The Most Beautiful Classical Architectural Group in Guangdong: The Only One Selected into China's Top 10 Gardens, Largely Unknown to Foreign Tourists

When people think of Chinese classical gardens, Suzhou gardens and Yangshan's Yangshan Garden, Ge Garden, and Beijing's Old Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven are often the first that come to mind. Relatively speaking, many tourists from outside Guangdong often view Guangdong, which was once a 'Nanhang land,' as a cultural desert, with few worthwhile tourist attractions. This perception is somewhat biased,Although Guangdong doesn't have as many ancient cultural relics as provinces like Zhejiang, Beijing, Henan, and Shaanxi, it still has some ancient architecture from the Ming and Qing dynasties. This includes the four famous Southern Garden. Of these four, Qinghui Garden, located in Foshan's Shunde District, is the best to visit.

Although Qinghui Garden is one of China's ten best gardens, it has always been overshadowed by Suzhou gardens. Aside from visitors from the city and surrounding areas, few foreign tourists come specifically to visit it,Qinghui Garden is located in Dali Town, Shunde District, Foshan. It was originally built by Huang Shijun, a former scholar who became a magistrate after winning the highest imperial examination. Later, it was abandoned. In the Qing Dynasty, during the Qianlong reign, the descendant of the Huang family, Long Yingshi, bought the abandoned garden and, after several generations of renovation and expansion, the main architectural group of Qinghui Garden took shape, as visitors see it today, largely reflecting the aesthetic taste of the Long family,The principle of 'big garden within a small garden' is a characteristic feature of Qinghui Garden. Visitors can explore the garden by winding paths, passing by pools, walls, towers, and suddenly entering the interior courtyard, or crossing an archway to view carp swimming in a pool,Shunde is located in a subtropical area, where plants are evergreen throughout the year. No matter what season you visit Qinghui Garden, you will always find plenty of greenery. In addition to various trees, the garden also has many Cantonese bonsai and seasonal flowers such as camellias,Because of its lush greenery, even in the hottest summer, you don't feel stuffy,Qinghui Garden is one of the best examples of the fusion of Eastern and Western styles in Chinese classical gardens, primarily due to Shunde's position as one of the earliest areas to contact foreign cultures. There were also many local merchants involved in trade,The Western style of Qinghui Garden is mainly reflected in the windows and glass walls, where a lot of the glass was imported from abroad, which blends well with the traditional courtyard, creating a unique aesthetic,Have you ever visited Shunde's Qinghui Garden?