Yangzhou Gardens And Literati Symposia In The Qing Dynasty

Yangzhou,where the ancient kingdoms of Wu and Chu bordered and the Great Canal and Yangtze River merged,was renowned for her historical prosperity.Being a transport node linking the north and the south and a commercial hub of salt sales in the country,in the Qing Dynasty,Yangzhou was economically developed and culturally prosperous.Yangzhou gardens were prominent and important among the Jiangnan gardens and can be categorized into the “urban gardens” and the “lake gardens”.Promoted by salt merchants and officials,the events of literati symposia(middle and high-class gatherings where participants conversed,played music,composed poetry and drawings,etc.in ancient China)exhibited vigorous vitality in Yangzhou gardens.In the inner city,literati symposia in the private gardens,e.g.Ma’s House of Petit Mount,represented the elite gatherings;in the outer city,large gatherings at public gardens around the Slender West Lak,e.g.He’s East Garden,showed the "plebeian" feature.Yangzhou officials,salt merchants and scholars all took pleasure in participating in such events,producing a large number of artistic works including poetry and drawings with characters of that region and era.This paper takes Yangzhou gardens and literati symposia as the research object,and selects He’s East Garden and Ma’s House of Petit Mount,which were famous for literati symposia,as the main research cases.On the basis of empirical visiting and research of historical documents,the historical evolution and main forms of literati symposia in Yangzhou gardens are sorted out;the relationship between the garden and the literati symposia is also investigated and discussed.This paper is divided into seven chapters.The first chapter is the introduction to this study,including the research background,purpose and literature review.The second chapter explores the historical development of Yangzhou gardens,literati events and the historical context.The third chapter discusses the developing process,operation mode and important historical events.The fourth and fifth chapters focus on specific garden case,i.e.the historical evolution and garden lanscape of He’s East Garden and Ma’s House of Petit Mount trough textual and empirical research.The sixth chapter abstracts the interactive relationship between Yangzhou gardens and literati symposia.The seventh chapter is a summary of research findings and puts forward deficiencies and prospects.Research findings include: First,salt merchants and officials were the driving forces for the rapid development of Yangzhou gardens and literati symposia.Salt merchants sought social status by “worshiping Confucianism” and “flattering”,while officials strengthened authority by building public gardens and holding literati symposia.The two counterparts jointly contributed to the prosperity of Yangzhou gardens and literati symposia.Second,the garden literati symposia in the early Qing,the prosperous Qing and the late Qing were promoted respectively by salt merchants,officials and scholars,and in their forms were categorized as scheduled group gatherings and random gathering.Third,Yangzhou’s “urban gardens” and “lake gardens” were the main avenues for literati symposia – the former were mostly private and small community gatherings;the latter were mostly large and public.He’s East Garden and Ma’s House of Petit Mount,as the representatives of the two types of gardens,were closely related to the literati symposia events in terms of space construction and cultural atmosphere.At last,there was an interactive mechanism between gardens and literati symposia,in terms of(1)interaction between garden owners and the invited guests;(2)the effect of symposia on garden space;(3)gardens as the space and emotional carrier for symposia,and(4)image of gardens shaped by heritage of literati symposia.Gardens and literati symposia collaboratively and collectively achieved cultural prosperity of Yangzhou.