A Study On "Lou Dong Yuan Lin Zhi" (Lou Dong Garden)

When taking the general perspective view of the history of Lou Dong, in ancient times, from the intersection of Tang & Song Ddynasty to Ming & Qing Dynasty, and even the very beginning of the Modern China, most of excellent private gardens were left in Lou Dong (now Taicang city) at that time. However, as the time went by, many Lou Dong gardens, such as Yan Shan Garden, Nan Garden and Xue Shan Garden were found to be almost extinguished with few remains. But fortunately, such literatures as "Yan Shan Yuan Ji" and "Tai Cang Zhu Yuan Xiao Ji" that written by the literati groups at that time, which represented for example by Wang Shizhen are still available nowadays. Besides, the highlight of these materials, which concentrated most of the gardens in Lou Dong but was totally being ignored by the studies of Chinese garden is "Lou Dong Yuan Lin Zhi" (Lou Dong Garden). Therefore, the importance of the Lou Dong gardens in history and the corresponding vain in related research has become the most starting point and the driving force of this study.The dissertation contains four parts with the title of background study, textual criticism of the edition, context analysis and value judgment.The background study generalizes the introduction and the cultural geographic research. Firstly, it gives out the general idea of the aim of this thesis and the extant literatures from the former researchers, and also the referenced booklist. Secondly, it analyzes the cultural geography, economic development and the literature structure of the forming of "Lou Dong Yuan Lin Zhi" (Lou Dong Garden) from the perspective view of the course of change and development of its history, so as to illustrate the physical background of its forming.The textual criticism of the edition is made up of the analysis of the author and the resource of the context of the edition. On one hand, more accurate historic information could be attained by critically reading via the comparison of the different editions, which is available today. On the other hand, this part tries hard to fill today's academic blank through the study of the author. The context analysis consists of the general views of the artistic features of each garden and analysis of specific ones. Through the landform structure and humanities analysis of eleven gardens which were pointed out in "Lou Dong Yuan Lin Zhi" (Lou Dong Garden), and the scenery space analysis of each garden, thus we can offer a panorama perspective of all the gardens which were mentioned in the book. What's more, a further study on the artistic value and gardening achievement of the Lou Dong gardens will be available via the specific analysis of the representative gardens, such as The Yan Shan Garden, The Nan Garden and The Xue Shan Garden which are classic gardens in Lou Dong.The value judgment is based on the analysis and research of the whole study, which is aimed to give out the corresponding judgment and the conclusion of the influence to the latter and the value of research of "Lou Dong Yuan Lin Zhi" (Lou Dong Garden), while at the same time, at any extent, could be the guidance of the further research of the Lou Dong gardens.