In the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1559), Shang Bao Sicheng, who was famous for his fame, purchased dozens of acres of land in the northwest corner of Shanghai County (in the ring of Renmin Road and Zhonghua Road today) to build a garden. At the time of the pond, a stone was found, which was inscribed "Lu Xiangchi" by Zhao Mengfu, a calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty, and was used to name the garden.
There are Biyi Hall, Fuchunshan Pavilion, Qiucigang, Chaoyin Pavilion, Luxiang Pavilion, Duguan Pavilion, Green Lotus Seat, Fengu Pavilion and other landscapes in Luxiang Garden; there is also Luxiang Pool It is more than ten acres wide and has a curved bridge with red balusters. In summer, when the lotus flowers bloom, the water in the pond is also red.
The Gu family is good at embroidery, integrating painting theory and embroidery skills. The characters, landscapes, flowers and birds they embroider are all vivid and exquisite. The embroidery is named Gu embroidery and is well-known in the south of the Yangtze River. Gu embroidery is a masterpiece of needlework, including straight needles, spreading needles, connecting needles, cutting needles, gold nailing, trocaring needles, scale carving needles, etc. The silk is as fine as a hair, and the needles are as thin as a millimeter; landscapes, figures, insects, fish, flowers and birds The layers are rich and fully reflect the natural color of the original.
In the seventh year of Chongzhen (1634), Han Ximeng copied the famous paintings of the Song and Yuan Dynasties and copied the embroidery. After several years, he compiled it into eight square albums. Among them, the "Horse Washing Picture" imitated the style of Zhao Mengfu. "Picture of the Empress" imitates the style of Song Dynasty painting, "Picture of Rice Painting Landscape" imitates Mi Fu's brushwork, and "Picture of Fishing in Huaxi" imitates the brushwork of Wang Meng of the Yuan Dynasty. This is now the "Gu Embroidery Song and Yuan Famous Notes" collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, "the pavilions in Luxiang Garden gradually collapsed and the gardens were also abandoned." The Chongming Navy once stationed in the garden, cut the mountain and filled the pond, and opened up a martial arts field. Because it covers an area of ??nine acres, it is commonly known as "Nine acres of land"; the original location of the Green Lotus Seat was rebuilt into the Green Lotus Temple.
In the fifteenth year of Daoguang's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1835), the wealthy gentry Xu Zishan built a righteous warehouse in the east corner of the martial arts field and donated money to "drench the pond to the southwest of the righteous warehouse and plant flowers." Among them, scenic spots such as Qiushui Pavilion and Wanzhu Mountain House were rebuilt. A few years later, the free warehouse was used as a gunpowder station. Due to the gunpowder explosion, nearby buildings were razed to the ground, and residential houses were built on the abandoned site.
Today’s Luxiangyuan Road in Huangpu District (which was part of Nanshi District before the merger) is named after Luxiangyuan; Qinglian Street and Fuchun Alley are both named after the scenery of Luxiangyuan .
Text | Yunjian Dapeng
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