“Cultural Exchange Activities of Presenting China to the World”---“The Most Beautiful China” Series Activities of Visiting Water Towns in Jiangnan·Taste of Jiangnan Culture

“The South is dear to me; The scenes stay in my memory. Over the waves the sun glows, redder than fire, And the spring water flows, as blue as sapphire. How can I not the South desire?” This poem always reminds people of the picturesque Jiangnan scenery, which is located in the south of Jiangsu Province, the north of Zhejiang Province, the south of Anhui Province and the northeast of Jiangxi Province, known since ancient times as the heaven under earth. It is a place featuring interlaced rivers, small bridges, flowing waters, ancient towns and alleys, and picturesque countrysides and cottages. There are secluded and charming classical gardens and soft and gentle Wu dialect.

Ancient villages and residences in Jiangnan thrived in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, because the favorable geological and climate conditions provided numerous materials for the buildings that combine borrowed sceneries with actual ones, emphasizing an open and spacious area added by rich cultural atmosphere. The buildings are decorated by outside sceneries such as roads, bridges, academies of classical learning, memorial arch, ancestral hall, and pavilions. People strive to make the buildings harmoniously coexisting with nature, keeping them simple but delicate, with rich pastoral style.

The residences in Jiangnan are principally composed of one or two halls in wooden structures. To adapt to the climate in Jiangnan, the residences are full of open hallways, open yards and courtyards. The roof is made of tiles, and the walls are grey in different shapes, supplemented by serene courtyards. Such environment nurtures small buildings like water alleys, small bridges, moors, ferries, docks and stone roads etc, constituting an intact environment in water towns.

Since Jiangnan has been one of China’s most advanced regions, there are numerous talents and noble families, and it is home to many high-ranking officials and magnates. The highly educated scholars would decorate their residences exquisitely and the rich businessmen would follow suit, inviting those scholars to plan the residences for them. Moreover, since those residences were built in feudal society, they were directly affected by the feudal ethics, confucius traditions and customs, such as the order of halls and the separation of hosts and servants, reflecting the ideologies of people living in Jiangnan regions.

The large residences are usually owned by high-ranking officials and magnets with several sections. For example the Shen halls in Zhouzhuang is composed of seven sections. Some large residences are combined with classical gardens, making them the private classical gardens. For example, the Tuisi Garden in Tongli, Suzhou City, is a very exquisite garden. The layout of large residences are strictly separated by axis to make it look orderly.

The large residences are usually composed of five sections, namely the Door Hall (some with shops), the Sedan Hall, the Major Hall (for receiving guests), the Inner Hall (for meeting with relatives and friends) and Women’s Hall. The major buildings consist of different courtyards, usually supplemented by Flower Hall, Book rooms, gardens, inner residences and kitchens. The entrance to the residences is often alongside the streets or rivers, making it convenient for people to cross and deliver goods. Between the courtyards, there are no alleys, which not only separate ways for the hosts and the servants, but also make the inner residences more private, sound-proof, fire-proof and anti-theft.

The middle-sized residences look much the same as large residences, but with fewer sections, usually less than four and without courtyards. The inner space combination is also less delicate than large residences, but more flexible. They usually belong to middle-income families. Small residences belong to the general public, small in scale with one or two layers, some along the streets or rivers. The layout is casual featuring the unique alleys of water towns. Small residences cover a small area of land without any axis. Those alongside the streets or rivers are usually for businesses with doors and passages to the river.

When combing halls, the local residents have created unique components, thus enriching the cultural connotations of water towns.

Open yards are for collecting sunshine and ventilation. For a three-section compound, it is equal in depth and height, with different width. In large residences, open yards are usually made into squares, longer from the east to the west, with good ventilation and less sunshine in summer. A front open yard and one in behind are set for more ventilation. The one in behind is narrow in shape, planted with deciduous tree to avoid sunshine.

Brick carvings gates are built in inner doors for pure decorations. Those gates are simple in the Ming Dynasty and complicated in the Qing Dynasty, both with inscribed plaques. Walls are usually made of wooden structures and are fireproof. Walls can be divided into two kinds, one built solid and the other built with empty space. The base of walls are made of slates and painted by lime powders. If used for decorations, the walls are attached by clean bricks, indicating the hosts are rich but lead a simple life.

The ground is paved by slates, crevice slates or cobblestones, some by bricks. The inner ground is always paved by bricks. Since it’s rainy is Jiangnan and the water level is low, the rooms inside can be moist. Therefore, the ground is first consolidated by lime, added by sands and bricks. The floor inside the house is paved by wooden plate. An attic is another ceiling in the house, which adds an air insulating layer to the roof. Some of the attics in large and middle-sized residences are exquisitely constructed and decorated by wooden carvings that look like a roof of a boat, a crane head and a flower basket, etc.

Roof and gable walls. The roof is paved by green tiles, leaning inward for drainage. The roof ridge is made in various ways. For small ordinary residences, it is built by tiles with decorations on both ends. For large and middle-sized residences, it is made into dragons and chickens etc. Ordinary gable walls are below the roof. Those for major buildings like halls use screen walls that are taller than the roof. Deeper inside the residence, there are one, three and five screen walls respectively.

The appearances of residences in Jiangnan are: the bungalows are mixed with storied houses with different and fluctuating gable walls. Light and concise, the buildings are colored and located alongside the rivers, whose lineament is gentle and beautiful. Therefore, it is called by people as “pink walls and green tiles”, “small bridges, flowing waters and serene households”.

 “Cultural Exchange Activities of Presenting China to the World”---“The Most Beautiful China” series activities visit the charming water towns in Jiangnan, tasting the time-honored Jiangnan culture and unique and artistic conception of “small bridges, flowing waters and serene households”.