Page 83 - JCAU-4-1

Zhao Liewen’s Gardening Practices and Activities in His Diary
2.2 Reconstruction and repair of the
Tranquil Garden (Jing Pu)
(1) Increase in the number of family
members
In November of the 4th reign year (1865) of
Emperor Tongzhi, Zhao Liewen moved to
Changshu by boat with his whole family. At
that time, there were totally 10 upper and
lower rooms and 12 bungalows in the
Tranquil Garden (Jing Pu). Thereafter, Zhao
Liewen went to Zeng Guofan and worked for
him as an assistant till the 13th reign year
(1874) of Emperor Tongzhi. The Tranquil
Garden layout had not dramatically changed
ever since and had maintained the main
functions of living, storing books, receiving
guests, worshipping ancestors, and so on.
With an increase in the number of his
concubines and children, the number of
dwellings were added accordingly. In
addition to his wife Nanyang Jun, Zhao
Liewen [Figure 2] married four concubines in
succession (one of them was sent back) and
had six children [Figure 3]. After two of his
sons having completed the coming-of-age
ceremony, each of them had a spouse and
produced offspring, “Nan Yangjun has been
my wedded wife for 30 to 40 years now, and
we have 12 children, daughters-in-law, and
grandchildren. Except our eldest son Zhao Shi
who is travelling outside, the rest are all
around us.” Servants for the kitchen and
warehouse needed living rooms; siblings also
needed support if they had no offspring to
take care of them; rooms were also needed to
accommodate others during gatherings and
banquets.
[7]
Figure 2. Zhao Liewen
AccScience Publishing
Li & Yin
Figure 3. Clan and branches of Zhao Liewen family
and its composition. Source: Prepared by the author
according to Nengjingju Riji
(2) Changes in the pattern of the house and
garden
Zhao Liewen’s garden construction
objectives and realistic factors, as well as his
subjective emotional expressions in his
garden planning, reflect Ji Cheng’s (计 成 ,
1582 ‒ c. 1642) consideration that “Sites have
different suitability” and “People have
different suitability.” Due to topographical
limitations, the whole Tranquil Garden (Jing
Pu) was divided into two parts of the house
and the garden, with the house situated in
northeast, and the garden in southwest.
In the early stage of completion, the
Tranquil Garden (Jing Pu) was limited to
meeting the basic requirements for living,
which meant that it had met the daily
necessities of housing, food, clothing, and
transportation, which were concentrated in
the north of the Tranquil Stream (Jing Xi),
while the other three sides nearly had no
construction but the land property gradually
increased and it was enclosed with walls :
“Several gong (one gong is equal to five chi
or 160 cm) of east high land, which is the
property of the Zhu and Ge families, along the
Tranquil Stream [Jing Xi], has been expanded,
and a wall is built along the Huanxiu Xiang
(lane) to the South River. and the construction
starts today” [3] . Zhao Liewen had the
Tranquil Garden (Jing Pu) rebuilt and
renovated three times, in the 1st reign year
(1875), the 4th reign year (1878), and the 6th
reign year (1880) of Emperor Guangxu,
respectively. Changes in the pattern of the
Garden are shown in Figure 4. It can be
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