Study on the restoration and characteristics of the entrance space of Zuoyin Garden in Huizhou

Abstract

Zuoyin Garden, built by Huizhou dramatist and publisher Wang Tingne in the late Ming Dynasty, is one of the most representative private gardens in Huizhou, China, and has increasingly attracted scholars’ attention in recent years. Chinese traditional gardens have always focused on the selection, design and organization of the entrance. The entrance space of Zuoyin Garden is different from other gardens in Huizhou, which is the focus of this paper. Based on the analysis of the long scroll print of Huizhou, the Garden View of Huancui Hall and the Notes of Huancui Hall of Mr. Zuoyin, this paper attempts to restore the layout relationship and spatial appearance of the entrance area of Zuoyin Garden, and analyzes its construction characteristics from a streamline and function perspective. The result shows that in the entrance construction of the Zuoyin Garden in late Ming dynasty, some characteristics of Huizhou garden construction are reflected, and the complex and contradictory mentality of the garden owner Wang Tingne is presented. The processing of the entrance space meets the activity requirements of different groups and functions, and reflects the characteristics of excursion, publicness and openness rarely observed in private gardens. This expands the research content of the garden in Huizhou and may be used for reference in contemporary landscape design.

Keywords:

• Zuoyin garden
• Huizhou garden
• entrance space
• restoration
• Garden View of Huancui Hall
• Notes of Huancui Hall of Mr. Zuoyin

SUBJECTS:

• Art & Visual Culture
• Design
• Social & Cultural History
• Cultural Studies

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Lincoln Geraghty, School of Media and Performing Arts, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

1. Introduction

Huizhou, known as Xin’an in ancient times, is located in the southern region of Anhui Province and has a history of more than 2,200 years. Huizhou region is hilly and inaccessible, but the scenery is charming with surrounding mountains, water and a typically pleasant climate. As a result, it has been considered a ‘paradise’ to avoid chaos since ancient times, and holds the advantage of gardening like no other. Huizhou garden is a major branch of Jiangnan garden system in China, which is located in the picturesque hill and mountainous area, embued with great characteristics influenced by Huizhou culture.

In the records of historical documents, Zuoyin Garden in Xiuning County, Anhui Province is a representative private garden in Huizhou. The owner of the garden, Wang Tingne (1577–1625), also called Changchao, Wuwu Buddhist, Quanyi Taoist Priest, was born in Wangcun Village, Wan’an Town, Xiuning County. He was a dramatist and publisher, who befriended many Jiangnan dramatists such as Tang Xianzu, Wang Zhideng and Zhang Fengyi (Yongkuan, 1990). Wang Tingne was born in a merchant family and was an intelligent child, described as being ‘born with great alertness and keenness, he was always ready to recite the words and learned them by heart (Tingne, 1997). He carried the family wish of ‘becoming a Confucius scholar instead of a merchant’ and entered the Nanjing State Scholarship School to study at a young age. During his stay in Nanjing, Wang Tingne failed the triennial provincial imperial examinations five times. In 1600, he started to build Zuoyin Garden in his hometown of Xiuning. In the same year, Wang Tingne started his literary creation and book engraving career, setting up a private book workshop in Nanjing. In 1606, while he failed in the fifth examination, the construction of the garden was completed, and in 1607, Wang Tingne, who had no hope to enter the imperial examinations, decided to occupy the position of deputy manager of salt tax. After the completion of the garden, it not only became a place for Wang Tingne to gather with the literati in Jiangnan, but also a stage to show his cultural wealth. Wang Tingne’s self-edited collection Complete Works of Mr. Zuoyin contains inscriptions, poems and songs by himself and his friends, among which there are a lot of poems depicting the scenery of Zuoyin Garden. These include: ‘at the foot of a mountain where Usnea is planted, a river flows by like a belt with peach trees and willows on both sides. After being washed by rain, it looks like a painting’, ‘In a place of retirement, there is a house with courtyard surrounded by shimmering lake and lust forest’, and ‘the winding mountain and lust trees protect my hut’ (Tingne, 1997). Zuoyin Garden has been destroyed by the war and only a lake remains, which is regrettable. The prints Garden View of Huancui Hall and the Notes of Huancui Hall of Mr. Zuoyin from the Ming Dynasty recorded the overall view of the Zuoyin Garden.

In recent years, domestic and foreign researchers have paid attention to the restoration and protection of historical gardens, especially in the study of the restoration of gardens using historical graphic and textual information. For example, James Cahill, an American scholar, published a work that reproduces the spatial meaning of ancient Chinese gardens through the study of ancient Chinese painting (Cahill & Xiao, 2012). Wu Zhaozhao, a Chinese landscape designer, restored Yin Garden in Yangzhou based on Records of Yin Garden,an ancient literature and Yuanye, the Ming Dynasty gardening technique monograph, summarizing the planning and design ideas for the restoration of Yin Garden (Zhaozhao, 2004). Huang Xiao et al. conducted a study on the ‘disappeared gardens’ of the Ming Dynasty, Zhiyuan in Changzhou, using the newly discovered ‘Zhiyuan Atlas’ (XIao & Wei, 2017). Meanwhile, some researchers have focused on the modern value of historic gardens. Majid Amani-Beni discussed socio-cultural appropriateness of the use of historic Persian Gardens for modern urban edible gardens (Amani-Beni et al., 2021). Jianbing Sun explored the tourist experience in the Net Master’s Garden in Suzhou, China, as a restorative environment based on attention (Sun et al., 2023), and so on. The protection of historical gardens is no longer limited to restoration, but rather to discussing the modern application value of traditional gardens. Huizhou garden is a branch of the gardening system in the regions south of the Yangtze River in China, and its modern value needs to be studied.

Researchers have done some research on the site and general layout of the Zuoyin Garden based on the illustrations. On the basis of the previous research, the author restored the main building of Zuoyin Garden for the first time according to ancient gardening and architectural laws (Yan & Gong, 2023). However, the study of gardening techniques and spatial characteristics from the perspective of design has not been perfected. The creation of traditional Chinese gardens has always focused on the selection, design and organization of the entrance, which forms the basis of the whole garden and also sets the style and tone of the garden. Among the existing classical examples of Ming Dynasty gardens in Jiangnan, there is no shortage of masterpieces of entrance design, such as the entrance of Suzhou’s Liuyuan Garden and Zhuozheng Garden. The author found that the organization and design of the entrance space of the Zuoyin Garden incorporates the elaborate thinking of the gardener, reflecting the unique design concept and gardening characteristics, and mapping the ingenuity of Huizhou gardens in the treatment of entrance space.

This paper selects the entrance of the garden depicted in the print Garden View of Huancui Hall, for an in-depth study, inferring the layout based on the print, restoring the architectural form and showing the overall appearance of the entrance. Then, we analyze the spatial creation techniques and characteristics, and offer insights into the uniqueness of Huizhou gardening in the treatment of entrances. This provides a reference for contemporary landscape garden design.

2. Materials and methods

The research methods of this article include Image observation and Literature research. The research materials include the print Garden View of Huancui Hall and Notes of Huancui Hall of Mr. Zuoyin.

2.1. Garden View of Huancui Hall

The print Garden View of Huancui Hall is an outstanding representative of the art of Huizhou printmaking in the Ming Dynasty (Figure 1), published by Wang Tingne’s Huancui Hall Book Carving Workshop. The location of the original copy is no longer known, but the first printing of the original Huancui Hall engraving was treasured by our collector Mr. Fu Xihua, and was first published in 1981. The prints are detailed, with the names of each spot marked in the painting, depicting a large private garden of Wang Tingne in Xiuning – ‘Zuoyin Garden’ and the landscape of the mountains outside the garden, with Mount Huangshan and Qiyun Mountain as the distant background, which is a long painting showing the natural environment and human landscape of Xiuning County. The main building is called ‘Huancui Hall’, so the print is named Garden View of Huancui Hall (Tingne, 2014). The prints are the best material for understanding the spatial layout and tour route of the Garden.

Figure 1. The Complete Works of Mr. Zuoyin and the print Garden View of Huancui Hall.

In order to facilitate the restoration study, the page number of Garden View is recorded from right to left in the order of viewing, totaling 45 pages, divided into two major parts: one is the outside part of the garden, including the landscape environment outside the garden at the beginning and end of the prints (pages 1 ∼ 9, 40 ∼ 45) and the Changgong Lake area appearing in the middle pages of the prints (pages 15 ∼ 24); the second is the inside area of the garden, including the entrance area of the garden (pages 10 ∼ 14, 25 ∼ 26), the main building complex of Huancui Hall (pages 26 ∼ 28) and the garden area of Baihetai (pages 29 ∼ 39). The engraving of the garden entrance appears twice in the prints (Figure 2): the first time on pages 10–14 and the second time on pages 24–26.

Figure 2. The portrayal of two entrances in the prints.

2.2. Notes of Huancui Hall of Mr. Zuoyin

Notes of Huancui Hall of Mr. Zuoyin (short as the Notes) is included in Wang Tingne’s self-edited collection, Complete Works of Mr. Zuoyin (short as the Complete Works), pages of 679–681, and was written by his friend Yuan Huang, a thinker of the Ming Dynasty. The book consists of more than 2,660 Chinese characters, and the main hall, ‘Huancui Hall’, is used as the starting point for the introduction of the directions, with orientation words such as ‘behind the hall’, ‘from the hall to the left’, ‘to the right of the house’, ‘to the south’, ‘in front of the pavilion’, and ‘behind the pavilion’ to record the relative position of each inscription. This provides strong evidence of the overall layout. It can clarify the difficult points in the overall layout together with the prints.

Text description about the entrance area of Zuoyin Garden in the Notes is about 220 words, part of the content is as follows’, Outside the hall is a hut named Shan Lu. On the right side of it is a spring which is clear and named independence. It stands out from the rest with its clear water against other filthy items. There is a corridor named Shuiyue Corridor where moon sheds light over the water. Therefore, the right side of the hut is named Yun Qu and the left side of the hut is named Yan Dao. Soaring clouds and indistinct smoke resemble the moon and water setting off against each other. Turning south from the smoke path and arriving at the gate, there are Zhongxin Street where manners are honored and bias no longer exist. On the south side of the street, there is Goyang Pavilion which is not prepared for the alcoholic. There is also Xuan Zhuang where farmers gather. It embraces entertainment without forgetting about the difficulty of farming (Tingne, 1997)’.

Since there are no on-site sites to verify and map in the Zuoyin Garden, this paper firstly restores the layout of the entrance area based on the observation of the prints and the description of the garden records. The main method of recovering the space of the ‘vanished garden’ is to corroborate the garden paintings with the garden records.

3. Process and results

The restoration process of the entrance area is as follows: first, through the observation of the prints and the contents of Notes, the initial division of the site and the general layout of the Zuoyin Garden was carried out. Then the orientation of the entrance was determined and the layout of various attractions of the entrance was arranged. Combined with the observation of the prints, each single building form was restored. Lastly the floor plan and perspective effect of the entrance area were completed.

3.1. Site selection and general layout

Zuoyin Garden is located in Wangcun Village, Wan’an Town, Xiuning County, southern Anhui Province, which historically belongs to ancient Huizhou. The superior natural landscape of ancient Huizhou has nurtured a large number of ancient villages in Huizhou, such as Xidi, Hongcun and other world cultural heritage. Most of the Huizhou villages are built by the mountains and water, which is the best choice for the location of the garden. The print Garden View depicts scenes at the beginning and end of the volume with a lofty point of view: six mountains including Qiyun Mountain, Songluo Mountain, Renshou Mountain, Jinji Peak, Guangmo Mountain, Feibu Mountain and the location of the ancient city rock. Furthermore in the Miscellaneous Travel Events (Volume 12 of the Complete Works), it is written that ‘15km to the west there is Qiyun Mountain’ and ‘25km to the north there is Huangshan Mountain’, pointing out the location of the garden. In Complete Works, there are also descriptions of ‘the foothills of Yu’s Songluo, the mountains are surrounded by Huandai Lake’ and ‘the small pavilion presents diversified views in the morning and evening’, all of which prove that the Zuoyin Garden is located under Songluo Mountain, and Songluo Mountain is located in the northwest of Zuoyin Garden of Wangcun Village. The existing piece of water in Wangcun Village is the Changgong Lake in the prints, which is located on the side of the Zuoyin Garden. It can be seen that the Garden is located in the Huizhou countryside and has superior landscape conditions, which is in line with the requirements of the garden maker Ji Cheng who stated that ‘the remote area is superior’ (Cheng, 2009) and aesthetician Wen Zhenheng, who stated that ‘the one who lives between the mountains and the water is superior’ (Zhenheng, 2016) in the Ming Dynasty.

Based on the viewing order of the prints, the garden is divided into three major parts: the entrance area, the courtyard area, and the back garden. The entrance area is the starting point of the garden and plays an important role as a guide; the courtyard area is mainly responsible for the function of meeting guests and daily living, while the back garden is a place for women to enjoy and the master to practice.

3.2. Orientation judgment

From the observation of the prints, the entrance area of the Zuoyin Garden includes such titled spots as Gaoshili Pavilion, Dafu Mansion, Junzi Forest, Mingzhong Tianxia, Shan Lu, Water Moon Corridor, Cangzhou Qu, Yun Qu, and Yan Dao. Dafu Mansion, Mingzhong Tianxia and Shan Lu are three entrance gate buildings. Due to the stable perspective of the entrance area, the relative positions of the attractions are easy to judge.

First of all, the orientation of the gatehouse of Dafu Mansion is presumed, and the gatehouses of Mingzhong Tianxia and Shan Lu are perpendicular to each other, so the orientation and relative relationship between the entrance area and the courtyard area can be determined. The gatehouse of Dafu Mansion is the main entrance of Zuoyin Garden. The Complete Works of Wang Tingne includes the verse ‘Yan Dao and Xuan Zhuang connects to the island’ and the Notes includes the description ‘There is a lake outside the gate, which can be several hectares wide’. It can be presumed that the entrance area is connected to the shore of Changgong Lake and set up on the lake side. There is a record in Notes that ‘from Yan Dao to the south to the front of the gate, there is a Zhongxing Street’, which shows that the Dafu Mansion faces south and the smoke path is on its north side, and the Zhongxing Street is on the south side, so it is certain that the entrance of the garden is facing south (Figure 3). The Miscellaneous Travel Events wrote ‘Renshou Mountain is in the west of the Changgong Lake’, combined with the description of ‘two cranes fly to Renshou Mountain in the west on the night with bright moon’ in volume 10 of the Complete works. It can be judged that the general orientation of the Zuoyin Garden is in the east of the Changgong Lake, the prints Garden View also confirms this relationship. Therefore, the Dafu Mansion gatehouse is north-south, the gatehouse of Mingzhong Tianxia and Shan Lu is east-west, and the Huancui Hall building group is arranged north-south, in the east of the entrance area.

Figure 3. The orientation relationship of the entrance area.

3.3. Layout relationship derivation

How can we solve the problem of garden entrances appearing twice in the prints. Through careful observation, we found that there are overlapping parts in the expressions of the two garden entrances (Figure 4), such as Zhongxing Street, Junzi Forest and Dafu Mansion. However, there are also differences. For example, Mingzhong Tianxia is omitted from the second entry screen. It is impossible to tell directly what the connection is between these two entrance images in the prints. Combined with the narrative in Notes, we can further determine the relevance of Shan Lu and Dafu Mansion. From ‘Outside the hall is Shan Lu. On the right side of Shan Lu, there is a spring’ and ‘the right of Shan Lu is said to be Yun Qu, the left is said to be Yan Dao’, we can judge the relative positions of Shan Lu, Yun Qu and Yan Dao’. From the prints, the gatehouse of Mingzhong Tianxia also has this relationship with Yun Qu and Yan Dao, so it can be deduced that Mingzhong Tianxia and Shan Lu are in the relationship of east-west juxtaposition, with an axis string. The location of Mingzhong Tianxia is the difficult point of recovery. Whether its location is in Shan Lu or on the west side is not clearly stated in the Notes. The prints appear in the first entry and disappear in the second, bringing some difficulties to the study. The author deduces that Mingzhong Tianxia is located on the west side of Shan Lu, connected by the courtyard wall of Junzi Forest, which is more reasonable (Figure 5).

Figure 4. Engraving of two garden entrances in the print Garden View of Huancui Hall.

Figure 5. Speculation on the location of Mingzhong Tianxia.

It can be seen that the two images should be the portrayal of the same garden entrance, just a different perspective or highlight different focus. Firstly, the two entrances are drawn separately, and then overlapped and integrated, so that the layout diagram of the entrance area of the garden can be drawn from Gaoshili Pavilion to the gatehouse of Shan Lu (Figure 6).

Figure 6. The process of generating the plan of the entrance area of the Zuoyin Garden.

Some contradictions are found in the complementary graphic information. For example, the five-bay gatehouse of Mingzhong Tianxia, which is clearly visible in the prints, is not mentioned in the Notes; the plaque of ‘Dafu Mansion’ is clearly visible in the gate, but it is not mentioned in the Notes either. Combining Wang Tingne’s life experience and the garden, the completion time of Notes, the author speculated that the Notes was completed in 1602, and the construction of most of the attractions in extremely large amount of work in the park was completed before the Notes was written, but ‘Dafu Mansion’ gate plaque and Mingzhong Tianxia were built a little later and not completed when Yuan Huang wrote the Notes in 1602. This explains why some parts of the Notes are missing. The engraving depicts the full view of the Zuoyin Garden when it was completed in 1606. So, this part of the space is real. In addition, the author believes that the painting itself is an artistic creation, not a rigorous construction drawing. In order to express a certain intention, or to highlight a certain mood, there will be a flexible expression. From page 10 to page 14, in order to highlight Wang Tingne’s status and position, the entrance of the garden focuses on the scene of Dafu Mansion and Mingzhong Tianxia; the scenery of Changgong Lake is also depicted. From page 24 to page 26, the scene of the entrance of the garden is presented again. The picture focuses on the home and leisure style of Shan Lu and the entrance courtyard of the Junzi Forest, concealing the previously depicted part. The purpose of not mentioning fame is to express Wang Tingne’s core ideal of building the Zuoyin Garden - to return to the mountains and forests. Therefore, the same entrance appears twice on different pages in the scroll, presumably because Wang Tingne wanted to show his dual identity through the scroll. Shan Lu represents the identity of the common people, looking forward to the country life of reclusion in the mountains, while Dafu Mansion represents the ambivalence of staying in the career and not resting on the status quo.

3.4. Results of 3D restoration

On the basis of the plan layout diagram, we continue to refine the restoration diagram of the entrance.

3.4.1. Restoration of the building

Since there is no literature or information on the shape and size of the buildings, the restoration of the buildings is mainly based on the observation method of printmaking, combined with the plan form and empirical size of the garden buildings in Jiangnan, to complete the plane and effect of the display, and other parts are not restored in detail. The following is a list to show Gaoshili Pavilion,Dafu Mansion, Mingzhong Tianxia, Shan Lu, Cangzhou Qu, and Water Moon Corridor (Table 1).

Table 1. List of single building restoration in the entrance area.

Building name	Building description	Restoration plan	Restoration effect
Gaoshili Pavilion	It is located at the south node of Zhongxing Street outside the main gate of Zuoyin Garden and is an important guide to the garden. It is a four-sided pavilion with a pointed roof.
Dafu Mansion	The first gatehouse of the Zuoyin Garden, with three bays and a hipped roof is decorated with a fish dragon kissing ridge on the main ridge.
Mingzhong Tianxia	The second gatehouse of the Zuoyin Garden with five bays, double-eaves and a hillside roof, is decorated with fish and dragon kissing ridges on the main ridge.
Shan Lu	The third gatehouse of the Zuoyin Garden, with three bays and double-eaves and a hillside roof, is decorated with fish and dragon kissing ridges on the main ridge.
Cangzhou Qu	A lake-facing water pavilion with three bays, a hanging mountain roof, and a resting area.
Water Moon Corridor	A relaxing promenade outside the garden with three bays and a hanging mountain roof.

3.4.2. Overall layout restoration

On the basis of determining the main building forms, the general plan of the entrance and the perspective effect were drawn based on the descriptions of the Garden View and the Notes, combined with the floor plan (Figure 7).

Figure 7. The general plan of the entrance and the aerial view.

4. Discussion: the creation techniques and characteristics of entrance space

From the restoration results, it can be seen that the entrance area of the Zuoyin Garden has a large space and scale, and the entry paths are complex and diverse, meeting the functional needs of different populations. The design intent and characteristics of entrance space will be discussed.

4.1. Analysis of flow routes - three paths

The entrance of Zuoyin Garden is created with Gaoshili Pavilion as the starting point. Heading north along the Zhongxing Street, one can find the vast water of Changgong Lake to the west, an open route of sight, a sense of guidance and order, a combination of artificial beauty and natural beauty; the creation of these spaces are extremely characteristic. Most of the existing Huizhou residential gardens have the following spatial sequence organization from the garden gate to the entrance of the building: direct, cascading, and turning (Yufeng, 2014) (Figure 8). The entrance flow of Zuoyin Garden is similar to that of the turning type, but more complex. The entrance area creates three entry routes, which enter the garden directly from Dafu Mansion, Junzi Forest, and the lakeshore pier, serving three types of garden visitors. (Figure 9)

Figure 8. Common entrances of Huizhou residential gardens.

Figure 9. Analysis of the three entry routes to the Zuoyin Garden.

From the gatehouse of Dafu Mansion into the Zuoyin Garden, this flow is the main flow route into the Zuoyin Garden. Heading north along the Zhongxing Street, through Dafu Mansion and Yan Dao, we arrive at a rectangular, symmetrical square with flagstones arranged in pairs on both sides. The central axis is a neatly striped green stone pavement. The east side is the gatehouse of Mingzhong Tianxia. Continuing eastward along the central axis through the gatehouse of Mingzhong Tianxia, visitors will arrive at the gatehouse of Shan Lu. This path renders a strong ritualistic color, the majestic Mingzhong Tianxia gatehouse, arigorous and orderly square as well as a clear axis prominent flow route, all reflecting the identity and status of the Wang family. Individuals entering the garden through the flow route are mostly people of a certain status, position, power - officials that Wang’s family aspires. Wang Tingne took the imperial examination several times and failed, and through the donation of public funds, he finally got the seventh-grade deputy manager of salt tax. Therefore, through the creation of the entrance space of the Garden, he put forward his wish to enter the government and elevate himself to prestige. This is a way of entry to the garden to show the status and position of individuals (Figure 10).

Figure 10. Funtion division of the entrance area of Zuoyin Garden.

The second entry route is hidden in a doorway under the eastern courtyard wall of the gatehouse of Dafu Mansion, which is not decorated with a building-style gatehouse. In the picture, there is a boy standing inside the gate to welcome the guests, while outside the gate, a servant at the entrance of Gaoyang Pavilion is carrying food and a boy is holding a wine jug, walking towards the gate. The square courtyard inside the gate, named Junzi Forest is planted with patches of emerald bamboo, and the central round platform rises up to place a long table where guests sit around to recite poems. It’s a place of drinking and reciting poetry for the garden owner with his friends. From the lush forest and bamboo, you can also enter Shan Lu without going through Dafu Mansion, Mingzhong Tianxia two ritual gatehouse. This is a garden access for literati friends. This route, which is a flow of friends into the garden, implies Wang Tingne’s desire for another identity - a literati.

The third entry route is opened for visitors to the Garden. Changgong Lake is an artificial water system excavated by Wangcun Village for the construction of Zuoyin Garden. Dozens of attractions are set and planned in the picture to show a broad picture of public garden, and those who come to Zuoyin Garden as guests will definitely make a tour of Changgong Lake scenic spot. Cangzhou Qu is the place where visitors get on and off the pier, and the starting point for entering the Garden after touring Changgong Lake. After disembarking at Cangzhou Qu, you can enter the doorway of the courtyard wall by walking south along the lake shore, and in the picture, a family servant is trying to send snacks and tea inside the door. A few tall trees are planted in the corners, and Shan Lu is immediately accessible through the courtyard. This route is a special passage for those who visit Changgong Lake to enter the Garden. Without going through the serious ritual space or the elegant poetry venue of the Junzi Forest, it is a relaxed and leisurely way to enter the Garden.

4.2. Functional analysis - four functions

Zuoyin Garden creates three paths to enter the garden, with Shan Lu as the boundary, forming a public entrance space outside the garden. Zuoyin Garden uses three flow routes to form a variety of functional spaces (Figure 10).

The first is the resting space. Most of the entrance of gardens in Jiangnan also have space for resting, such as carriage and sedan parking space, but the scale is not large. The open space outside the gate of Dafu Mansion in the Zuoyin Garden had the role of waiting and gathering, such as two groups of sedan chairs parked on the east side of Zhongxing Street. There was also Gao Yang Pavilion on the roadside, presumably a restaurant, which could be a short resting place. It is written in the Notes that ‘it was not set up for drinkers, but for gentleman and priests (Tingne, 1997)’.

The second is the space for literati gathering. The print has a lot of records of Wang Tingne’s activities of befriending and Wang Tingne wrote ‘we gather in Huancui hall for leisure and some small talks’ in the Complete Works. Junzi Forest courtyard in the entrance area showcases a classic scene of elegant gatherings among literati in the Ming Dynasty. During the bamboo grove, people drink and enjoy themselves comfortably. This scene of the gathering of literati also appeared in other places in the garden, such as the ‘ drinks flow along water path ‘ in courtyard area.

The third is the space of ritual. Huizhou is deeply influenced by the Neo-Confucianism of Cheng and Zhu, and the penetration of the thought of Neo-Confucianism can be seen in the creation of Huizhou garden. Zhongxing Street with ‘etiquette as a model without bias’ outside of the garden extends from the entrance outside the gate to Mingzhong Tianxia square, and intersects vertically with it, paving left and right symmetry, permeating Neo-Confucianism in the Huizhou culture. The square is likely to be a venue for family deliberations, ceremonies, and education of future generations. Although Zuoyin Garden is on the side of the scenic Changgong Lake, the gardener did not conform to the coordination with nature in the treatment of entrance space, nor did he create the twisting and winding entrance changes, but guided by the strong artificial order, the rectangular square is neutral and strict, the central axis is symmetrical, highlighting the ritual function of Huizhou garden.

The fourth is the leisure space. The square courtyard where the Water Moon Corridor and the Independent Spring are located is the transition courtyard for visitors to enter the Zuoyin Garden after disembarking from Changgong Lake. There is a hexagonal spring well in the center of the courtyard, a corridor along the north wall. The opposite of the south wall of the front wall is planted with a few plum, where the spring is quiet, plum blossoms, and a green stone road above the picture leads straight to Shan Lu gatehouse, suggesting the existence of the path into the garden.

From the above discussion, it can be seen that the entrance area of Zuoyin Garden is not only a private entrance of the garden, but also a transitional space for tourists to enter the garden. Due to its proximity to Changgong Lake, it has a good view and landscape, and has the characteristics of excursion, publicness and openness. This is very different from the gardens in Jiangnan, which are mostly located in the street space or deep in the alleys, where the entrances are confined. As a result, we cannot assume the entrance area outside the garden has more functions.

5. Conclusion

Based on the graphic evidence, this paper deduces and restores the entrance layout and space creation of the Zuoyin Garden in the late Ming Dynasty, generating a three-dimensional rendering that visually displays the entrance spatial style of Zuoyin Garden. It is expected that the restoration results will become the design basis for the construction units involved in restoring the Zuoyin Garden and this research provides an approach for the restoration of other gardens.

The article further discusses the characteristics and techniques of the entrance space of the Garden from the perspective of function and flow design. Taking advantage of the environment and taking the purpose of the garden as the starting point, it creates three entry routes, incorporating various functions such as sightseeing, resting, elegant gathering and ritual, to meet the requirements of different people and different functions. From Dafu Mansion to Shan Lu gatehouse, through the triple gatehouses, a turn, alternating real and imaginary space, symmetrical square, and courtyard spacesthat are layered and articulated with each other, Wang Tingne’s complex psychological demands are reflected, as well as his patriarchal thinking thinking and multiple identities. The summary of the entrance features of the Zuoyin Garden will enrich the research content on the style and characteristics of Huizhou gardens, which has theoretical significance.

Through ingeniously introducing beautiful environments into the site by ancient gardeners, the entrance space creates different streamline and spatial experiences, reflecting the identity and status of the owner, and presenting the garden with characteristics of excursion, publicness and openness, which may be a reference for contemporary landscape garden design. The modern innovation of landscape design needs to inherit the traditional culture. The design of Zuoyin garden gives a lot of inspiration to contemporary landscape design, such as design needs to be tailored to local conditions and developed reasonably. In addition to considering the influence of applicable objects, functions, and streamline factors, it is more important to integrate local traditional culture and environmental characteristics, and create recognizable landscape design works.

In this paper, the study of the Zuoyin Garden remains inadequate. Due to the lack of ground architecture, historical paintings and writings are the main focus of our research. The next step is to further determine the scope and positioning of garden space and to search for architectural relics through archaeological investigation. The precise restoration of the Zuoyin Garden will be completed, which provides greater support for the protection of garden heritage in China.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Xiaoyu Han,Shuting Xia, Jun Wang and Bo Wu (Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China) for their assistance in drawing and modeling.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current tudy are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research is financially supported by Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China (23YJA760102).

Notes on contributors

Min Yan

Min Yan a PhD student at school of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China and an associate Professor of College of Architecture and Art, Hefei University of Technology. Main research field: history and culture of Landscape Architecture, Protection of architectural heritage.