Keyuan (), located at
Boxia (),
Guancheng District, West
Dongguan
Dongguan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the s ...
city, is one of the Four Great Gardens of
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
in China. Ke Yuan represents the
Lingnan
Lingnan (; Vietnamese: Lĩnh Nam) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as modern northe ...
garden architecture.
Keyuan was built during the
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
by Zhang Jingxiu. Construction started in 1850 and was finished by 1858. After that, Keyuan has been expanded and reconstructed a few times.
Zhang Jingxiu was first and second assigned as Anchashi () of the
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
and
Jiangxi
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...
provinces by a Qing dynasty emperor. (A Qing officer rank which corresponds to a vice governor nowadays.) After he retired and returned to his home town Dongguan he lived in Keyuan.
Zhang was good at and fond of Chinese writing, painting, chess, poetry, antiquing, stone collecting, etc. He invited friends, poets, scholars and painters to gather in Keyuan. And that's how Keyuan became one of the origins of Guangdong culture.
Compared with the other three gardens, the significance of Ke Yuan is far beyond just being a private own garden. Keyuan could be considered the origin of
Lingnan culture
Lingnan culture, or Cantonese culture, refers to the regional Chinese culture of the region of Lingnan: twin provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, the names of which mean "eastern expanse" and "western expanse" respectively.
Strictly speaking, th ...
, for example, the famous
lingnan
Lingnan (; Vietnamese: Lĩnh Nam) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as modern northe ...
style painting (a major branch of Chinese painting) was originated in Keyuan.
Image gallery
Image:Keyuan.jpg, Dongguan Keyuan
Image:Keyuan6.jpg, Dongguan Keyuan
Image:Ky-bridge.jpg, Dongguan Keyuan
Image:Ky1.gif, Dongguan Keyuan
Image:Ky2.jpg, Dongguan Keyuan
Image:Viewfromhome.jpg, A view of Keyuan
See also
*
List of Chinese gardens
This is a list of Chinese-style gardens both within China and elsewhere in the world.
Greater China
This list is organized by region within the Greater China region, roughly following the structure laid out by Maggie Keswick in ''The Chinese Gar ...
References
Gardens in Guangdong
Tourist attractions in Dongguan
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