Shen's Garden home to an Anhui tycoon
By Li Ning |
March 29, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THERE is a Chinese idiom - turning a blind eye to those familiar things. People often ignore those things that appear repeatedly within their view. The distinguished Shen's Garden in Jiangqiao Town is such an example.
Every day when I passed by Shen's Garden on my way to work years ago, I didn't pay any attention to it.
It was not until the garden was listed as an "unmovable relic of Jiading district" recently that I realized it was something worth noticing.
In fact, I knew the place when I was only a little boy, as it was not far away from our village. I could see it at the entrance to the village.
At the time, there were many older kids who were studying at Shen's Garden. Sometimes I heard them say that "the place has ghosts," which stimulated my interest in it. At the same time, I admired my peers who were brave enough to study at a place with ghosts.
One day I went to Shen's Garden with one of my friends nicknamed "fat guy" who was studying there. Along the zigzag road we walked, which was connected to a concrete-paved road leading to the entrance of Shen's Garden.
In the early 1960s, there was no other concrete road in our village. It was originally believed that the house belonged to a Shanghai tycoon but in fact the tycoon was Shen Anbang from Anhui Province, an architect who designed the garden and built it 100 years ago.
The garden was built with advanced concrete techniques integrated into traditional building methods. The 600-square-meter construction does not have a single wooden roof beam.
Solidness, beauty and splendor make Shen's Garden a unique building that combines the technology of both East and West.
However after 100 years, Shen's Garden today appears a bit "aged."
According to the local residents, the garden originally occupied 4 hectaressurrounded by concrete-made columns and blocks outside. There was a lotus pond on the west and a flower garden in the east. Several ancient cypress trees were planted in the center.
But today all that remains is a three-courtyard building and solid walls linking to its gate which stands like an Arc de Triomphe.
When mentioning Shen Anbang, residents today only know that he "was rather something," but without any details.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the place was first used as a government office, school, factory and later a warehouse.
But today it is a protected building.
I recall a story about Guo Zhiyi, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), who decided to build a luxury house in his hometown after his retirement. He often visited the construction site and asked the craftsman to make everything perfect.
The old craftsman said to him: "Please take it easy, I have been building houses all my life, and I often see the houses still standing solid when the owners are nowhere to be found." The general didn't return until it was completed.
Although unique buildings like Shen's Garden still stand, he and his family members have disappeared over the past century.
Protection of Shen's Garden not only enables a historical perspective of the building itself, but also an appreciation of human values.
Every day when I passed by Shen's Garden on my way to work years ago, I didn't pay any attention to it.
It was not until the garden was listed as an "unmovable relic of Jiading district" recently that I realized it was something worth noticing.
In fact, I knew the place when I was only a little boy, as it was not far away from our village. I could see it at the entrance to the village.
At the time, there were many older kids who were studying at Shen's Garden. Sometimes I heard them say that "the place has ghosts," which stimulated my interest in it. At the same time, I admired my peers who were brave enough to study at a place with ghosts.
One day I went to Shen's Garden with one of my friends nicknamed "fat guy" who was studying there. Along the zigzag road we walked, which was connected to a concrete-paved road leading to the entrance of Shen's Garden.
In the early 1960s, there was no other concrete road in our village. It was originally believed that the house belonged to a Shanghai tycoon but in fact the tycoon was Shen Anbang from Anhui Province, an architect who designed the garden and built it 100 years ago.
The garden was built with advanced concrete techniques integrated into traditional building methods. The 600-square-meter construction does not have a single wooden roof beam.
Solidness, beauty and splendor make Shen's Garden a unique building that combines the technology of both East and West.
However after 100 years, Shen's Garden today appears a bit "aged."
According to the local residents, the garden originally occupied 4 hectaressurrounded by concrete-made columns and blocks outside. There was a lotus pond on the west and a flower garden in the east. Several ancient cypress trees were planted in the center.
But today all that remains is a three-courtyard building and solid walls linking to its gate which stands like an Arc de Triomphe.
When mentioning Shen Anbang, residents today only know that he "was rather something," but without any details.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the place was first used as a government office, school, factory and later a warehouse.
But today it is a protected building.
I recall a story about Guo Zhiyi, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), who decided to build a luxury house in his hometown after his retirement. He often visited the construction site and asked the craftsman to make everything perfect.
The old craftsman said to him: "Please take it easy, I have been building houses all my life, and I often see the houses still standing solid when the owners are nowhere to be found." The general didn't return until it was completed.
Although unique buildings like Shen's Garden still stand, he and his family members have disappeared over the past century.
Protection of Shen's Garden not only enables a historical perspective of the building itself, but also an appreciation of human values.
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