The Chinese Plum Garden () is a botanical garden on
Lake Tai
Taihu (), also known as Lake Tai or Lake Taihu, is a lake in the Yangtze Delta and one of the largest freshwater lakes in China. The lake is in Jiangsu province and a significant part of its southern shore forms its border with Zhejiang. With ...
in
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. It is most prominent in spring when 4000 fruit trees blossom in the park.
Rong's Plum Garden, often referred as "The Plum Garden", is most famous for its many types of old
plum
A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes.
History
Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found i ...
trees, newly imported and planted
Denmark
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, song_type = National and royal anthem
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...
tulips, as well as the old mansions of the
Rongs family in
Eastern China
East China () is a geographical and a loosely defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.
A concept abolished in 1978, for economical purposes the region was defined from 1949 to 1961 by the Chinese Central Governme ...
. It is located in the west part of
Wuxi
Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...
city,
Jiangsu province
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
, China.
History
The garden was the old site of a house of
Xu Dianyi
Xu or XU may refer to:
People and characters
* Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English
* ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people
* ǃXu ( ...
who was a
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 ...
scholar. In 1912 Wuxi Entrepreneur
Rong Desheng
Rong Desheng (榮德生; 4 August 1875 – 29 July 1952), born Rong Zongquan (), was a prominent Chinese industrialist from Wuxi. He and his older brother Rong Zongjing established the Rong Family Corporation in Shanghai, which became the largest ...
the father of
Rong Yiren
Rong Yiren (; May 1, 1916 – October 26, 2005) was the Vice President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 1998 and was heavily involved with the opening of the Chinese economy to western investment. Rong is known both in China and ...
purchased the land for the purpose of "Spread Fragrance to the World" and planted some 3000 plum trees. Because of the varieties of plum trees the place was named "The Plum Garden".
The garden circles Rong's previous mansion and leans up against Mt. Longshan. Inside gardens the old owner Rong and nowadays Plum Garden management office set up ''Tianxin'' stage, ''Xixin'' spring, ''Qingfen'' pavilion, ''Nianqu'' pagoda (), ''Zhaohe'' pavilion, ''Xiaoluofu'', ''Songbin'' hall, ''Huoran'' cave and ''Kaiyuan'' temple. The Nianqu pagoda was set up in 1930 for remembrance of 80th birthday of the dead mother of brother Rong Desheng and
Rong Zongjing
Rong Zongjing (; September 23, 1873 - 1938) was a Chinese industrialist from Wuxi, Jiangsu. He was the older brother of Rong Desheng and the uncle of Rong Yiren
Rong Yiren (; May 1, 1916 – October 26, 2005) was the Vice President of the ...
. It is the highest point of the plum garden and best place for watching blooming plum trees all over. Starting from Rong's family, The Plum Garden was called one of the three best places for appreciating plum trees in
Jiangnan
Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...
, together with plum trees in Mt. Dengwei of
Suzhou
Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
and Mt. Chaoshan of
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
.
In 1955, Rong Yiren donated whole garden (except for the private mansion) to the country. In 1960, the garden expanded to Mt. Hengshan of Wuxi, making its area more than 860 acres. In 1994 the garden was listed as "Wuxi heritage protection unit". In 2006 it was listed as "
Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level".
Gallery
File:Wuxi Meiyuan Xianghaixuan.jpg , Inside Xiangxue pavilion
File:Gumei Qishi Meiyuan.jpg, Entrance of Old Plums and Peculiar Stone museum (),
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
External links
Wuximeiyuan.com: official Wuxi Plum Garden website (无锡梅园网站)
Gardens in Jiangsu
Botanical gardens in China
Tourist attractions in Wuxi
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