On June 27, 2018, The Garden was completed and opened to the public free of charge.
On February 14, 2016, Tianjin citizens heard a message from the radio: on the first day after the Spring Festival holiday, Hebei District launched the construction of the first section of the North Canal Strip Park , the "Qingjin Garden". According to historical records, the "Qingjin Garden" will partially restore the remains of the Qing Dynasty "Qingjin Garden", the park is 8,000 square meters, Suzhou garden style, with small bridges, flowing water, pavilions, book houses, is expected to be completed this summer, free of charge to the public.
North Canal Park view.
It is also understood that the North Canal Strip Park takes green ecology as the theme and explores the history and culture of the Grand Canal and Hebei District as the idea, starting from Qinjian Bridge in the north and Ear Gate Park in the south, with a total length of 3,700 meters and a total area of about 92,000 square meters.
After the completion of the North Canal Park, the environment is quiet and the vegetation is luxuriant, which adds a good environment for citizens to relax and exercise.
Qing Dynasty Qingjin Garden? Yes, the Qingjin Garden existed as early as the Kangxi Dynasty, but the Qingjin Garden at that time was not built on the banks of the North Canal, but built on the Admiralty River. The word "Qingjin" comes from the "Legend of Confucius Asking", legend has it that Confucius led his disciples to seek out the nations to spread the idea of benevolence and morality, and when they encountered a river and got lost on the way through the old street of Xinzhou, they asked Zilu to ask where the two hermits were crossing, but they were ridiculed by the hermits. Overcoming difficulties, Confucius stayed here to give lectures, expressing his determination and conviction to ask questions and seek the Tao.
Specific to the origin of The Garden? To understand this problem, we must first start with the salt transport and salt merchants in Tianjin.
Early salt production scenarios
The Tianjin area is bordered by the Bohai Sea and has unique salt production conditions. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the salt production in Tianjin was managed by the Salt Transfer Department located in Changlu Town, Cangzhou, so the sea salt produced in the sea area near Tianjin was called "Changlu Salt". During the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the Changlu Salt Patrol Yushi Yamen moved from Beijing to Tianjin, and the Changlu Salt Transport envoy Si Yamen was also moved from Cangzhou to Tianjin, and since then Tianjin has become the base camp of salt merchants, and the salt merchants who have gathered wealth have soon become the backbone of Tianjin society.
Exterior view of the Changlu Salt Transport Envoy Department
According to historical records, among the salt merchants in the early Qing Dynasty, the Zhang Lin family was the most famous. During the Kangxi Dynasty, the Zhang family had become a representative of the great salt merchants with a wealth of money. After becoming rich, the Zhang family not only became a career, but also built a garden garden. Among them, 5 kilometers east of the city, north of jinyiwei bridge, along the banks of the Admiralty River, a private garden garden with "lush trees and stones, pavilions and pavilions, weeping willows, and flowing water" was built- Qingjin Garden, which included the area of later Zhongshan Park. In addition, there is also an acre of garden, sail and so on near the mouth of the Sancha River.
Chronology of Zhang Lin's life
After the economic status was improved, the salt merchants began to attach themselves to the elegance, built gardens, concluded poetry clubs, gathered literati and scholars from all over the world, and a large number of Jiangsu and Zhejiang scholars, when entering and leaving the capital along the canal, settled in Jinmen, thus bringing the Jiangnan style of "successive styles and elegance", cultivating the atmosphere of poetry and books in Tianjin, and making the land of Jingu leap from the hometown of courage and martial arts to a "small Yangzhou" where humanities gather.
A corner of the Garden, white walls and tiles, bamboo stacks.
Due to the wealth and prestige of the Zhang clan and Zhang Lin's wide friendship with famous people in the world, Qingjin Garden became a gathering place for scholars and celebrities from the north and south in the early Qing Dynasty. For example, Jiang Chenying, the editor of the "History of Ming", Mei Wending, Shen Yiyun, Xu Lan and other northern travelers all stayed in the park. Zhao Zhixin, a Qing Dynasty realist poet and a native of Shandong, who lived in QingjinYuan for the longest time, received help from Zhang Lin when he fell. At that time, Wu Wen, a scholar from Shanxi who was known as "Xiancai" by the world, had a deep friendship with Zhang Lin, and even the house in his family of Puzhou was built for him by Zhang Lin. The famous Qing Dynasty dramatist Hong Sheng's famous work "The Legend of the Hall of Eternal Life" was also finalized in Qingjin Garden. The master of art Shi Tao was invited by Zhang Linzhi to come to Fanzhai as a guest and wrote poems about his interactions with the Zhang family. Fang Bao, the founder of the Tongcheng School, and Zhu Yizun, a well-known scholar with many eruditions, not only left many popular poems in Qingjin Garden, but also expounded his academic views here, which in turn promoted cultural exchanges between the north and the south and enlivened the Tianjin literary circle.
In canal park, sit in the gazebo and enjoy the scenery on both sides of the canal.
According to the Tianjin Chronicle, the earliest poetry society in Tianjin appeared in the early Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. The "Tianjin County Chronicle of Huang Qian", compiled in the early years of Qianlong, records that Huang Qian "married Zhang Nianyidi, Liang Chongzhihong, and the monk Gao Jie Caotang Society". The Huang Qian, Zhang Xia (Zi NianYi, Zhang Lin Congdi), Liang Hong (Zi Chong) and Shi Gao (Senior Monk of the Great Compassion Caotang) mentioned here are the most important poets in the early Kangxi Dynasty, and it can be seen that the Caotang Society is a poetry society.
Zhu Min's grandson Mei Chengdong was recognized as the leader of the Jinmen poetry circle. The thirty volumes of the Jinmen Poetry Banknote edited by Mei Chengdong are important materials for the study of Tianjin history.
The Qing Dynasty poet Mei Chengdong wrote in the Benyan of the Jinmen Poetry Banknote: "The only one who advocates the poetics of Jinmen is led by the Zhang clan of The Xiantang, followed by the Sitang Cha clan." Zhang Lin's brother-in-law Zhang Xia once wrote the poem "Qingjin Garden at the Beginning of Spring Qing", leaving the poems "High-rise Guests Teasing String Pipes" and "Gardens Are Not Lonely in Spring", which shows that the literati who came and went to Qingjin Garden in those years were endless, and the garden design was even more sparse and staggered, picturesque, carved beams and paintings, and extreme luxury.
Exterior view of The Garden
Nowadays, the Qingjin Garden presented in front of us adopts the Gardening Techniques and Ideas of Jiangnan in the design, paying attention to the layout of pavilions and pavilions, the coordination of rockeries and ponds, the contrast of flowers and trees, and the level of close-up and long-range views. The whole park is composed of the entrance square and four groups of landscapes: Huanyan Shenbi, Sui Xian Yashu, Zhenshui Yingyue, and Weeping Rainbow.
A gazebo in the Garden of Mizu.
Entering the main entrance of the park is a pool, sometimes open, sometimes meandering, embellished with stones for the shore, the pool is planted with lotuses, water lilies and other aquatic plants, surrounded by four halls, curved corridors, water pavilions, half pavilions and other buildings. The main hall huan smoke hall is the first hall for the welcome, the cornice is curved, elegant and chic, and the pool of blue water in front of the hall is interesting. In addition, according to historical records, the park also restored some of the remains of the Qing Dynasty's Qing Dynasty Wenjin Garden, and reproduced the historical and cultural scene of Tianjin at that time.
Qingjin Garden fully absorbs the Suzhou garden landscaping skills in design.