Chapter 29 Part III Celebrating Festivals and Viewing Lanterns Section 29 Spring Tour to the Summer Palace (2)

The fifth part is the building complex centered on the Garden of Harmony on East Road.There is Jingfu Pavilion on the west side of the mountain, and Ji Qingxuan is next to it on the north side.This group of buildings is very different from the former mountain. It is characterized by more trees and a relatively secluded place.The architectural complex includes two advantages: bright and open in the north (such as Jingfu Pavilion) and quiet in the south (such as Jiqingxuan).The main part of the Harmony Garden is an irregular lotus pond, surrounded by a group of corridors and buildings.The Harmonious Fun Garden occupies a small area. The lotus pond is really fragrant and beautiful when the lotus is in full bloom in summer.In the woods around here, there are often wonderful yellow birds singing in the morning and evening.Woodpecker sounds are also the most in this area.When it clears up after the rain in summer and June, the birds in the woods cheer and fly, showing a lively vitality.Enter the small palace gate and walk to the left. Not far away, there is a clump of bamboo growing in the leeward and sunny place.A stream of running water drawn from the back lake is divided into two streams, and one stream flows into Ji Qingxuan from the dark ditch, dividing Ji Qingxuan into two parts.The other stream falls five meters down here and flows into the lotus pond in the Garden of Harmonious Interests, thus forming a small waterfall. When the water rises in summer, the sound of the water is rushing. is new.Jiqingxuan is near the back wall of the garden, and its architectural structure is extremely unique.The main part of the small courtyard is a pavilion with open windows on all sides. Nearby is a 200-300-year-old pine tree hovering upwards, next to an isolated pavilion overlooking a small stream running across the courtyard.People who have read A Dream of Red Mansions, if they come to this place by chance, will think of the residence of the well-behaved nun Miaoyu in the book, who was a monk and had many worldly fantasies.There is also the story of "Shi Xiangyun Drunken Sleeping in Peony Root", which may also happen a little in front of the peony flower bed in front of the gate of Jiqingxuan.According to the overall structure of this building, it is a little earlier than the creation of "Dream of Red Mansions".Some people have been to the Garden of Harmonious Interest many times, but they don't know the location of Ji Qingxuan in front of them, so they can know the success of the layout of this building.Go straight up the mountain road from the Garden of Harmony, and there is Xinghua Village not far away. Forty years ago, there was originally a plain wooden plaque with the words "Lenongxuan" written on it.Although there are only nine bungalows in a row, the front of the house has a slope, but the flowers and trees grow very well.Other than apricot blossoms, purple and white lilacs, pear blossoms, and crabapple are all good.Go straight up to Jingfuge, which is located in the middle of the mountain.This sub-shaped large building has bright windows on all sides, and the terraces and corridors around the house are very bright and open.With a good chance, we may see some famous literary and art workers with familiar faces here, famous actors from movies, operas, and dramas... They may be holding a garden party with international friends here, singing and dancing there.

The highest building in the Summer Palace is the beamless hall on the top of the mountain, which is made of colored glazed bricks and tiles.This building is a great creation both in terms of engineering and decorative arts.It is an artistic heritage left to us by the joint efforts of nearly 250 years of construction workers and glazed tile burners.In terms of architectural scale, it is not as magnificent as the glazed hall in Beihai, but in terms of the overall achievement of architecture and sculpture, it is undoubtedly the same as other similar creations in Beijing, such as Beihai and the Nine Dragon Wall of the Forbidden City, Xiangshan Liuli Pagoda, etc. Extraordinary attention.There are many roads up the mountain, from Jingfu Pavilion in the east to Shifang in the west, there are relatively gentle and correct roads to walk slowly.If you are happy and not afraid of being tired, you can go up the moon corridor on both sides of the Paiyun Hall, and then climb up to the Foxiang Pavilion from the hundreds of zigzag stone steps. Go up to the glazed archway, and you will arrive through the small gate of Wisdom Sea.Those who are adventurous and curious may wish to go up from the back mountain.This road has to go through several layers of abandoned temple foundations, and then drill a few small caves.Tourists who are too active must be careful when they go into the cave, so as not to accidentally fall down or bump into some sharp corners on their heads.In addition, there are two relatively gentle mountain roads on the east and west sides. People who are a little older may wish to go on the east road.Just go up from Jingfu Pavilion.There are many open spaces on both sides of the halfway ridge, which is especially suitable for overlooking.The south side is the scenery on the lake; the north side of the park was originally the natural scenery of the village, which is very moving.In summer and June, the green crops extend to the end of the Western Mountains. After autumn and August, there are countless large oxcarts loaded with yellow grains to be transported to the production cooperatives.There are grain stacks everywhere in the front and back of the village.It is a pity that in recent years, the natural scenery of this countryside has been destroyed by a large building with red bricks and red tiles standing on the ground.

Walking from West Road, you can go to the promenade first, and at the end of the promenade, turn around and you will arrive at the big stone boat.The big stone boat is not very beautiful, especially with some red and green glass inlaid on it, which is similar to the colorful paintings on the promenade, and it is all prepared for the Lafayette who has a very low level of art appreciation.In addition to the big stone boat, there are often more than 100 brightly colored small yachts moored here for rent.Tourists who enjoy rowing can rent a boat and row to the Qianhu Lake, cross the West Bee Waist Bridge, go south, and then come back.A more appropriate way is to go around the Dragon King Temple in the middle of the lake, and then go back through the Seventeen-hole Bridge.The bridge is only beautiful when viewed from a distance, but the magnificent structure and solid engineering can only be seen when viewed up close. Let us deepen our understanding of the wisdom and greatness of the ancient bridge builders.If you row the boat back, you can see the entire front of the Longevity Hill in the Summer Palace. From different angles, you will find that the promenade around the front mountain and the white stone railing outside the promenade are not only purely decorative, but also like Like a belt, it binds the buildings on the front mountain together and protrudes from the water. The design is really smart and ingenious.Visitors who are happy to turn from the empty lake to the quiet environment may wish to row the boat to the back lake.The water surface of the back lake is narrow and tortuous, the forest is deep and deep, and there are hundreds of big fish in the water. It is a habit of small boats to come and go, so it is not very wary.In autumn, in a very short period of time in Houhu Lake, small golden lotus flowers with bright colors often suddenly appear on the water surface near the shore, protruding from the water surface one by one.The flowers are about two inches high, and the flower heads are only one inch in size, but we can see them from a distance.When we get close, we realize that there is a kind of black dragonfly with narrow waist and narrow wings resting on the flowers, flying and stopping.They seem to be acquainted with each other, but also seem to be strangers, and also like new good friends. When they get close to each other silently and kindly, they still seem to be shy.Everything is similar to the descriptions in Andersen's fairy tales, but more beautiful and gentle.Most tourists will not notice its survival relationship, so no one has written it yet.These little gold silk lilies only bloom for four or five days a year, and the little dragonflies hatch from the grass by the lake, and their lives are extremely short.We lack the childlike innocence of Andersen's poems, so it is difficult to imagine and experience the joy of life in them on a deeper level.When you see this kind of flower, it is best not to be alarmed and do something stupid to spoil the scenery.From Shifang to the mountain road, you can pass through the middle of the painting. This part of the house is intentionally imitated in the style of small buildings in the south. It is very exquisite and exquisite. It is enough to play on a hot day. Hope is very beautiful.Only when you walk in the middle of the painting will you understand the purpose of the name.If in spring and April, the beautiful flowers in the garden bloom one after another, and the new leaves of all the pines and cypresses emit a fragrance, these newly repaired and decorated buildings are completely wrapped in the flowers and trees, so that we have to create them and the new ones. The carpenters, bricklayers, and painters who repaired it, as well as the workers who planted flowers, trees, watered and fertilized the garden for many years, expressed their gratitude.

There is another area of ​​the Summer Palace, which can also be used as a tourist unit, which is the soil stalk along the wall at the back of the mountain.Although this place is close to the eyes of tourists, it is the easiest to overlook.This road goes north from the Harmonious Fun Garden, and when you reach a few big poplar trees at the end of the back lake, you don’t turn back or turn, and then go west from a small dirt road to the small dirt mountain.It is a small road that can satisfy the curiosity of tourists. Along the way, you can clearly see the panoramic view of the back mountain and back lake from the gaps between the branches and leaves of the clumps of jinghuai miscellaneous trees.On the small ridge, there are quite a few large masson pine trees that are quite old, and there are occasionally one or two young artists painting on the raised part of the pine roots.The place is very quiet, no one will disturb his work.More importantly, looking out from here, the scenery is compact and concentrated, just like a picture frame.If he is a talented painter, he will not only put the teenagers in brightly colored clothes among the trees and rocks into the canvas, but also put their laughter and singing that express new life into the painting.If you take a photo, it won't look good, because the distance is a bit far away, and the trees on the opposite side are dense, and the photo shows only a piece of green without layers.

written in 1956