Shunde Qinghui Garden

Shunde Qinghui Garden

Shunde Qinghui Garden is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction, a key national cultural relics protection unit, and a patriotic education base.

Located in Huagaili, Daliang Town, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, Qinghui Garden is a masterpiece of classical garden art in southern China. Renowned as one of the Four Great Gardens of Lingnan, it has been listed as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit. The layout draws on the essence of Suzhou garden design while adapting to local conditions, and is famed for its serene, natural, and elegant beauty. The renowned writer Mr. Zhu Qianhua provides a detailed description of Shunde’s “Qinghui Garden” in his essay collection on garden culture, *Rain Tapping on Banana Leaves in a Leisurely Courtyard: Records of Lingnan Painted Boats*.

Qinghui Garden

Qinghui Garden, situated on Qinghui Road in Daliang Town, Shunde District, Guangdong Province, lies in the city center. Its original site was the Huang family garden built by Huang Shijun, the top imperial scholar of the late Ming Dynasty. Most of the existing structures were built during the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty. The garden is named “Qinghui,” meaning the warm and radiant sunlight, symbolizing the grace of parents. Through several renovations by five generations of the Long family—Long Yingshi, Long Tinghuai, Long Yuanren, Long Jingcan, and Long Zhuohui—the garden gradually took shape as a complete and distinctive Lingnan-style garden. Along with Foshan’s Liang Garden, Panyu’s Yuyin Shanfang (also called Yuyin Shanfang), and Dongguan’s Keyuan, Qinghui Garden is known as one of the Four Great Gardens of Guangdong. It is also a representative work of Lingnan gardens and is listed as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit.

The entire garden of Qinghui is exquisitely constructed with a compact layout. Its architectural artistry is highly refined and magnificent, featuring buildings that are light, flexible, elegant, and simple. The garden spaces have clear primary and secondary elements with well-organized structures. The entire garden is celebrated for showcasing the refined and classic style of Lingnan courtyards, embodying the concept of “gardens within gardens” and “scenes beyond scenes,” where every step brings a new view. It also combines features of Lingnan architecture and Jiangnan garden design. The current Qinghui Garden integrates the cultures of the Ming and Qing dynasties, ancient Lingnan garden architecture, Jiangnan garden art, and the characteristics of the Pearl River Delta water towns. It is a picturesque and dreamlike enchanting destination.

Qinghui Garden

The garden houses a wealth of decorative and ornamental pieces including ceramics, lime plaster sculptures, wood carvings, and glass artworks. Elegant couplets and verses abound, the resonance of distinguished voices lingers, and artistic masterpieces can be found everywhere, making it hard to tear oneself away. The garden’s artistic treatment is highly ingenious. Stone-stacked artificial hills, winding streams, curved pathways, and corridors create a delightful scene. There are thousand-year-old ginkgo trees, century-old longan trees, magnolia blossoms heralding spring, and rustling willows. Strolling along the zigzagging bridges, you can enjoy goldfish playing in the blue waters; walking down flower-lined paths, you’re greeted by lush greenery and seasonal blooms. Occasionally, the soft melodies of traditional music drift from the courtyards. Listening to a Cantonese opera performance clears the mind and delights the ears, leaving one enchanted. Among the preserved items is a set of colored carved glass artworks depicting the “Eight Scenic Spots of Yangcheng,” rated during the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty. This is the only surviving set of its kind from the Qing Dynasty and has been preliminarily identified as a national first-class protected cultural relic.

The original site of the garden was the residence of Huang Shijun, the top imperial scholar of the Wanli era in the Ming Dynasty. In the 35th year of the Wanli reign (1607 AD), Huang Shijun, a native of Xingtang Town, Shunde, topped the imperial examination and later served as Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary. To bring honor to his ancestors, in the first year of the Tianqi reign (1621 AD), he built the Huang Family Ancestral Hall, Tianzhang Pavilion, and Ling’a Pavilion at the foot of Fengshan Mountain, south of the city. Later, the Huang family declined and the courtyard fell into disrepair. During the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, Long Yingshi, the 21st-generation descendant of the local Long family’s Bijinghai branch, became a successful imperial examination candidate and purchased Tianzhang Pavilion and Ling’a Pavilion.

After coming into the Long family’s possession, the property was passed to Long Yingshi’s sons, Long Tinghuai and Long Tingzi. Later, when Tinghuai and Tingzi divided the inheritance, the central part of the courtyard went to Long Tinghuai, while the left and right sides went to Long Tingzi. Long Tingzi transformed the left and right sections he inherited into a courtyard primarily consisting of living quarters, naming them “Long Taichang Garden” and “Chuxiang Garden.” Commonly referred to as the Left and Right Gardens, the southern Long Taichang Garden was sold to Zeng Qiuzao after its owner’s decline. Zeng Qiuzao’s son, Zeng Dong, ran a silkworm egg business here under the signboard “Guangda,” hence it was also called Guangda Garden.

Long Yingshi’s eldest son, Long Tinghuai, styled Ao Tang and a native of Daliang, passed the imperial examination in the 53rd year of the Qianlong reign (1788 AD) and once served as an editor in the Hanlin Academy and as an acting imperial censor. He resigned from office in the fifth year of the Jiaqing reign (1800 AD) and returned south to build a garden in honor of his mother. In the 11th year of the Jiaqing reign (1806 AD), his son, Long Yuanren, invited Li Zhaoluo, a calligrapher and successful imperial examination candidate from Wujin, Jiangsu, to inscribe the three characters “Qinghui Garden” above the main gate of the garden, symbolizing parental grace as warm and radiant as sunlight. Subsequently, through the continued meticulous efforts of Tinghuai’s son Long Yuanren, grandson Long Jingcan, and great-grandson Long Zhuohui over several generations, with multiple revisions and refinements, the overall layout of the garden was finalized in the early years of the Republic of China. During the Anti-Japanese War, the Long family relocated overseas, and the garden gradually fell into disrepair.

In recent years, the Shunde District Committee and Government have carried out large-scale renovations of Qinghui Garden. In 1959, Tao Zhu, then Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee, visited and expressed deep concern, allocating special funds for its key protection. In the same year, the county government renovated and expanded Qinghui Garden, merging it with the neighboring Chuxiang Garden and Guangda Garden (both built by descendants of Long Yingshi), increasing its area from over 3,000 square meters to nearly 10,000 square meters. Starting from the mid-1990s (1996), considering its historical, artistic, and aesthetic value, the Shunde Municipal Party Committee and Government invested substantial manpower, material resources, and funding to further renovate and expand Qinghui Garden. They restored its original layout to revive the essence of the famous garden, aiming to welcome a large number of overseas visitors. New structures and scenic spots such as Fenglaifeng, Duyunxuan, Liufen Pavilion, Muyingjian, and Hongqu Book House were added. The area expanded from over 70 square meters to 22,000 square meters.

Garden Features

The unique feature of Qinghui Garden lies first in its practicality. To suit the hot climate of the south, the garden adopts a layout that is sparse in the front and dense in the back, low in the front and high in the back. Yet, the sparsity is not empty, nor is the density congested. The architectural forms are light, flexible, open, and airy. The spatial composition of the garden uses various small spaces to highlight the large water courtyard space, with the focus of garden design centered around the waterside pavilion.

Secondly, Qinghui Garden boasts lush greenery, tranquil depth, and elegant scenery. The former residence of the Long family and newly added attractions are integrated seamlessly. Using elements such as clear waters, green trees, auspicious walls, latticed windows, rockeries, small bridges, and winding corridors, the pavilions and towers blend ingeniously. The architectural designs are uniquely crafted, with abundant flowers, fruits, and trees, and artistic masterpieces visible everywhere. It combines ancient Chinese architecture, garden design, carving, poetry, painting, and lime plaster art, highlighting the “majestic, marvelous, perilous, serene, elegant, and vast” characteristics of classical Chinese garden courtyard architecture.

Suggested Visiting Time: Half a day

Transportation: Take buses such as 301, 303, 305, Foshan 314, Foshan Bus Line Chancheng–Shunde, or Tourist Bus Line 4 to Qinghui Garden Station.

Admission Fee: 15 RMB

Opening Hours: 8:00–18:00

Location: No. 17, Qinghui Road, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units