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Reconstruction of the Masterplan of Jinmingchi Garden Shevchenko

MengHuaLu:“On the first day of the third (奥屋), is built in the north bank, facing the
lunar month, Jinmingchi and Qionglin Five Halls” [11] . The description above helps
Garden on the northern part the street outside us understand the layout of Jinmingchi better.
of the city gate in the southwest corner of In the Southern Song dynasty (1127‒
Shuntianmen were open. The perimeter of the 1279), besides Dongjing MengHuaLu, the
pond is 9 li (里) and 30 steps (步), where scroll painting Jinmingchi Zhengbiao Tu
people can walk for 7 li (里) to the west. After (Tournament on Jinming Pond, 金明池争标
entering the Garden from the south gate, at a 图) [Figure 1] shows the layout of Jinmingchi
distance of hundreds of steps (步), the north- Garden. The painting is preserved in Tianjin
facing Waterfront Hall (临水殿) can be seen, Art Gallery(天津美术馆), with a height of
where emperors used to hold banquets and 28.5cm*and a width of 28.6cm. The painting
watch dragon-boat racing. Walking for technique used by the painter is called Jiehua
hundreds of steps (步), there is a Xian Bridge (Boundary Painting, 界 画 ), which means
(Immortal Bridge, 仙桥) in the south-north painting by using straight edge. Using this
extension, which is hundreds of steps in technique, the painter could effectively depict
length. Xian Bridge consists of three arches. buildings, streets, and daily activities in the
The handrail of the Bridge is painted in red, city. Even though there are five Chinese
and the Bridge is arch-shaped like a rainbow, characters written on the lower left of the
called Camel Rainbow (骆驼虹). Five Halls painting, suggesting Zhang Zeduan’s
are in the north end of the Bridge. Among the presenting (张择端呈进), majority of the
five halls, four of them walled with stones are experts thought the time of the painting was
in the east, south, west, and north directions after the North Song dynasty. Due to the
respectively, facing and surrounding the main discrepancies of painting styles between
hall in the center. The main hall is for the Jinmingchi Zhengbiao Tu and other paintings
emperor, with curtained rooms and red- in the Northern Song era, it can be deduced
painted dragon-bed made of gold. The that the painting was most likely created in the
corridors between the halls are used as space Southern Song era whose painter is unknown
for dance, singing, musical performances, and [12] .
also for gambling and catering. Lingxing In the late 1980s, archaeologists started
Archway(棂星门) is at the south end of the excavation on the site. The complexity of the
Bridge, showing respect for Confucius, and surrounding urban space became a major
two colored-platforms ( 彩 楼 ) for ritual obstacle to the excavation work. In the
ceremonies are set on both sides of the autumn of 1982, the Shuntianmen city gate of
Archway. A storied building named Baojin Bianjing city in the Northern Song dynasty
Tower(宝津楼)is built on a foundation made was detected. With further investigation, the
of bricks in the south of the Archway, and the approximate location of ancient Jinmingchi
was found. In the autumn of 1993, the
width is more than 100 zhang (丈). Xian archaeological work team of Kaifeng city
Bridge, Five Halls, and the riding-and-arrow- redetected the site via two geological drilling
shooting training that the emperor watch in machines. The work took three months to
the east bank of the pond are all in bird’s eye confirm the location and overall layout of the
view from the Baojing Tower. Willow trees pond [14] . The results of the archaeological
are planted alongside the pond and wall. In excavation indicate that the east bank of
the east of the street, restaurants, casinos, Jinminchi is 300 m from the western outer
entertainment places, and pawnshops are city wall of Bianjing, and the pond is in the
open until the city is locked down. The gate shape of rectangle, with the longer side in the
in the north is the place where the pond is east-west rather than the north-south direction.
linked to the Bian River ( 汴 河 ), and no
building is in the west bank of the pond. The
dock for dragon-boat moorage, named Ao’wu

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