The Construction And Transformation Of Suzhou Scholars' Gardens In The Ming And Qing Dynasties

Gardens constructed in the inner city of Suzhou during Late-Ming were not only beautiful yards aside the house, but also contained time and culture significance to be observed. Life style in those gardens was refined and exquisite, which helped the identification of Chinese scholar-bureaucrat group. This might exlpaine why Chinese literati became the owner of these gardens for centuries. But things were changed after the Manchu conquest. Most Gardens were destroyed or abandoned, and their owners could not live an extravagant life as before. After the country recovered from war, some were able to come back and rebuild what they’ve owned once before, including those gardens, which had a different look after all and fundamentally changed in the end.Famous retired officialdoms and literati owned private gardens and held banquets in Mid-Ming. Social network built according to this may stretch into political and literary circles and last for decades. This could be considered as a "classic pattern" for literati Social activities in Ming dynasty. When it comes to Late-Ming, participants of those banquets extended to less famous ones. Those who got talent in art and literature but failed in political career attracted great attention as well. Reputation gained out of this was none less than what can be got from feudal imperial examination or official position. As a result, hosts became more goal-oriented. Association Movement in Late-Ming gave literati more chances to gathering and garden banquets became a place to discuss politics antagonistically.During the changing from Ming to Qing, most of those gorgeous gardens in the city was destroyed. Survived ones became nothing more than a place to hide from the world. Very few celebrities struggled to keep their gardens to appear like old ones and live their lives "as" before. Most literati choose to abandon the house as well as the extravagant behavior. Gardens were shut down to all guests and owners have themselves locked in with old memories.With the national order efficiently rebuilt, arty-crafty life style was brought back by new-time literati. Gardens were not places to mourn the old regime but where the new dynasty and mercy emperor was eulogized. To some degree, this should be owed to Kangxi who treat literati with the policy of mollification despite their incooperative manners. Some gardens were even favored by the emperor himself and became more popular among locals afterwards as well, which means they were no longer places isolated from the secular society. As a result, literati have to share the joy of garden-gathering with the public. Even more, some gardens were transformed into public service places, which put an end to the private exclusive gardens.