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.
Yancheng takes on a unique look because it falls into three circles from inside to outside: imperial city and its moat; inner city and its moat; outer city and its moat. Now we stand outside the outer city. Cross the moat bridge at the outer city and we will come into this antique scenic area.
The outmost moat is the first of its kind we meet here. Hi, please look along your right hands—the high portion inside this moat is called “the outer city’s outer wall” and the left “its inner wall”.
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!
