Liang Yuan Garden in Foshan

Architectural Features

Liang Yuan (梁园) is located at the northwest end of the old town of Foshan (佛山), bordered by Songfeng Road (松风路) to the east, Anzuo Street (安左街) to the south, Honglu Zhijie (红路直街) to the west, and Furong Street (富荣街) to the north, covering an area of 13,300 square meters.

Liang Yuan mainly includes architectural buildings with distinctive features, such as Liang Airu’s “Wudaixie Studio” (无怠懈斋), Liang Jiuzhang’s “Hanxiang Pavilion” (寒香馆), Liang Jiuhua’s “Qunxing Caotang” (群星草堂), and Liang Jiutu’s “Twelve Stone Mountain Studio” (十二石山斋) and “Fenjiang Caolu” (汾江草庐). These are spread out across Songfeng Road (松风路) and Shengping Road (升平路).

Characteristics

The overall layout of Liang Yuan combines residential areas, ancestral halls, and gardens into a harmonious structure that reflects the architectural style of large traditional courtyard gardens. It prominently features unique peaks and unusual stones as important landscaping elements. The garden is divided into four main groups, each differing in style due to their individual design orientations. These groups include various types of landscape compositions, such as “Pingting” (平庭), “Shanting” (山庭), “Shuiting” (水庭), “Shiting” (石庭), and “Shuishiting” (水石庭), which are all characteristic techniques of the Lingnan region (岭南).

Liang Yuan’s design style is elegant and delicate, with space layouts reflecting a balance of openness and enclosure. It embraces the customs of family-centered living, with houses, ancestral halls, and garden structures organically connected. The design achieves a dynamic harmony through a combination of stone gardens, water gardens, and water-stone gardens, creating an overall sense of spaciousness, layering, and poetic atmosphere.

High Aesthetic Style, Distinctive Features

Liang Yuan’s garden features unique landscaping and design concepts that aim to create an ethereal and poetic environment. The landscape is mostly flat with numerous pools and streams, while the creator carefully utilized a large area of lakes and pools to establish a water-town characteristic in the garden. The incorporation of unusual rocks and stone formations is also essential to the garden’s charm, creating dramatic effects by integrating them into the landscape.

Main Buildings

Liang Yuan is composed of various buildings, including the Wudaixie Studio (无怠懈斋), Hanxiang Pavilion (寒香馆), Qunxing Caotang (群星草堂), Twelve Stone Mountain Studio (十二石山斋), Fenjiang Caolu (汾江草庐), Bucaodi (部曹第), Buddhist Hall (佛堂), Liang Family Residence (梁氏宅), and the Magistrate’s Family Temple (刺史家庙). These buildings are all made of brick and wood, decorated with wood and brick carvings, showcasing elegance and refinement. The garden masterfully integrates the residential, ancestral hall, and garden buildings.

Twelve Stone Studio (十二石山斋)

The Twelve Stone Studio was renovated during the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty (清道光), located in Shengping Road, Songgui Lane. Liang Jiutu converted it from the former site of the “Jishan Caotang” (蕺山草堂) into a small courtyard garden. It is named after the twelve yellow wax stone bonsais displayed in the garden.

Fenjiang Caolu (汾江草庐)

Fenjiang Caolu, built during the Daoguang era, is located on the northwest side of Qunxing Caotang. It was established by Liang Jiutu, a ministry official in the Qing Dynasty, as a place for reading and elegant gatherings. The garden features a large lake surrounded by flowers and bamboo, with a variety of scenic spots including the Yunqiao Bridge (韵桥), Shifang Pavilion (石舫), and other charming features.

Hanxiang Pavilion (寒香馆)

The Hanxiang Pavilion was built by Liang Jiuzhang, the Governor of Sichuan (四川知州), during the Daoguang era. It is located on the west side of Songfeng Road in Xianli Lane. The garden is filled with plum blossoms and unusual rocks, creating a serene and elegant atmosphere. The hall also serves as a studio for painting, and it houses many famous paintings and the “Hanxiang Pavilion Collected Stone Calligraphy” (寒香馆法帖).

Qunxing Caotang (群星草堂)

Qunxing Caotang was built by Liang Jiuhua, the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple (大理寺), during the Daoguang era. It is located on the old path of Songfeng Road and features carefully arranged rocks from Taihu, Lingbi, and Yingde, forming dramatic and varied shapes. The garden contains pavilions, corridors, and water features, which are arranged in a balanced and delicate manner.

Liang Yuan’s new and old gardens are interconnected, allowing visitors to walk through the old garden and into the new one via the Yunqiao Bridge (韵桥).

Banyan Pavilion (榕阁)

The Banyan Pavilion is a two-story structure located by the water and is the highest point in the entire Liang Yuan garden.

Furongli (富荣里)

Furongli is a preserved architectural site from the Qing Dynasty in Shaluopu (沙洛铺) on Furong Street, which serves as an important example for studying ancient architecture in Foshan.

Half-Pavilion (半边亭)

The Half-Pavilion is a uniquely designed structure, with a hexagonal base and a square upper floor. The roof is gently sloped with flying eaves and bracketing. This “quaint” design embodies a desire for simplicity. The “Boat Hall” (船厅) has large Manchu-style windows on three sides, while the “Lotus Pavilion” (荷香小榭) is an open structure that integrates the sky, earth, and people seamlessly.

Cultural Heritage

Liang Yuan Garden (梁园) is renowned for its collection of over 400 unique stones, earning the reputation of having “more stones than books.” Among these, the “Stone Garden” in the Qunxing Caotang (群星草堂) stands out. The garden embraces the concept of forming shapes from single stones, a distinctive feature in Lingnan private gardens. The garden’s owner carefully arranged unique stones, highlighting their individual characteristics and expressing a pursuit of personality and freedom. Among the remarkable stones are the famous “Su Wu Tending Sheep” (苏武牧羊), “Boy Worshipping Guanyin” (童子拜观音), “Beauty Looking in the Mirror” (美人照镜), “Palace Dance” (宫舞), “Chasing the Moon” (追月), and “Leaning on Clouds” (倚云). These stones are placed in a landscape filled with platforms, bamboo, and ponds, creating an immersive artistic experience.

The mountains within the garden are not artificially stacked but are designed to harmonize with the garden’s simple and natural style. The approach abandons traditional “mountain building” methods in favor of representing mountains with stones, capturing the essence of natural landscapes in miniature. As poet Liang Jiu Tu (梁九图) describes, “Returning from Mount Heng, the feeling has not subsided, while the stones in the pot form the shape of smoke coils” (衡岳归来意未阑，壶中蓄石当烟鬟). This technique, using stones to represent mountains, creates a more flexible and expressive way to convey emotions and thoughts.

Main Exhibitions

Liang Yuan hosts fixed exhibitions, including:

• “History and Culture of Liang Yuan” (梁园历史文化展)
• “Redwood Palace Lanterns” (红木宫灯展)
• “Exhibition of Liang Yuan’s Collected Rare Stones” (梁园馆藏奇石展)
• “The Charm of Wood – Guangdong Redwood Furniture Exhibition” (木韵流芳——广式红木家具展)

Lingnan Gardens

Lingnan Gardens (岭南园林) are one of the three major garden styles in China, standing alongside Jiangnan and Northern gardens. The development of Lingnan gardens evolved from royal gardens to private gardens. Over 2,200 years ago, the Nanyue Kingdom (南越王朝) constructed palaces and royal gardens in the capital city of Panyu (now Guangzhou). In the Southern Han Dynasty, King Liu Gong (刘龚) used a natural valley in Xing Wangfu (兴王府) to create the West Lake (仙湖), which became a renowned scenic spot. Numerous private gardens also appeared in Guangdong during the Song Dynasty, contributing to the flourishing of Lingnan gardens during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Foshan (佛山), a prosperous town in the heart of Lingnan, became a center for both wealthy merchants and scholars. The rise of gardens in Foshan can be traced to the Ming Dynasty, with the appearance of the Xian Family’s Crane Garden (鹤园) and Donglin Garden (东林园). By the Qing Dynasty, particularly after the Qianlong Emperor’s reign, private gardens flourished. The Liang family, based in Songgui Li (松桂里), played a significant role in this development.

The Liang Family (梁氏家族)

Songgui Liang Family

The Liang family, originally from Maicun (麦村) in Shunde County (顺德县), migrated to Foshan in the late Qing Dynasty. The family’s patriarch, Liang Guoxiong (梁国雄), started a small incense business, and later expanded into a more significant enterprise. His descendants, including his three sons—Liang Yucheng (梁玉成), Liang Airu (梁蔼如), and Liang Kecheng (梁可成)—continued to build the family legacy in Foshan.

The Second Generation 

• Liang Yucheng (梁玉成): Known for his business acumen, he inherited his father’s business and became one of Foshan’s wealthiest individuals. He was also philanthropic, providing disaster relief and donations.
• Liang Airu (梁蔼如): A scholar who passed the imperial examination and held the position of a member of the Imperial Secretariat. He retired early to live in Songgui Li and established the family’s first private garden, Wudaixie Zhai (无怠懈斋), where he enjoyed poetry, calligraphy, and painting.
• Liang Kecheng (梁可成): A successful businessman who grew wealthy from trading silver and other goods.

The Third Generation

Liang Jiu Zhang (梁九章), Liang Jiu Hua (梁九华), and Liang Jiu Tu (梁九图) were prominent members of the third generation, renowned for their artistic and scholarly pursuits. They expanded their family’s garden holdings, creating an impressive collection of private gardens and residences. Liang Jiu Hua, in particular, created the Qunxing Caotang (群星草堂), a major garden complex where he engaged in scholarly gatherings and stone appreciation.

Cultural Value 

Liang Yuan is a quintessential example of Lingnan’s private gardens and reflects the historical pursuit of tranquility and scholarly enjoyment through architecture, stone collection, and natural landscapes. It is a tangible representation of the intellectual and cultural prosperity of Foshan’s elite families.

Cultural Preservation

In 1989, Liang Yuan was designated as a provincial-level key cultural heritage site in Guangdong (广东省省级重点文物保护单位).

Tourism Information

Location

Liang Yuan is located at No. 93, Xianfeng Ancient Road, Songgui Li, Chancheng District, Foshan, Guangdong Province (广东省佛山市禅城区松风路先锋古道93号).

Opening Hours

• 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Last entry at 4:40 PM), closed on New Year’s Eve.

Ticket Price

• Regular Ticket: 10 CNY per person. Free entry on Saturdays.
• Special groups (e.g., children, seniors, students, and military personnel) are eligible for discounted or free entry, subject to proof of eligibility.

Transportation Information

1. From Guangzhou: Take Line 8 to Sha Yuan, then transfer to the Guangfo Line to Zu Miao Station, and take Bus 118 to Liang Yuan.
2. Alternatively, take Line 1 to Xi Lang, then transfer to the Guangfo Line to Zu Miao, and take Bus 118 to Liang Yuan.
3. From Luochongwei Station, take Bus 276 to Dongfang Square, then transfer to Bus 131 to reach Liang Yuan.
4. From Zhongshan Ba Bus Station, take Bus 279 to Nanguilu Metro Station, then transfer to Metro Line 1 to Zu Miao and take Bus 118 to Liang Yuan.