Wanzhu Yuan 万竹园
Ji’nan, Shandong Province
济南市历下区趵突泉南路1号 / 泺源大街西端路北
This park was my paternal family home from 1912 to 1950, where my father grew up.
The estate was first built in 1271 to 1368; becoming my great grandfather’s home in 1912 who spent next decade and half to renovate and expanding it; featuring springs embedded in and around the courtyards and houses, to form the water system, which is unique in the country. My dad still vividly remember he swam around the estate in the spring stream.
The government used it (1980年时,万竹园是三家省级单位的下属处室使用.东院是卫生厅,西院是检察院,花园是教育厅.南院当时还保留两进院,是省资产管理部门管着.), till it became a public park on June 11, 1986 and merged with 趵突泉 Baotu Spring Park in 1999. In 2019, the Garden was enlisted on the top level registry for the immovable relic in China: National Cultural Relic Protection Units, 8th edition 第八批全国重点文物保护单位: 序号 631, 编号 8-0631-5-115.
L to R: 1980, 万竹园‘s 东院泉池被填, 在上面修了房子. 1984, 万竹园开始重修. 图为假山前小三股水处. By 贾祥云
The three-acre estate includes:
- the entrance and the rockery
- the three living quarters (E, W & S Section 东, 西, 南三套)
- the thirteen courtyards
- 186 rooms
- four pavilions
- five bridges
- the garden
- the springs
Courtyards are linked together by sheltered corridors. In the Flower Garden there are many stone carvings, woodcuts and brick carvings, such as Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl; Elephant, Lion, Tiger and Leopards; Pine, Bamboo, Plum Blossom and Orchid. Eight Immortals Crossing The Sea; Magpie Greeting Plum Blossom, as well as Sword, Saber Spear and Halberd. The cravings were elaborately executed and well preserved. Dotted with pools, rocks, bamboo groves lawn flowers and plants and hemmed by unique shaped rocks the Flower Garden presents many scenic spots.
Timeline of the estate
The Ten Thousand Bamboo Garden came from the fact that there are large groves of bamboo and graceful environment.
The garden once served as the residence of Wang Ping (王苹; 1661-1720) a famous poet of the Qing Dynasty. In 1912, one year after the Qing court was replaced by the Republic of China, Zhang Huaizhi, commander of the Fifth Military Region of the North Standing Army (later an army inspector and governor of Shandong Province) bought the garden. He hired skillful craftsmen and spent fifteen years from 1912 to 1927 enlarging the garden to the present size.
Structurally compact and artistically valuable, 万竹园 (Zhang’s Garden 张家花园) presents an ancient compound combining the architectural style of southern China courtyard with the flavor of quadrangular courtyard in northern China.
On August 4, 1985, the Jinan City Hall decided to have the 李苦禅 Li Kuchan Memorial Hall built in the Ten Thousand Bamboo Garden. Many domestic and foreign calligraphy and painting exhibitions have been held since.
Some references and media coverage:
- maps of Jinan, city & Wanzhu Yuan
- The Garden on Wikipedia within Baotu Spring, baike baidu – 百度百科
- Tour guide talk
- 风雨沧桑万竹园, July 11, 2003
- Three famed springs in Wanzhu Yuan, also on FB with 珍珠泉 and 趵突泉
- 中国古建筑文化之旅 – 山东 张润武
- 图说济南老建筑
- 一封群众来信保住了万竹园
