Ge Garden of Yangzhou

[Ge garden ]

Ge garden is a Key Cultural Relic under the State-level Protection and one of Four Great Gardens in Jiangnan(an elegant and poetic title on the area comprised of southern Jiangsu province, northern Zhejiang province, Shanghai and one part of Anhui province). Ge Garden is located on the Dongguan Street in the suburb of Yangzhou city (by the way, this is a key city featured by its important historic level. And Yangzhou is also famous for its moonlight. There is a saying goes like this: if the beautiful moonlight can be divided into three parts, two parts will be in Yangzhou). The original name of Ge Garden is Shouzhi Garden in the early Qing dynasty. During the reign of Emperors Jiaqing and Daoguang, salt-selling businessman Huang Zhijun took ths garden and reestablished it. It was renamed Ge Garden because many bamboos were planted in the garden in order to show the aspiration of straightness and upwardness.

Yangzhou to some extent is famous for its famous gardens and the gardens in Yangzhou are famous for the layout of the stones. Ge Garden is mainly featured by the bamboos and stones. Traditionally Yangzhou was entitled to be Urban Forest. It was said that the famous painter, Shi Tao (who was the offspring of Emperors of Ming dynasty. So as to avoid the arrest of Qing government, he became a monk) during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, designed this garden. In the garden, there are Yiyu House, Baoshan tower, Fuyun pavilion, Zhuqiu pavilion and so on. All of these architectures are harmoniously integrated with the pools and artificial hills. The old trees also add some elegance and simplicity to the garden. The southern side is the entrance and at the mid-section garden, there are two pools. The artificial hills in four seasons are also famous. The uniqueness of Ge Garden shows it is one of the most famous gardens in Yangzhou.