Brief History of Xu-style Gardens in the Qin and Han Dynasties

摘要

This paper studied the gardening activities and characteristics of Xu-style gardens in the Qin and Han Dynasties by combining ancient literature with the study of Han Dynasty stone reliefs.The results showed that by Qin and Han Dynasties,the imperial(royal)gardens and private gardens in ancient Xuzhou had developed in parallel.Imperial(royal)gardens were built by or for vassal kings,First Emperor of Qin Dynasty,Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty Liu Bang,for example,Pei Palace,Yanqi Tai,Xima Tai,Hanzu Temple,Lingguang Palace of Lu and so on.As for private gardens,stone reliefs in medium or small tombs owned by the bigwigs or the rich were collected from ancient Xuzhou,and from which we can see clearly the development of private garden from the court,the yard to the garden,rich garden plants and animal species,garden architecture types such as hall,building,pavilion,platform,boat,corridor,gate,gatetower,ornamental column etc.,particularly,hanging waterside pavilion was a unique architectural form of Xu-style garden.These achievements showed that Xu-style garden architecture had been transformed from the pre-Qin incubation period to the generation period.