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Dongshan Carved Building, located in dongshan town, Suzhou Dongting, is a famous local scenic spot. According to historical records, Suzhou Dongshan Carved Building was built in 1922 by two wealthy businessmen, Jin Xizhi and Jin Zhi's brother, for their mother. According to legend, they made a fortune doing business in Shanghai, but their mother was old. Out of filial piety, they decided to build a carved building for her.
The two brothers specially hired Chen Guifang, a famous craftsman of Xiangshan School, as the chief designer of the carved building. Not only that, they also hired more than 250 workers to work day and night, and it took them three years to build the building.
The decoration design in the carved building is exquisite, which can be called "wonderful workmanship". The beams, trusses, columns, eaves tiles, stones, wood carvings and cast iron decorations in the whole building of the Carved Building are very rich, so it is called "carving everywhere", which can be described as "unique" in all modern buildings in Jiangnan.
But then again, such an exquisite design also costs a lot of money. It is estimated that the total cost of building a carved building is about 374 1 2 of gold, and the cost is about 40 million yuan according to the modern gold price.
At that time, Jin Xizhi intended to build a brick-carved gatehouse, and Chen Guifang immediately quoted 3,500 silver dollars for it. The shocked Jin Xizhi even shouted "What a shame!" It can also be seen that the investment in Dongshan Carved Building is quite huge.
It is estimated that many readers are not clear about the concept of 3500 silver dollars. Let me give you an estimate. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the value of a silver dollar was probably 200 yuan RMB, and 3,500 silver dollars was 700,000 RMB! How's it going? You must be shocked! But don't cry for the Kim brothers in a hurry. If you look down, you will definitely feel that the money is well spent.
The brick gate building of Dongshan Flower Carving Building is divided into three floors, which can be described as "distinct levels". On the first floor of the gatehouse, four big characters are written horizontally on the square in the middle, which reads "Tianxi is clean", meaning the blessing of heaven.
On the left and right sides of "Tian Xi Chun Tuo", there is also the story of the ancient city meeting and solving doubts in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Taking Guan Yu and Zhang Fei meeting in the ancient city, and Cai Yang being beheaded as an opportunity, this paper expounds the feelings of three sworn relationships in Taoyuan, and compares them with loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness. At the intermediate level, there is the inscription "Yu Xiu's Unique Virtue" by Yin, a calligrapher in the Qing Dynasty, and there are stories of "visiting sages" and "Yao Shun abdicating" around it, which means cultivating heaven.
The strange part is on the lowest floor of the gatehouse, and the upper square on the lowest floor holds a flat peach festival for the Queen Mother, and there are scenes where immortals from all walks of life compete to celebrate her birthday, which represents the word "longevity". On the central pillar of the next floor, there are 10 sika deer with different expressions carved by * *, which means "perfection" in ancient times. At the same time, "deer" and "Lu" are homophonic, and the representative word is "Lu".
The next room is engraved with the birthday scene of Guo Ziyi, a general of the Tang Dynasty. He had seven sons and eight daughters in his life, and everyone knelt down to celebrate his birthday, which showed the ancient people's yearning for many sons and many blessings, and the word he represented was "blessing".
In addition, the top ridge of the brick-carved gatehouse is in the cornucopia, and there is also an evergreen plant, which means eternal prosperity and is also a symbol of the word "wealth". There is also a big word "Xi" above the lintel, which means looking up at happiness. In this way, when several paintings are combined, they occupy the whole of the five words "Fu, Lu, Shou, and Cai", and also express the good wishes of the host family to seek good fortune and avoid evil.
The exquisite design of carved architecture is known as "the crystallization of classical architecture", and it is also the peak of pavilion art in China. Today's carved architecture is not only listed as a national key protection unit in China, but also a tourist attraction, attracting a large number of tourists, even many great men and celebrities in modern times. As the "first building in the south of the Yangtze River", its charm and historical value are endless, so this carved building has also become the pride and pride of China people!