Zhaoyuan (the ‘Algae Garden’) played an important role as the source of live water in the Yuanming Garden.
Let's continue to chat about the Yuanming Garden, and the focus of this article is 'Zhaoyuan'.
On the relevant sightseeing signboards of the Yuanming Garden, the introduction of Zhaoyuan is very simple: Zhaoyuan is located in the southwest corner of the Yuanming Garden, leaning on the walls of the west and south, and overlooking the high water of the mountain… In fact, it played an extremely important role in the Yuanming Garden. I will try to explain it from five aspects.
It is the connecting station between Yuanming Garden and the western suburbs of Beijing, such as Xiya Yuan. We all know that since the Kangxi Emperor, on the basis of the private gardens in Yuanming, the emperors and kings in the Qing Dynasty continued to build many royal palaces and gardens in the western suburbs of Beijing, which are collectively known as the Three Mountains and Five Gardens, namely Xiangshan, Wan Shou Mountain, Yuquan Mountain, as well as the Jingyi Garden and Qingyi Garden built around the three mountains, along with Changchun Garden, Yuanming Garden. The Zhaoyuan gate is located at the southwest corner of the Yuanming Garden, the gate faces south, and outside the gate is the Imperial Horse Factory. Going west from the gate leads directly to Wan Shou Mountain and Qingyi Garden, and going south leads to Changchun Garden. From land transport, you can go to Yuquan Mountain and Xiangshan.
It is one of the main water valves of the Yuanming Garden's water system. The Yuanming Garden's original water source mainly came from the source of the Wanquan River and the Yuquan Mountain water system. Specifically, it came from the Kunming Lake of the Summer Resort, through the Erlong Gate, and entered the Yuanming Garden from the east, flowing north to the north of 'Yu di yunju', in addition to splitting a branch to flow into the 'Wan Fang An He' lake, forming the back lake scenic area, the rest flowed eastward, due to the west high and east low terrain, water naturally spread across most of the Yuanming Garden's gardens, thus activating the entire water system of the Yuanming Garden. Later, as the Yuanming Garden's water volume increased, another branch of the water system was introduced from the Qing River, entering from the north to the Zibai Shanfu, flowing through the northern area of the Yuanming Garden and Changchun Garden.
It is the waterway hub of the Yuanming Garden. In the center of Zhaoyuan is a thirteen-span dock. When the emperor came to the Yuanming Garden by water from Changchun Garden, he would take a boat to the south of Zhaoyuan's water inlet gate, and then change to the dock to sail to various places in the garden. Conversely, if you leave the garden to the western suburbs of Beijing, you would take a boat to this place to exit.
It is also the leisure reading place where the Qianlong Emperor waited for his Empress. Whether the Empress Dowager initially lived in Changchun Garden, or after the completion of Qingyi Garden in the 29th year of Qianlong, the Empress Dowager visited the Great Bao'en Temple to worship Buddha, Qianlong would also greet his mother here. To pass the time waiting, Qianlong built 'Zhu Qing Shu Wu' 'Xi Ya Shu Wu' here, from which we can also see how much Qianlong loved to read.
It is also an important gateway of the Yuanming Garden. In those days, Minister Li Hongzhang was punished for being illegally entered without the permission of Empress Cixi, and his salary was deducted.
Although Zhaoyuan is not one of the forty scenic spots of the Yuanming Garden, it played the role of the source of the live water, without it, most of the forty scenic spots would be dimmed.
