Bronze Gate, as you can see here, is impressive and majestic with a height of 23.8 m and a width of 88 m. A divine gluttonous beast is decorated in the center built in bronze craftsmanship. Ancient Chinese bronze craftsmanship reached its peak in the pre-Qin period. Extremely exquisite bronzes have been handed down from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Gluttonous beast pattern is a common pattern on ancient bronzes as symbol of power and status.
In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, almost one hundred schools of thought vied for dominance with each other, which gave rise to a galaxy of brilliant personages such as Laozi, Zhuangzi, Confucius, Mozi and Hanfeizi, be them politicians, thinkers, scholars or all-rounders. Such is the provenance of resplendent Chinese culture. The antique garden, covering over 70,000 square meters, unravels the mystery around 12 typical schools like Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism through landscape gardening and traditional sculpture imbued with hi-tech means. As a result, the created scenes epitomize the quintessence of profound thought and prosperous culture throughout the Spring and Autumn Period.
Ancient Chinese worshipped heavenly deities, earthly spirits and dead ghosts. Sacrifice forms part of Chinese ritual. As the venue for sacrificial ceremonies, the altar holds all in utmost awe. This is because people often pray for bliss on the holy venue. What stands in the center of the altar is cauldron, an ancient cooking utensil. It later became a vital sacrificial artifact, which signifies power and prestige. It is said Yu the Lord, when establishing Xia Era, cast nine cauldrons using all metal under the sun as a token of China’s Nine Prefectures. Then emperor has been called the Supreme Lord of Nine Cauldrons. Those ethic regimes desiring to take the central throne have been referred to as willing to ask the weight of the cauldrons. At 9:18 a.m. each day, Bliss-Praying Ceremony occurs here. This is inspired by lords’ bliss-praying to deities during the Spring and Autumn Epoch. That intends to bring to life the historic scenes of ancient Yan State—parade, bliss-praying, singing and dancing, and alliance-forming with modern artistry. And thus the theme “Harmonious Society, Widespread Prosperity” can unfold itself well. The real drama amid astoundingly steady music brings about a magnificent show of the ancient dance and martial arts. Modern cartoons come as an interlude, which makes the bizarre panoply all the more charming. In short, all audiences can enjoy a perfect mix of ancient culture and modern fashion here.
The poles ahead of us, in fact a sign of totem, represent 12 schools like Confucianism and Taoism. This vigorous old tree in the center of the domain best embodies the full bloom of the academia in that era.
Chinese characters, derived from pictograph, are an early hieroglyph indeed. Cang Jie, history scribe in the remote past, devised this long-standing writing system. For more than 3,000 years, Chinese writing regime has mainly undergone the several stages: greater seal script, smaller seal script, clerical script, regular script, cursive script and running script. Greater seal script dominated the Spring and Autumn Epoch. For this reason, most garden-wide writings, including those on the bamboo-slips of the half-wall are engraved in that script.
Since the Spring and Autumn Period, China’s most scholastic schools along with their leaders had taken form. Those great ones include Confucius the forefather of education, Lu Ban the founder of carpentry, Fan Li the earliest businessman and Paoding the forerunner of cooking. Moreover, thoughts of these schools have been transmitted through many brilliant idioms to this day.
“Stealing a Ring with Covered Ears”. Once upon a time, a silly thief wanted to steal a house’s door-ring. So, he tried to break the ring with a hammer, only to get himself caught by the owner on the spot. That damned fellow is the muddle-headed thief famous from old times to now.
“A Pair of Soul Mates”. This tale tells us how Boya, a lute player in the Spring and Autumn Period, met with his soul mate. Later Feng Menglong, Ming Era’s storywriter, added Yu to Boya as a surname. Long time ago, Boya, Grand Master of Jin State, returned home by boat. When the boat got moored midway at the bank on the Mid-Autumn Night, Boya played his lute artfully amid the inviting scenery. All of a sudden, some fellow clapped his hands on the riverbank. That turned out a woodcutter called Zhong Ziqi, who made such loud noise unconsciously. The guy, attracted by the tuneful melody, told Boya candidly, there were lofty mountains and gurgling waters behind the melody. That ethereal realm went far beyond language. Hearing this remark made Boya overjoyed and thus thought the woodcutter was his unique soul mate. They made an appointment to meet again here. When Boya visited there once more, Zhong Ziqi had long passed away. So, Boya sadly threw his lute on the ground, breaking it into tiny pieces. The great musician had never played his lute since then. This sculpture brings alive a harmonious scene, in which Boya plays his lute heartily and Zhong Ziqi listens with his head leaning on one arm. Lute and mind blends into each other so as to create the so-called communion between this pair of mates.
“Making the Number”. This alludes to King Xuan of Qi State, a mad aficionado of Yu the ancient instrument. The king had 300 musicians at hand. One Mr Nanguo, knowing nothing about the instrument, joined the awesome band as if he were expert at playing it. During the playing process, he often shook his head like others. He behaved like that for three years. Later when King Xuan died, his son, Min King, loved solos instead. Consequently, Nanguo had no choice but to flee on that night with fright. He is the famous Nanguo in history. Just take a look—now he is still increasing the number here!
“Yin and Yang”, making their debut in I Ching, interpret the provenance of all things including the universe at large. The notion of “Five Phases”, consisting of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, sprang into form in The Book of History. The two concepts had not begun to converge until the Warring States Period. This is the origin of Naturalists i.e. the School of Yin and Yang and Five Phases.
This scenic spot, set in a giant black aerolite, epitomizes what yin and yang really mean through Seven Stars of the Big Dipper, Eight Trigrams, etc. The man looking up the sky, in front of the rock, is Zou Yan, a native of Qi State, who is well-known as the best embodiment of Naturalism. Erudite as he was, the grandmaster expounded the cosmic evolution and rise and fall of dynasties applying the doctrine of Five Phases and Yin and Yang. So, he has been called “Yan Talking Celestial Phenomena” as a notable of Jixia Academy. This academy was the earliest institution of higher education and primordial science. According to some scholars, it appeared merely 20 years later than world-famous Plato’s Academy. Legend says, to promulgate his doctrines, Zou Yan toured various countries, being revered by all kings. When he arrived in Yan State in the north, the king in person swept the road for Zou Yan and took him as his own mater. Even sages like Confucius and Mencius had never enjoyed such honour. Obviously, his theory gained overwhelming prevalence during that period.
The best paragon of Agriculturalism was Xu Xing, who asserted himself as a descendant of Shennong. He studied hard agricultural technologies, but proposed the political idea that “lord and his people shall both farm the land”. That most shows his thought of equality between the ruling class and the populace.
Xu Xing leading his disciples worked hard at farming, so that “they’ve received good harvests of five grains, thus leading a well-off life”. Ancient China’s five grains refer to rice, glutinous millet, foxtail millet, wheat and soybean. Between Warring States Period and the Qin-Han Period, the Chinese mainly consumed five vegetables: sunflower, pulse-leaf, leek, scallion and garlic. Those plants mentioned by The Book of Odes amount to 132, including over 20 vegetables. As time went by, some species had faded out of the table.
In ancient China, this school points to doctors, in particular famous ones like Eastern Han’s Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo, Tang’s Sun Simiao the King of Medicine. Bian Que in the Spring and Autumn Period stood out of these doctors through the ages. Qin Yueren was called Bianque because his superb medicine, in the hearts of the people, matched well the magical doctor in the primeval past.
The sculpture in the center of the square shows how the wondrous doctor took his patient’s pulse. According to The Book of the Grand Historian, Bianque first applied pulse-based diagnosis in clinical treatment. The forefather of Chinese medicine was the first of his kind officially recorded in history. He initiated four diagnostic methods: watching, smelling, asking and pulse-taking. Such tremendous contributions have earned him a niche in history.
This school points to politicians and diplomats in Warring States Period. The school mainly falls into two factions: Vertical Alliance and Horizontal Collaboration. The old man standing on the cave-mouth is Guiguzi, the forefather of this overawing school. The master had an outstanding command of astrology, geography, stratagems, martial arts, unique numerological arts and eight trigrams. He wrote a masterpiece consisting of 14 chapters, called Guiguzi. The master even established “Military Academy of Warring States”. He has been venerated as the Old Patriarch of Wang Chan. Indeed, he was a grandmaster of many ways.
Guiguzi boasted of having 500 disciples, including those political, diplomatic and military personages like Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Sun Bin and Pang Juan. All these had almost made history or influenced the states they each served. It is alleged many other heroes such as Mao Sui, Xu Fu, Gan Mao, Yue Yi, Fan Ju and Zou Ji all took him as their master.
This miscellaneous school, first appearing in Warring States Epoch, integrated the strengths of all other schools. Its initiator was Lü Buwei. The writing on the giant bamboo scroll is a part of Lü Clan’s Spring and Autumn Annals, a magnum opus in this regard. This grand academic work is really an ancient encyclopedia that came out through nearly a decade’s effort of Lü himself and many talents under his aegis. It offers an important guide to studying the pre-Qin history, culture, politics and economy. The advent of such miscellany demonstrated all thought schools had converged to a certain extent.