The Daguanyuan (), variously translated as the Grand View Garden, Prospect Garden or Grand Prospect Garden, is a massive landscaped interior garden in the classic 18th century

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

novel ''

Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known fo ...

'', built within the compounds of the Rongguo Mansion. It is the setting for much of the story. Built in chapters 16 and 17 of the novel, it was the site of Jia Yuanchun's first visit home as an Imperial Concubine. At that time, music and lights decorated the place so it was fit for Imperial patronage. After Yuanchun leaves, the Garden is made at her own request the home of her brother, half-sister, sister-in-law, and cousins. Being very elegant and peaceful, it is a perfect home for Baoyu and the girls.

Granny Liu Granny Liu ( zh, t=劉姥姥, p=Liú Lǎolāo) is a character in the 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She is an elderly country rustic and a distant relative of Lady Wang through "joining families" and marriage (i.e. they ar ...

also pays a visit to Prospect Garden in chapters 40 and 41. She is very impressed at the vegetation, water, layout, and life in the Garden. As a gift, the Dowager commissions Xichun to make a painting of the Garden for Granny Liu to take back home. It is here that the nun

Miaoyu Miaoyu (, rendered Adamantina in the David Hawkes translation) is an important character in the 18th century novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the classics of Chinese fiction. She is a young, beautiful but aloof Buddhist nun, compelled by ...

is met by many. Eventually, the young women in Baoyu's life drift away from the Garden. Yingchun is married off to her death. Tanchun is also married, but to the frontier (in the Cheng-Gao version).

Shi Xiangyun Shi Xiangyun () is a major fictional character in the classic 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the characters known as the Twelve Beauties. She is Jia Baoyu's younger second cousin by the Dowager, Grandmother Jia. X ...

also marries, while Baochai marries Baoyu and is abandoned.

Lin Daiyu Lin Daiyu (also spelled Lin Tai-yu, zh, s=林黛玉, p=Lín Dàiyù, rendered Black Jade in Chi-chen Wang's translation) is one of the principal characters of Cao Xueqin's classic 18th-century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She is ...

dies of grief and Li Wan moves into the inner apartments of the Rongguo Mansion. When the Jia family estates are confiscated, the Garden is ransacked. Being farther from the inner apartments, it is also destroyed by the Imperial Guards.

Real-life replicas

A full-size replicated landscape garden based on the novel was built at Xuanwu District, in southwest

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in 1984, using the same name. The first major CCTV television series based on the novel was filmed in this garden. A smaller version of Prospect Garden already exists in Shanghai's Qingpu district.A Comparative Study of Eighteenth to Twentieth Century Chinese and ... - Page 109 Ying Liang - 2008 -"In order to shoot the TV series, a real Prospect Garden was constructed in Beijing's Xuanwu district 宣武区 in 1984. There was already a Prospect Garden in Shanghai's Qingpu district 青浦区 before the start of the shooting, but it is smaller. Covering an area of 13 hectares (32.12 acres) with more than 40 scenic spots set within it, the garden comprises courtyards which replicate the residences of the main members of the Jia family. The Enjoyment Red Hall is where the principal character in the novel

Jia Baoyu Jia Baoyu (, and his surname is a homophone with "false" or "fictitious") is the principal character in the classic 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. Introduction The first chapter describes how one piece of stone was l ...

lived; Bamboo Lodge, a small and simple courtyard decorated in light-green, with slim bamboos grown in the courtyard, housed sickly

, the heroine of the novel.

Real-life replicas

See also

References

Further reading