China classical gardens and the naming of their couplets.
Du mingdao
China classical gardens can be said to be the organic unity of natural beauty, architectural beauty and artistic beauty. Those exquisite plaques and couplets, pavilions and pavilions, cloisters, rockeries and lotus pond paintings in Qu Yuan have all been cleverly arranged, which have concentrated the beautiful scenery and aesthetic significance of nature and formed a fascinating artistic environment.
The creation of China's classical gardens, like China's paintings, pays attention to the combination of naming, chanting and landscaping. As an organic part of garden art, garden names and landscape names are expressed through gatehouses, plaques and stone carvings. It not only plays an appropriate role in pointing out the topic and deepening the artistic conception, but also makes the garden more interesting and full of vitality. Moreover, the garden name itself is also rich in profound philosophy, poetic, or implicit, or make the finishing point, so that people can enjoy the scenery and express their feelings.
In fact, the name of the garden was originally just a symbol, which is convenient for people to call it, so it is often replaced by a place name or a person's name. For example, in the Western Jin Dynasty, Shi Chong's villa in Jingujian, Henan Province was called Jinguyuan. It is also named after the owner's surname and official position, such as Dongshi East Garden and Shenshangshu Garden. In contrast, it is named after righteousness. For example, Sima Guang built a garden in Luoyang in the Song Dynasty and named it "Dule", which means to be immune to himself.
The later naming of China classical gardens, either derived from ancient books or from the homophonic words of literati's poems or Chinese characters, is to express the master's admiration for the previous generation of celebrities and his ambition to retire from the forest, highlight the theme and interest of the gardens, and at the same time lead tourists to experience aesthetics and understand the profound connotation contained in perceptual landscapes. For example, the retreat garden in Tongli Town, Wujiang, Jiangsu Province was originally built after Ren Lansheng, a military commander in the late Qing Dynasty, was impeached and dismissed from office. The name of the garden is "retreat", and the word "Zuo Zhuan" is loyal to thinking, retreating and supplementing it ",meaning to retreat and think about it.
In China classical gardens, besides the title-style garden names reflecting the subjective interests of the gardeners and dominating the creative style of the whole garden, the names of local scenic spots are often named after the scenery. For example, wandering around the Suzhou Garden, enjoying the green mountains and green waters in the Hanbi Mountain Room, smelling the sweet-scented osmanthus in muxi Xiangxuan, bathing in the cool breeze pool and watching birds, animals, birds and fish in Haopu Pavilion ... Within a few steps, a scenic spot appears with its name. The name blends with the surrounding scenery, bringing tourists into a picture of blending scenes. These harmonious and orderly arrangements greatly increase the overall aesthetic feeling of the garden.
The most important function of naming China classical gardens and local scenic spots is to arouse tourists' thinking in images, so as to enter the aesthetic realm from the material realm. Highly concise, generalized and profound garden naming always brings tourists into the artistic realm that gardeners try their best to express, to appreciate the profound China classical garden culture and enjoy the beauty.
As a unique literary and artistic form in China, couplets are widely used in gardens. These couplets can not only create a quaint and elegant atmosphere, but also set off the theme of the landscape, adding an intriguing cultural landscape to the classical gardens in China characterized by comprehensive aesthetics. Moreover, the implication of couplets and the beauty of calligraphy often make people sigh and linger, which is undoubtedly a kind of beautiful enjoyment for tourists.
On both sides of the west gate of Tiegong Temple in Daming Lake, Jinan, there is a famous couplet: "Lotus on four sides and willow on three sides, a city with mountains and a half city with lakes." This poem was recited by Liu, a poet in Qing Dynasty, written by a great calligrapher and carved on a stone. Daming Lake in Jinan has been full of lotus flowers since ancient times, weeping willows, lush flowers and trees, and beautiful lakes and mountains. This pair of couplets is the best portrayal of its scenery, which has been recited for more than 200 years because of its stability, uniformity and coordination. Jiao Shan in Zhenjiang is an island in the Yangtze River. There is a "Biefeng Temple" halfway up the mountain. Small and exquisite, surrounded by green trees and bamboo, the environment is particularly quiet. There are two study rooms in the nunnery, which used to be the reading rooms of Zheng Banqiao, a famous painter and calligrapher in Qing Dynasty. There is a couplet in Zheng's calligraphy hanging by the door: "No need for a big room, not many flowers." In Zheng Banqiao's view, a good living environment is not large and diverse, but poetic. Only in this way can we win the big with elegance and win the big with small. This "elegance" and "scarcity" are the outstanding features of Jiao Shan and other literati gardens in Zhenjiang.
In a word, although there are only a few words in the couplets in the classical gardens of China, they are meaningful and play a role in making the clouds clear and making the finishing point. Some of these couplets are philosophical and thought-provoking; Some express their feelings and are fascinating; Some of them are in line with the theme and inspire people, so they become an indispensable part of garden art and the essence of China classical garden art.