We all thought the cherry blossoms in West Lake were beautiful enough, until we went to the Chinese Courtyard Mengxi Garden and were stunned.
It is a sunny and windy day in March. Spring girl brings a yard full of cherry blossoms, which together with pavilions look like a picture scroll of Jiangnan with blooming flowers. It is so beautiful! Mengxi Garden was built by Mr. Zhou Weiguo over 12 years and at a cost of 1 billion yuan. The name Mengxi Garden was taken from "Mengxi Bitan".
Mengxi Garden was originally a dream of Shen Kuo, a man from Hangzhou in the Song Dynasty. He described it in his "Autobiography" like this: "When I was about 30 years old, I once dreamed of a place where I climbed a small hill. The flowers and trees were like covered brocade. There was water at the foot of the hill, which was clear as far as the eye could see, but tall trees obscured the water above." Later, this dream became reality. He spent 30,000 coins to purchase an abandoned garden in Runzhou, which is today's Zhenjiang, and began to build the Mengxi Garden in his mind. Today, there is a Mengxi Garden in Hangzhou, which is only one word different from Shen Kuo’s garden. But in the spring when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, it presents just as Shen Kuo saw in his dream - "the flowers and trees are like covered brocade." Moreover, the name of this garden is taken from "Mengxi Bitan" written by Shen Kuo. (Shen Kuo's Mengxi Bitan is in the first volume of the seventh grade Chinese textbook)
Mengxi Garden is located in Shiqiao Village, Liangzhu, Yuhang, covering an area of about 100 acres. It is backed by Dongming Mountain in the north and has "Meng Lake" in the middle. It is surrounded by rice fields, stone bridges, flowing water and houses, creating a magnificent landscape of Jiangnan mountains and waters.
In 2018, Mengxiyuan won the "TIA Eco-Design Award" awarded by the Organizing Committee of the International Industrial Design Conference. The owner of the Chinese Courtyard Mengxiyuan is Zhou Weiguo, who is both a garden landscape designer and a collector of ancient houses. This garden was his own work. In 2011, Zhou Weiguo, who had been working in the garden all his life, came to Shiqiao Village. He wanted to find a site for a factory for garden furniture. The site of Mengxiyuan today was an old factory surrounded by fertile fields. Zhou Weiguo said that after seeing the scene in front of him, his next idea was to simply build an ecological garden, so that the ancient garden landscape with aesthetic, cultural and historical value can realize the inheritance of Chinese traditional culture. Moreover, such a plan is more in line with the excavation of Liangzhu cultural relics, the iterative upgrading of rural industries, and the country's increasing attention to the rural ecological environment and farmland protection. In fact, there are many people among the public who collect abandoned old building materials, but there are only a few who collect them on a large scale like Zhou Weiguo, and rebuild and give them new life.
In Mengxi Garden, there is an ancient wooden stage. Its hometown is in Anhui. When Zhou Weiguo discovered it, the stage was on the verge of collapse. He moved it all back to Hangzhou and then searched for old materials bit by bit to repair it. The original intention of creating Mengxi Garden was to restore the Jiangnan courtyard-style garden with Song Dynasty garden aesthetics and spirit in Hangzhou. "Zhou Weiguo revealed that after opening to the public, he hopes everyone will have the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of Song-style gardens.
In addition to cherry blossoms, there are deep courtyards, flowing water under small bridges, pavilions and towers. Any casual shot will reveal the master's aesthetic taste.
Flower viewing guide:
Location: No. 118 Liang'an Road, Yuhang District, Hangzhou
Flowering period: mid to late March
Ticket purchase time: 9:00-16:00 (you can play for about an hour after 16:00)
Transportation: Drive to No. 118 Liang'an Road, Mengxiyuan (China Courtyard) or take the 489M bus at Liangzhu Station on Metro Line 2 or take a taxi. There is free parking in the courtyard area.
Tickets: 80 yuan for adults (a bit expensive, but worth seeing), free for children (under 1.2 meters), half-price discount for active military personnel
It is far from the city, so it is more convenient to drive by yourself.
Nearby attractions: Liangzhu Cultural Village, the scenery is also very good;
It is recommended to shoot with a telephoto lens, and a mobile phone is also acceptable;