幽谷清溪假亦真环秀山庄

幽谷清溪假亦真环秀山庄

真山如假方奇，假山似真始妙——这样的真山、假山才能看，能游，能想，能居。这是美境，亦是造园叠山所难能求得的。中国园林假山自有佳构，而现存者当推苏州环秀山庄为第一。

环秀山庄原来布局：前堂名“有谷”，南向前后点石，翼以两廊及对照轩。堂后筑环秀山庄，面对山林，水萦如带。一亭浮波，一亭枕山。两贯长廊，尽处有楼。循山径登楼，可俯观全园，飞雪泉在其下，补秋舫则横卧北端。

主山位于园之东部，浮水一亭在池之西北隅，因面对飞雪泉故名“问泉”。自亭西南渡三曲桥，入崖道，弯入谷中。有洞自西北来，横贯崖谷，经石洞，天窗隐约，钟乳垂垂，踏步石，上蹬道，渡石梁，幽谷森严，阴翳蔽日。而一桥横跨，欲飞还敛。飞雪泉在望，隐然若屏。沿山巅，达主峰，穿石洞，过飞桥，至于山后，枕山一亭，名“半潭秋水一房山”。沿泉而出，山蹊渐低，峰石参差，补秋舫在焉。东西两门额曰“凝青”“摇碧”，足以概括全园景色。其西为飞雪泉石壁，涧有飞石，极险巧。

园初视之，山重水复，身入其境，移步换影，变化多端。“溪水因山成曲折，山蹊随地作低平”，得真山水之妙谛，却以极简洁洗练手法出之。山中空而雄浑，谷曲折而幽深。山中藏洞屋，内贯涧流，佐以步石、崖道，仿佛天然。澄道自东北来，与涧流相会于步石，至此，仰则青天一线，俯则清流几曲，几疑身在万山中。上层环道，跨以飞梁，越溪度谷，组成重层游览线，千岩万壑，方位莫测。园占地约1600平方米，而假山占地约333平方米，小巧精致，实难以置信。

山以深幽取胜，水以弯环见长，无一笔不曲，无一处不藏，设想布景，层出新意。水有源，山有脉，息息相通。以有限面积，造无限空间。亭廊皆出山脚，补秋舫若浮水洞之上，因地处出麓也。西北角飞雪岩，视主山为小，水口、飞石，妙胜画本。旁建小楼，有檐瀑，下临清潭，仿佛曲尽而余味绕梁间。而亭前一泓，宛若点睛。

移天缩地，为造园家之惯技，而因地制宜，就地取材，择景模拟，造石成山，则因人而别，各抒其长。

环秀山庄之假山是清代乾隆年间叠山名家戈裕良1的作品，它的蓝本是苏州大石山。正如他另一作品——常熟燕园模自虞山一样，法同式异，各具地方风格。

戈裕良的叠山技艺成就卓越。他总结前人叠山技术，树立了体形大、腹中空，中构洞壑、涧谷的乾隆至嘉庆年间的假山风格，并首创造洞技巧中的“钩带法”，如造环洞桥。这种方法能使洞的顶壁一气，结构合理，能运用少量的石叠大型的山。而山石的皴法悉符画本，其意兼宋元画本之长，宛转多姿，浑若天成。叠山之妙法具备，其作品乃为中国假山艺术中之上品。

注释：

1.戈裕良，清江苏常州著名园林叠山家。生于乾隆二十九年（1764），卒于道光十年（1830）。

Artificial Deep Valleys and Clear Streams Become Real—Huanxiu Mountain Resort(https://www.daowen.com)

Real mountains appear artificial while artificial rockeries look rael.Such real mountains and artificial rockeries are worth visiting, admiring, and meditating on and living by, This effect is very difficult to achieve with a pile of rocks.There are the ingenious designs we come to expect in a classical Chinese garden.Huanxiu Mountain Resort in Suzhou ranks number one among such rockeries.

In the layout of Huanxiu Mountain Resort, the front hall is named Yougu, south of which rocks are scattered.Covered walkways and chambers are set up on both sides of the hall.Behind the hall lies Huanxiu Mountain Resort, which, encircled by limpid water, overlooks the woods.One pavilion is floating above water and the other is perched on a mountain.At the end of two long covered walkways stands a tower.When a visitor climbs up to the tower by following a footpath in the mountain, he has a panoramic view of the resort, where Feixue Spring sits at the foot of the mountain and Buqiu Boat lies to its north.

The main mountain lies in the eastern part of the Mountain Rseort.The pavilion floating above water in the northwest corner of the pool is named Wenquan (Asking Spring) for it stands opposite Feixue Spring.A walk from the southwest of the pavilion, across Sanqu Bridge, along a precipitous footpath and into a valley leads to a cave that lies to the northwest of the resort, and winds through the valley.Inside the cave, daylight shines faintly through a few scattered skylights and stalactites hang down here and there.Following stone steps, going up a rocky mountain and across a rock beam, one steps into a deep and horrendous valley where light is dim in the gloomy and thick air.Here a bridge can be seen overhead, looking as if it is halfway soaring into the sky, but is held back.The faintly visible Feixue Spring now appears like a screen.Climbing over the mountain-top leads one to the main peak, then through the cave and across the flying bridge until he arrives at the rear of the mountain where within sight is a pavilion named as Bantanqiushui Yifangshan.When leaving the spring, a visitor finds a footpath gradually going down among scattered rocks to the bottom of the mountain where Buqiu Boat lies.The signs on the east and west gate towers read Ningqing and Yaobi to highlight the scenery in the resort.West of the signs stands the stone wall of Feixue Spring, by which is a ravine where there are stones that appear to be flying, displaying expuisite perilousness.

At first sight, a visitor sees mountain ranges and a vast expanse of water in the garden.When he walks further into the garden, he witnesses varying scenes with every step he takes.“A stream meanders around the mountain; a mountain footpath blends in with the terrain.”The essence of mountains and waters described in poerty is materialized here in a simplistic and succinct way.The mountains are hollow yet appear vigorous and firm, and the valleys are winding yet appear deep and serene.Mountains harbor the cave with a narrow steam oozing through stone steps and precipitous footpaths render the scenery more natural.The rocky mountain path from the northeast meets a narrow stream at the stone steps, where with a slit of sky above and a limpid stream of water below a visitor is lost in a fantasy of being in the midst of thousands of mountains.The upper passage ring, crossed over by a flying beam, streches out over streams and valleys, forming tour routes through a myriad of multi-layered peaks and valleys where a visitor soon loses his sense of directon.The Mountain Resort covers an area of about 1600 spuare kilometers with 333 square kilometers occupied by rockeries; truly this is an incredibly tiny and exquisitely designed garden.

Mountains excel in their serenity and stillness whereas a stream exults in its twists and turns.There is nowhere which is not curved and no scene not hidden.The layout of the garden showcases the creativity and ingenuity of the designer.Streams have their sources and mountains their veins, which keep them naturally connected.An infinite large space is created in a finite tiny area.Pavilions and coverd walkways are all set at the foot of mountains, and Buqiu Boat looks as if it is floating over a cave in water, since it is located at the foot of a mountain.Feixue Peak in the northwest corner is dwarfed by the main mountain; the stream ends and flying stones appear even more beguiling than those on a Chinese mountain-and-water painting.Nearby is a small tower with water rushing down from its eaves into a deep pool below, creating an effect similat to that when a music is over, its tune is still echoing in the air.The pool with translucent water in front of the pavilion is just like the finishing touches in a Chinese painting.

To borrow the scenery and to miniaturize garden scenes are the customary practices used by garden designers.However, they distinguish themselves by applying the specific skills they are good at in adapting their designs to natural features of a landscape, in taking advantage of local materials, in turning stones into rockeries, and in choosing natural scenery for imitation for their gardens.

The rockeries in Huanxiu Mountain Resort are outstanding works of Ge Yuliang1, a well known rock-piling master during the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty.Just as Yanyuan Garden in Changshu, another work of his, which was built after Yushan Mountain, the rockery of Huanxiu Mountain Resort was an imitation of Dashi Mountain in Suzhou.Both of his works, guided by the same principles, demonstrate different tactics and represent distinctive local features.

Ge Yuliang is famous for his outstanding achievements in building rockeries.Drawing on the expertise of his predecessors in the rockpiling art, he successfully created a unique rockery style during the reigns of Emperors Jiaqing and Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty.This style is characterized by the use of large hollow rocks and of streams winding through dark caves and deep valleys.The application of his original cavebuilding technique of interlocking stones, as in building a bridge ring around a cave, succeeds in connecting a roof and walls smoothly into a wellbalanced structure; he was also noted for building large rockeries with a very small amount of rocks.The veins of rockeries stand out in the same way as they do in the fine paintings of the Song and Yuan Dynasties.The sheer artistry changes the manmade rockery to look completely natural.Because of the skillful compiling of all the rock piling technipues, the rockeries in this mountain resort are indeed the very best of Chinese rockeries.

Notes:

1.Ge Yuliang, born in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1764) and died in the tenth year of the reign of Emperor Daoguang (1830) was a famous rockery master from Changzhou, Jiangsu Province in the Qing Dynasty.