Hangzhou’s Gardens and Manors

Wang Xufeng

Wang Xufeng is a professor and a national writer. She is currently the honorary dean of the College of Tea Science and Tea Culture， the director of the Chinese International Promotion Tea Culture Communication Base， and the director of the China International Tea Culture Institute of Zhejiang Aamp;F University.

The Biography of Hangzhou：

Living in Paradise

Wang Xufeng

New Star Press

March 2023

89.00 （CNY）

This book is included in the series “Biographies of the Hundred Cities along the Silk Road.” From the ancient Yue people who carved jade into swords to the contemporary Hangzhou， the author systematically reviews the formation and development of Hangzhou in chronological order. This book is a valuable humanities work that provides a comprehensive perspective of Hangzhou.

The tourism industry of Hangzhou West Lake in the Qing Dynasty was said to have developed into the tourism of manors. Hangzhou West Lake itself is a large garden. It is certainly not enough for a garden to have only lakes and mountains， which reflect the will of God. The will of human beings shall be demonstrated， too， only by which the human character of the landscape can be seen. Connoisseurs once said there were three landscape types： purely natural landscape， ordinary landscape， and artistic landscape. In the category of artistic landscape， there are courtyards， mansions， gardens， etc. By the time of the Qing Dynasty， Hangzhou’s garden construction had also reached its peak.

Among this big garden called Hangzhou， royal gardens and temple gardens compete with each other. Lingyin Temple is one of the most famous temple gardens in Hangzhou， and Gushan Mountain from the Sui and Tang dynasties is also representative of temple gardens. As for the royal gardens， they are believed to be based on the state gardens at the foot of Phoenix Mountain， the southern mountain of West Lake. The first peak of royal garden building was reached in the Southern Song Dynasty. Since the chased-away imperial court in the Southern Song Dynasty had taken Hangzhou as its own home to settle down， the nobles， from the royal family of Song to the senior officials， all felt content to build their own private estates to become more exquisite and luxurious， completely ignoring the two emperors taken captive. The Yuan Dynasty， for Lin’an （Hangzhou）， the capital of the Song Dynasty， was by and large a regressive and destructive dynasty， but one of the largest capital cities was not so easily decayed. The Yuan Dynasty still preserved many beautiful gardens and sent them towards another peak — the Ming Dynasty. During the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods of the Qing Dynasty， Hangzhou’s gardening reached a new surge when the gentry and nobility， the feudal scholar class and feudal literati， started the trend of changing gardens into manors.

In Chinese， the word manor is always related to the word village. “Manor” seems to have a different meaning when connected with gardens. Manor reminds people of the Sweet-Rice Village from the Prospect Garden in “The Story of the Stone.” Nature is deliberately crafted， and therefore to do it without unimaginative craftsmanship and make people gladly accept it is certainly not an easy task.

Building private gardens into manors reflected that era’s prevailing culture and personality. The manors were often named after the family surname， like Guo Manor， Wang Manor， and Liu Manor. When a manor was constructed， it was invariably marked with the cultural imprint of the family name. This was not a trivial matter around West Lake at that time， the garden masters emerged one after another， and gardening entered a new frontier. As the saying goes， one’s true ability can only be shown by doings. The same can be applied to the manors. Once built， a manor became the target of people’s evaluation. The owner of a manor built unsuccessfully and lacking cultural taste was to be looked down upon by the cultured people of that time.

By the early years of the late Qing Dynasty， the construction of manors had become a vital sign of the owner’s monetary status and artistic taste. At that time， the famous manors were Liu Manor， Jiang Manor， Wang Manor， Guo Manor， Gao Manor， Yang Manor， Xu Manor， etc. Following， we will introduce the “four manors by the West Lake”： Guo Manor， Wang Manor， Jiang Manor and Liu Manor， which were the most famous among them.

First， we will introduce the Guo Manor because， among these four manors， only Guo Manor still exists today and is still open to the public as a private garden. On the lintel of the gate of Guo Manor， instead of “Guo Manor，” it is written， “Fenyang Villa.” The manor was built during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty. The year the Taiping Army stormed into Hangzhou （1861）， countless exquisite buildings were burned down， but this manor did not suffer from the war. The manor was initially built by Song Duanfu， given the name Duan You （Duan’s friend） Villa. But the world changed so quickly that the Song family fell into decline just a few decades later. During the Guangxu period， the manor became the property of Guo Shilin， an up-and-coming silk industrialist. Guo renamed it “Fenyang Villa” because he wanted to associate himself with Guo Ziyi of Fenyang in the Tang Dynasty.

Jiang Manor is located in today’s Huagang Park. Its predecessor was the villa of Lian Huiqing， a famous calligrapher and painter from Wuxi， and was called Minor Wanliu Hall. From Lian Huiqing， we may explore the typical destiny of the last generation of feudal scholars and literati in China， who loved antiques， calligraphy and paintings but were not good at running a business. Lian became broke and sold this manor by the lake to Jiang Guobang from Nanjing. Jiang Guobang was very filial. He purchased the manor and renamed it Lan Gai Villa， which was dedicated to serving his mother. For the reason that the owner’s surname was Jiang， people used to call this place Jiang Manor.

Among the multiple manors by West Lake， Liu Manor， located under Dingjia Mountain， is the best. It was previously commented that “West Lake has one of the best landscapes in the world， Liu Manor has the best scenery on West Lake.” It faces the lake on three sides and the mountain on one side and has the largest area among the other properties around West Lake.

Speaking of Liu Manor， there is also a peculiar story. During the Guangxu period， there was a scholar named Liu Xuexun in Xiangshan， Guangdong. In the second year， after he passed the imperial exams at the provincial level， he went to Beijing to take the metropolitan examination. When he passed by Hangzhou on his way home， he was astonished and exclaimed， “There are no such lakes and mountains in my hometown！” Then he made an astonishing decision to move here and build a “Lake and Bamboo Residence.”

The construction of the residence began in 1898， and in 1900， when Liu Xuexun was already 45 years old， he began to devote himself to building his comfortable home by West Lake. He already had the magnificent Liu Manor in Guangdong. He dismantled that manor and transported all the heather doors and windows with carved and seal-engraved characters and patterns to the bottom of Dingjia Mountain. After tearing down his own home， he set his eyes on others’， buying all the exquisite furniture items from “Hai Shan Xian Guan，” the home of Pan Shicheng， whose family had fallen on hard times in Guangzhou， and transporting them to the residence. So， the layout of Liu Manor has an apparent Lingnan style.

Wang Manor was once the most open of the many manors by West Lake because it used to be a place to sell tea. In other words， you can also call Wang Manor a tea house.

At first， being a private tea house courtyard of Wang Zixin， an Anhui tea merchant， Wang Manor was initially called Qingbai Mountain Villa and was built in 1927. It is said that because the construction of Wang Manor occupied too much area of West Lake， it caused the public anger of Hangzhou people， who even sued him. Later Wang Zixin promised that， after his death， the manor would be handed over to the local government， which finally settled the matter. The tea of the Wang family is an old brand， Wang Yutai Tea House， which still exists in Shanghai.

In the impression of later generations， Wang Zixin was a Confucian businessman. This Wang Manor he built covered an area of 240，000 square meters， facing the lake on three sides， and had quite a lot of distinctiveness. When people went to buy tea， what they need was only to sit by the lake， enjoying the tea and chatting with others. By the time they were about to leave， the shopkeeper had already weighed and wrapped the tea and delivered it to them.

Such a garden， with the same fate as Liu Manor， is now also restored into a hotel.