Yuyin shanfang, Panyu, Guangzhou suburbs. Picture: J.Richard 2010, all rights reserved.
New approaches in Chinese garden history, conference abstract
19th June 2015, at the University of Sheffield
Josepha Richard, PhD candidate, University of Sheffield, UK
"Cantonese gardens in the 19th century"
Gardens
in Lingnan, particularly those located in and around Guangzhou (Canton), were
among the first Chinese gardens to be visited by Westerners, as until the Opium
Wars, movements of foreigners were restricted to the city of Guangzhou, with
the exception of a few missionaries who were able to enter Beijing. Thus Guangzhou
gardens, and more specifically the Co-Hong (or merchant) gardens of the 19th
century, have largely informed Western understanding of Chinese gardens at a
time when Suzhou gardens were inaccessible to foreigners. However, despite its
historical importance the Lingnan region has not been thoroughly explored by
Western scholars, and research in China has mostly seen local exposure. This
paper will present a conjectural reconstruction of Co-Hong merchant Howqua’s
garden, built at the beginning of the 19th century in the suburbs of
Guangzhou. This reconstruction is based on Western diaries, records and
photographs, as well as Chinese sources such as annals, export paintings and
poetry. Howqua’s garden is presented in the context of social life of late Qing
Guangzhou, when its inhabitants were developing a discourse of local culture in
the wake of the creation of the Xuehaitang Academy.
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