The Comparative Study On Salt Merchant Gardens In Zigong And Yangzhou

The various types of salt merchant gardens were built or used by social groups dominated by salt merchants for various needs in the production,transportation,trade,management and other aspects of the salt industry.Specific construction background,special users and generous construction capital endowed them unique garden styles.They witnessed the salt industry economy and urban development in the corresponding period.The salt merchant gardens in Zigong and Yangzhou were the regional representatives of Chinese main salt producing areas.Comparing them with each other will not only help perfect the research system of the Chinese salt industry history,but also build upon our understanding of their regional and overall characteristics.It can also promote the protection and utilization of historical salt merchant gardens,allowing them to be integrated into the development of cultural tourism.This paper masters the construction environmental characteristics of salt merchant gardens in Zigong and Yangzhou by comparing their natural,political,economic and cultural environments.Taking representative salt merchant gardens as research cases.It probes into the characteristics of salt merchant gardens from regional types and distribution on the macro-level and the gardening characteristics on the meso/micro-levels,and discusses the causes of their similarities and differences in gardening environments.In the end,it summarizes the existing state of the protection and utilization of the salt merchant gardens in the two places and puts forward suggestions.Results show that:(1)The natural,political,economic and cultural environments in Zigong and Yangzhou had influenced population structure,consumption level,urban development and cultural atmosphere.They played decisive roles in the formation of salt merchant garden styles.(2)The main affiliations of salt merchant gardens in the two places are the same,but their main users and functions have something different.The distribution characteristics are mainly different,which are reflected in time,space and space-time.Type and distribution characteristics reflect the different needs of various groups in salt industry activities,confirm salt industry economies and urban developments.(3)The gardening characteristics are almost completely opposite,but their connotations have something in common.(4)While the type and distribution of salt merchant gardens are conceived by local salt industry and urban development,their similarities and differences of spatial layout,architectural art,landscape and plant furnishing are mainly affected by the regional aesthetic orientation,the material and spiritual pursuits of owners.(5)The existing state of protection and utilization of salt merchant gardens in the two places have some commonalities,but their specific situations are slightly different.Therefore,suggestions are put forward here on strengthening the protection and utilization of salt merchant gardens from the aspects of the internal characteristics,external invisible connections and derivative cultural tourism industry.