Lingnan garden (Cantonese Jyutping: Ling5 naam4 jyun4 lam4; Traditional Chinese: 嶺南園林), also called Cantonese garden, is a style of garden design native to Lingnan – the traditionally Cantonese provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi in southern China. It is one of the major styles of Chinese garden, along with the Jiangnan garden (e.g., the Classical Gardens of Suzhou) and Sichuanese garden.
The Lingnan region lies to the south of the Nanling Mountains, spanning southern Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi. The extensive river network, strong sunlight, and regular monsoon in the region contributes to a lush subtropical natural landscape. With this rich natural scenery, people in Lingnan have been able to create a rich and colorful style of traditional garden distinct from gardens in other Han Chinese regions.
Classification
By types
Lingnan garden consists of several substyles, such as royal gardens, private gardens, and public gardens. A good example of royal Lingnan garden is Guangzhou's (Jyutping: Gau2 jiu6 jyun4; Traditional Chinese: 九曜園, literally "garden of nine glories"), built by Lau Yan, the first king of the Southern Han dynasty. Built in the style of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (10th century), it laid down the foundation of modern Lingnan style and is one of the more well-preserved gardens from that period. Prominent examples of private Lingnan gardens include the "four great gardens of central Guangdong": Yuyum Sanfong, Leung's Garden, Ching Fai Garden, and Ho Garden. Among them, Yuyum Sanfong is considered the best example of classical Lingnan garden, having used features such as lintels with stone carvings, mock mountains made of stone heaps, geometric pool shapes, and massive use of wood carvings.
By regions
Guangdong's gardens have been the mainstream of Lingnan gardens. They have been noted for their inclusion of stone heaps as mock mountains, slowly rising roofs and alleys, various sculptures and carvings, contrasting colors of blue and green, and plants that bloom in all four seasons. Guangxi's gardens tend to be based more on natural landscapes, manifested in stone cliffs and engraved walls.
Characteristics
Overall, the most commonly discussed characteristics of Lingnan garden include:
Layout
Lingnan garden primarily utilizes courtyard layout. The use of courtyard is a prominent trait of Lingnan garden, whose smallness and fineness are said to be comparable with those of classical Japanese garden. The vast majority of private Lingnan gardens use courtyard layout.
Elements
Artificial mountains
When it comes to artificial mountains (Jyutping: Gaa2 saan1; Traditional Chinese: 假山), Lingnan garden utilizes (1) cliffs; (2) islands; (3) artificial reefs; and (4) heaps. This style rarely uses mud to build artificial mountains.
Water
Lingnan garden is said to be heavily based around control of water, involving waterways of various patterns: (1) "cliff-waterfall-depth" pattern; (2) lake pattern; (3) depth without waterfall; (4) curving waterways; and (5) wellspring.
Stones
Lingnan garden uses a different set of stones from those used by Jiangnan and Northern Chinese gardens. It utilizes local minerals such as Minnan granite, Hainan coral stone, and Taiwan Guru stone. Gardens of this style prefer not to stack up its stones, but instead have them spread outward horizontally, with various methods and patterns of outward spreading.
Architecture
Lingnan garden uses towers, bridges, and corridors. This style either uses "high walls and cold lanes" to divide a garden into a combination of multiple courtyards, or simply connect the buildings and the courtyards as one single whole. The architecture involves high pillars, wide corridors, and thick walls. "Three carvings and three sculpting" (Jyutping: Saam1 diu1 saam1 sou3; Traditional Chinese: 三雕三塑) – carvings made of wood, brick and stone, and sculptures made of clay, mud, and granite – are prevalent. Classical Lingnan gardens utilize full gardens of three carvings and three sculpting, as shown in Bou Mak Garden (Jyutping: Bou2 mak6 jyun4; Traditional Chinese: 寶墨園, literally "Garden of Treasure and Ink") in Panyu. Buildings in Lingnan garden are typically constructed in classical Lingnan style.