Grand View Garden
Encyclopedia
The Grand View Garden or Prospect Garden is a large landscaped interior garden in the classic Chinese
novel
Dream of the Red Chamber
, built within the compounds of the Rongguo Mansion. It is the setting for much of the story.
Built in chapters 16 and 17 of the novel, it was the site of Jia Yuanchun
's first visit home as an Imperial Concubine. At that time, music and lights decorated the place so it was fit for Imperial patronage. After Yuanchun leaves, the Garden is made at her own request the home of her brother, half-sister, sister-in-law, and cousins. Being very elegant and peaceful, it is a perfect home for Baoyu and the girls. Granny Liu
also pays a visit to Prospect Garden in chapters 40 and 41. She is very impressed at the vegetation, water, layout, and life in the Garden. As a gift, the Dowager commissions Xichun to make a painting of the Garden for Granny Liu to take back home. It is here that the nun Miaoyu
is met by many.
Eventually, the young girls drift away from the Garden. Yingchun is married off to her death. Tanchun is also married, but to the frontier (in the Cheng-Gao version). Shi Xiangyun
also marries, while Baochai marries Baoyu and is abandoned. Lin Daiyu
dies of grief and Li Wan moves into the inner apartments of the Rongguo Mansion.
When the Jia family estates are confiscated, the Garden is ransacked. Being farther from the inner apartments, it is also destroyed by the Imperial Guards.
in 1989, using the same name. The first CCTV
television series based on the novel was filmed in this garden.
Covering an area of 13 hectares (32.12 acres) with more than 40 scenic spots set within it, the garden has been skillfully designed. The most attractive parts are the courtyards which replicate the residences of the main members of the Jia family. These Chinese traditional buildings reveal the personality of various characters who would have occupied them and enabling you to feel firsthand the ambiance in which the love and political affairs of this medieval family had in their being.
The most interesting building in the park is the Enjoyment Red Hall where the principal character in the novel Jia Baoyu
lived. Another building is Bamboo Lodge, a small and simple courtyard decorated in light-green, with slim bamboos grown in the courtyard, housed the weak and unlucky Lin Daiyu
, heroine of the novel.
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber , composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is considered to be a masterpiece of Chinese vernacular literature and is generally acknowledged to be a pinnacle of...
, built within the compounds of the Rongguo Mansion. It is the setting for much of the story.
Built in chapters 16 and 17 of the novel, it was the site of Jia Yuanchun
Jia Yuanchun
Jia Yuanchun is a primary character in the classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. She is Baoyu's elder sister by about ten years older . Yuanchun was a lady-in-waiting in the Imperial palace first, then, becomes an Imperial Consort...
's first visit home as an Imperial Concubine. At that time, music and lights decorated the place so it was fit for Imperial patronage. After Yuanchun leaves, the Garden is made at her own request the home of her brother, half-sister, sister-in-law, and cousins. Being very elegant and peaceful, it is a perfect home for Baoyu and the girls. Granny Liu
Granny Liu
Granny Liu is a character in Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. She is an elderly country rustic and a distant relative of Lady Wang through "joining families" and marriage ....
also pays a visit to Prospect Garden in chapters 40 and 41. She is very impressed at the vegetation, water, layout, and life in the Garden. As a gift, the Dowager commissions Xichun to make a painting of the Garden for Granny Liu to take back home. It is here that the nun Miaoyu
Miaoyu
Miaoyu is an important character in Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the classics of Chinese fiction. She is a young, beautiful but aloof Buddhist nun, compelled by circumstances to become a nun, and shelters herself under the nunnery in Prospect Garden...
is met by many.
Eventually, the young girls drift away from the Garden. Yingchun is married off to her death. Tanchun is also married, but to the frontier (in the Cheng-Gao version). Shi Xiangyun
Shi Xiangyun
Shi Xiangyun is a major fictional character in Dream of the Red Chamber. She is Baoyu's younger second cousin by the Dowager, Grandmother Jia. Xiangyun is the favorite grandniece of the Dowager, Baoyu's grandmother....
also marries, while Baochai marries Baoyu and is abandoned. Lin Daiyu
Lin Daiyu
Lin Daiyu is one of the principal characters of Cao Xueqin's classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. She is portrayed as a well-educated, intelligent and beautiful young woman. The romance between Daiyu and Jia Baoyu forms one of the main threads of the book...
dies of grief and Li Wan moves into the inner apartments of the Rongguo Mansion.
When the Jia family estates are confiscated, the Garden is ransacked. Being farther from the inner apartments, it is also destroyed by the Imperial Guards.
Real-life imitation Garden in Beijing
An imitation landscape garden based on the novel was built at Xuanwu District, in southeast BeijingBeijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
in 1989, using the same name. The first CCTV
China Central Television
China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV, is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...
television series based on the novel was filmed in this garden.
Covering an area of 13 hectares (32.12 acres) with more than 40 scenic spots set within it, the garden has been skillfully designed. The most attractive parts are the courtyards which replicate the residences of the main members of the Jia family. These Chinese traditional buildings reveal the personality of various characters who would have occupied them and enabling you to feel firsthand the ambiance in which the love and political affairs of this medieval family had in their being.
The most interesting building in the park is the Enjoyment Red Hall where the principal character in the novel Jia Baoyu
Jia Baoyu
Jia Baoyu is the principal character in the classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber.- Introduction :The first chapter describes how one piece of stone was left over from when the heaven was repaired by the Goddess Nüwa...
lived. Another building is Bamboo Lodge, a small and simple courtyard decorated in light-green, with slim bamboos grown in the courtyard, housed the weak and unlucky Lin Daiyu
Lin Daiyu
Lin Daiyu is one of the principal characters of Cao Xueqin's classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. She is portrayed as a well-educated, intelligent and beautiful young woman. The romance between Daiyu and Jia Baoyu forms one of the main threads of the book...
, heroine of the novel.