Shixiang Garden

Shixiang Garden

Shixiang Garden is a national AAA-level tourist attraction, a Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit, and a patriotic education base.

The Shixiang Garden Memorial is located at No. 3 Huaide Street, Haizhu District, Guangzhou. Built around the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty, it was the former residence and painting studio of the renowned late-Qing painters Ju Chao and Ju Lian from Guangdong.

The garden was named "Shixiang" (Ten Fragrant Flowers) because it once had ten types of fragrant flowers planted in its courtyard, including jasmine, wintersweet, tuberose, claw flower, Arabian jasmine, tuberose night-blooming cereus, stephanotis, aglaia, michelia, and banana shrub. Ju Lian used the place to take on students and trained a large number of modern art talents, among whom Gao Jianfu and Chen Shuren—two founders of the Lingnan School of Painting—are the most notable. As a result, Shixiang Garden is also hailed as the "Cradle of the Lingnan School of Painting."

In 2007, the Shixiang Garden Memorial was established on the site of the garden. It is now divided into the historical ruins area and the art exhibition area, covering a total area of 3,879 square meters. The ruins area includes three main structures: the Jinxian An (Today's Hermitage), the Xiaoyue Qin Guan (Moon Howling Zither Pavilion), and the Zili Hua Guan (Purple Pear Blossom Pavilion). It features a permanent exhibition titled "Ju Chao, Ju Lian, and Shixiang Garden," introducing the artistic achievements of the "Two Jus" and the history of Shixiang Garden. The art exhibition area consists of two floors of galleries, an artists' exchange hall, garden pavilions, waterfront terraces, and leisure squares. Its permanent exhibition, "Poetic Brushstrokes Tracing Origins—Memorial Exhibition of the Geshan and Lingnan Schools of Painting," systematically presents the development and heritage of the Geshan and Lingnan Schools through the format of "one artist, one painting, one story."

The Shixiang Garden Memorial is dedicated to showcasing the inheritance and development of Lingnan painting and calligraphy culture, maintaining connections among Lingnan School inheritors and descendants at home and abroad, and serving the general public and tourists. It serves as a venue for exhibiting the artistic achievements of Lingnan painting masters, an original space for contemporary artists’ creations, a practice ground for youth art education in painting and calligraphy, and a cultural leisure destination for visitors.

Address: No. 3 Huaide Street, Jiangnan Avenue Middle, Haizhu District, Guangzhou

Type: Garden / Historic Former Residence of a Celebrity

Recommended Visit Duration: 2–3 hours

Phone: 020-84410760

Opening Hours: 9:00–17:00

Ticket Information: Free admission.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Guangzhou Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Units