Dongyuan Site

Dongyuan Site

The Dongyuan Site is a cultural relic protection unit of Zhejiang Province.

The Dongyuan Site is located within Shimen Middle School in Shimen Town, Tongxiang. It is a garden site centered around rockeries and a pond, stretching 40 meters from east to west, 30 meters from north to south, covering an area of approximately 1,200 square meters.

Dongyuan was a private garden built by Zhang Zixiu (formerly the Prefect of Shizhou), the wine supervisor of the Shimen Wine Depot during the Southern Song Dynasty. The site was excavated between November 2002 and April 2003. The garden’s rockery is located in the northwest of the excavation area, with its central section constructed from yellowish-brown Wukang stone, mixed with a small amount of grayish-white Taihu stone. Most of it has now collapsed and scattered, with only the lowest layer of rockery stones surrounding the brick-paved pathway remaining in their original state. The brick-paved pathway is situated at the center of the rockery, roughly rectangular in shape, with its surface paved with long, flat “Xianggao” bricks. There is a stone staircase on the eastern side, and brick-paved paths leading outwards on the western and northern sides. The pond is located in the southwest of the excavation area, with an exposed area of nearly 100 square meters. Its southern side features a stone-reinforced bank, and over ten rockery stones stand in the pond, mostly Wukang stone with a few Taihu stones. The pebble-paved path is 0.8 to 1.1 meters wide, flanked by upright strip bricks, and was meticulously constructed. It is mostly distributed within the rockery, connected to the brick-paved paths, situated between the rockery and the pond, or found alone in the southeast of the excavation area. Evidence suggests that the pebble path may have been repaired or rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty. On the western side of the rockery, a stone pavilion and an octagonal gate jamb made of purple stone, measuring 2.4 meters in length, were also discovered.

The Dongyuan Site is the most well-preserved private garden site from the Southern Song Dynasty discovered through archaeology. The rockeries in the garden represent the earliest known examples of garden construction using Wukang stone, providing relatively detailed physical material for the study of Wukang stone landscaping. The entire garden is laid out rationally and is a typical representation of private gardens in the Jiangnan region during the Southern Song Dynasty.

In January 2011, it was announced as part of the sixth batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units.

Shimen Town: A town under the jurisdiction of Tongxiang City. In 1958, Shimen Commune was established, renamed as a town in 1959, and in 1987, Shimen Township was merged into it. Located in the central part of the city, it covers an area of 23 square kilometers with a population of 21,000. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs through the town. It governs 11 village committees: Lixing, Hongjingqiao, Changfeng, -, Shimen, Lixin, Yejiabang, Tianxing, Xinxing, Yanjingqiao, and Fisheries. The main industries include textiles, chemical fibers, machinery, building materials, and home appliances. Agricultural products mainly consist of rice, sericulture, Hangzhou chrysanthemums, tobacco leaves, vegetables, and jute. The town is known for its specialty product, small Lake sheepskin. Within the town lies the Luojiajiao Cultural Site, a key provincial cultural relic protection unit. … Detailed information about Shimen Town ++

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units