Exploration of Zhangs’Rockery Gardening: A Case Study of Qi Biaojia’s Yu Garden

摘要

Zhang Yifan is the son of gardening Master Zhang Nanyuan, and his story can only be found in Qi Biaojia’s Diary. Qi recorded his communications with Zhang Yifan and Zhang’s transformation over Yu Garden in detail, thus the diary shows high documentation value. Zhang’s transformation over Yu Garden was important for others exploring and understanding the contents, style, and construction period of Zhangs’ rockery gardening, and also for spreading Zhangs’ style in Yuezhong (the present Shaoxing City, and Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou, including 8 counties of the former Shaoxing Prefecture). This paper summarized and verified the characteristics, contents and construction period of Zhangs’ rockery gardening by analyzing the study case, and elaborated the spreading and development of Zhangs’ gardening style in Yuezhong.