Site names and their meanings in the Garden of Solitary Enjoyment

Abstract

Abstract For many centuries Chinese landscape enthusiasts have given poetic names to rock formations, streams, waterfalls, mountain peaks, and caves.1 Even today a visitor to China is impressed by the labels, written on plaques, stelae, or rock faces, without which no scenic spot is complete (figure 1).2 In Chinese gardens also, inscriptions identifying sites or views are ubiquitous (figure 2). Although it probably is as ancient as the art of gardening itself, the custom of naming sites in gardens acquired unprecedented importance in the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). During this period gardening flourished as never before in China among men known as shidaifu—scholar-officials who staffed the Chinese empire's civil service bureaucracy. As their poems, essays, and miscellaneous writings make clear, these men attached great significance to the names given to the structures and scenic highlights in their gardens. The essay that follows discusses the practice of selecting site names reflected in these writings and examines in detail the significance of names in the Garden of Solitary Enjoyment, built by the eminent statesman and historian Sima Guang (1019–1086).