Yangzhou: A City of Gardens and Culture

1. 烟 花 三 月 下 扬 州 a city with beautiful landscape

2. Yangzhou ,known as a city of gardens and alleys. It is a proud retainer of ancient Chinese architecture, art, culture, traditional gardens and parks, cuisine, and commerce in a beautiful mixture of modernity with its rich 2,500 year history. The process of modernization does not cause much damage in the city, leaving people a nice place to find view into the past. All in all, Yangzhou is the ideal place to experience unique aspects of Chinese culture, and is a relaxing break from other overly developed and commercialized urban centers in the region.

3. The rivers of Yangzhou the Yangtze River and Jinghang Canal are the most famous rivers across the Yangzhou. However, those beautiful small lakes are the feature of Yangzhou’s water. They may not well-know, but they are attractive.

4. Slender West Lake

6. The park of Yangzhou • Today, you can see Yangzhou is dotted with 146 historical relics and over 30 scenic spots. The celebrated spots are the beautiful Slender West Lake, the Memorial Hall of Eminent Monk JianZhen (688-763) in the ancient Daming Temple, He Garden, Ge Garden, the Twenty-four bridge and so on. These scenic spots and ancient gardens present a unique landscape of “delicacy and majesty,” a combination of southern and northern styles of Chinese garden architectures.

7. Daming Temple

8. He Garden

9. Ge Garden

11. The human landscape of Yangzhou As a historic city, Yangzhou has long history and rich culture. The first settlement in the Yangzhou area, called Guanglingwas founded in the Spring and Autumn Period. Three thousand years ago, then most of the world was inching its way from the Stone Age into the Bronze Age, Yangzhou was already the capital of Han State, where the earliest Yangzhou gardens came into being. During the long time, Yangzhou attracts many people to visit the city. Quite many feudal emperors and princes, politicians, men of letters, scientists, artists and religious activists were attracted to pay visits to Yangzhou.

12. Li Bai, a famous Tang poet, once sailed down the Yangtze River in the spring toward Yangzhou to see off his friend, and wrote an oft-quoted and widely loved poem. Another poet, XuNing, praised Yangzhou in his poem for its “two thirds of the natural beauty under heaven.” Du Mu’s verse “The Twenty-four Bridges are shrouded in the bright moonlight” made the Twenty-four Bridge known to both Chinese and foreign tourists

13. In A.D. 753, the eminent monk Jian Zhen, from the Daming Temple in Yangzhou, brought with him a large amount of handiwork and craftsmanship form the city then traveled east to Japan. When the monk passed away, his disciples made a sculpture of him which has been preserved by Japan as a State treasure.

14. Marco Polo, the world-known Italian traveler, once stayed in the city. His Travels of Marco Polo gives lots of descriptions of Yangzhou.

15. As has been mentioned above, Yangzhou culture is a window of the culture of the nation. Now the people of Yangzhou are working together to build the city into a more prosperous and cultured one.