Beijing Grand View Garden (Daguanyuan)

Located in Xuanwu District southwest of Beijing, the Grand View Garden (Daguanyuan) is a reminiscent of a luxurious garden of Ming and Qing style. It was created in 1986 and modeled on the garden described in a well-known Chinese classic novel "Dream of Red Mansions", an 18th century novel written by Cao Xueqin (1715-1763). The novel describes the rise and decline of Jia Family. The garden was built for the imperial concubine Jia Yuanchun, who received her relatives there. It is a large greenery garden dotted with pavilions, halls, temples and miniature gardens. The layout is exactly like that described in the novel. And all the buildings are named after buildings in the novel such as "Bamboo Lodge," "Warm Scented Arbor," "Studio of Autumn Freshness" and "Lotus Fragrance Pavilion." If you go there at the right time, you will be lucky enough to see traditional ceremonies performed in the garden, always a fascinating sight.

In l984, the China Television Film Production Centre decided to use it as the setting to shoot garden scenes for the TV series "A Dream of Red Mansions". The Xuanwu District Government then suggested that the temporary garden be turned into a permanent scenic spot. Thus the plan to build the Grand View Garden faithful to the writer's description has come into being. The project started in June 1984 and is expected to be completed in 1988. The Grand View Garden covers 110,000 square meters and includes more than 40 scenic spots illustrating the main plots in the garden. The stonework covers an area of more than 8,000 square meters and the lakes and canals 24,000 square meters. The construction work is divided into three stages, of which the first stage in the southern part of the garden cost about 4 million Yuan (about l.4 million US dollars) and was opened to the public in early 1985 . It includes a front gate, four courtyards, Qinfang Bridge, Dicui Pavilion, winding paths and other scenic sites. Every effort has been made to be accurate in reproduction of Daguanyuan. Horticulturists, architects, archaeologists and experts on the history of the famous novel were asked to pay much attention to the layout of the whole garden, the location of trees, the arrangement of the rockery, and the decoration of the main characters' homes.