rare. Don’t forget to look up at the sky when you go to Daoxiang Village.
It is not difficult to see that the right side of the photo is indeed a bare field. Although it is bare, some traces of reclamation can also be seen. It is really not difficult to replace it with "a bed of spring leeks, ten miles of rice flowers". In terms of artistic conception. In addition, the entire courtyard is different from other courtyards in the Grand View Garden. All the courtyards use low hedges. This creates such a strong contrast in the magnificent official garden of the "Grand View Garden", which is in line with the saying "There is no hunger in the prosperous age, why bother with farming and weaving" "Poetry. This last sentence is a slightly humorous rhetorical question.
The incongruity of Daoxiang Village in this garden just reflects a corner of reality in this prosperous age, which is worth pondering.
The next time you come, you can try standing in the middle of this small courtyard and see if you can feel a pure land feeling. Of course, it was also nice to see those swallows and magpies.
Beijing Grand View Garden
Address: No. 12, Nancaiyuan West Street, Xicheng District, Beijing
Opening and closing hours: 8:30-16:30.
1. Ticket price: 40 yuan/person
Free for tickets below 2.1.2m.
3. Senior citizens with a red preferential treatment card are free, active military personnel are free, and those with a disability card are free.
Telephone number of tourist service center: 63582011
Bus lines: 122, 351, 395, 56, 59, 744 branch line, 800, 819, 922, 939, 423, 721, Te3 ( Daguanyuan Station)
Self-driving route: Parking in the surrounding area is difficult, so self-driving is not recommended.