孟兆禎

汪菊淵和吳良鏞兩位先生高瞻遠(yuǎn)矚地預(yù)見到新中國城市建設(shè)的需要，聯(lián)名上書主管部門建議成立造園專業(yè)。1951年成立了清華大學(xué)建筑系與北京農(nóng)業(yè)大學(xué)園藝系合辦的造園專業(yè)，首屆畢業(yè)生被授予了兩校合辦的畢業(yè)證書。

1952年，我在重慶南開中學(xué)畢業(yè)后幸運(yùn)地被北京農(nóng)業(yè)大學(xué)（現(xiàn)中國農(nóng)業(yè)大學(xué)）園藝系造園專業(yè)錄取，看到《人民日報(bào)》上發(fā)榜有我的名字時(shí)，高興得跳起來。當(dāng)時(shí)也不知道造園專業(yè)為何，誤以為是學(xué)種廣柑的，更要者是去北京看天安門和我嗜好的京劇。經(jīng)數(shù)日水陸交通且火車一夜未睡。到了北京興奮壓倒一切，在沙灘紅樓放下行裝直奔天安門。北京太大了，天安門端嚴(yán)壯麗，五星紅旗迎風(fēng)飄揚(yáng)，人頓時(shí)為之振奮。祖國太偉大了。

當(dāng)時(shí)的農(nóng)大在復(fù)興門外羅道莊，相當(dāng)于今玉淵潭公園中段西南。校舍布置緊湊，東門外便是玉淵潭碧綠一片。淺綠垂枝的柳樹，高聳深綠帶藍(lán)的鉆天楊，是散步的優(yōu)越環(huán)境，也是在大自然山水中清新學(xué)習(xí)的環(huán)境。

北京農(nóng)業(yè)大學(xué)的師資是很優(yōu)厚的，主要因?yàn)檫@所大學(xué)的師資是合并組成的，具有農(nóng)、林、園藝、建筑和園林多學(xué)科高水平的師資。以農(nóng)科而言，是由北京大學(xué)農(nóng)學(xué)院、清華大學(xué)農(nóng)學(xué)院等合成的。農(nóng)科的基礎(chǔ)課諸如土壤、氣象、植物學(xué)等均由著名教授開大課任教。大課總有數(shù)百學(xué)生在大教室上課。如土壤學(xué)由華孟教授主講，至今印象猶深，音容宛在。他為土壤下定義時(shí)說：“具有肥力的是土壤”，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)北京口音，聲洪氣足，口詞邏輯性強(qiáng)而清晰，字字送聽，便于學(xué)生記筆記。教昆蟲的老師上小班課，把本來似乎有點(diǎn)枯燥的課講得生龍活現(xiàn)。解析昆蟲生活史的規(guī)律，從而定治蟲方針，不僅有掛圖，更有小瓶子裝的鮮活蟲子，學(xué)生都叫他“蟲先生”?？荚嚨臅r(shí)候帶幾個小蟲考學(xué)生，要回答蟲的學(xué)名、生態(tài)習(xí)性、天敵和有效的防治方法。測量教師講授使用大小平板儀、水平儀等的原理和方法，并以北京中山公園為實(shí)習(xí)地點(diǎn)，帶學(xué)生住在園中測山水地形和建筑等。果樹老師帶干果、水果上課，實(shí)物識別，削成小片品嘗，加深口感印象。建筑課程由清華大學(xué)教師任教。畫法幾何學(xué)要通過平面認(rèn)識空間，金承藻先生在清華長期教授此課，把畫法原理和方法講得很透徹，并有大量習(xí)題課，這是專業(yè)畫鳥瞰圖的基礎(chǔ)。另有制圖課教畫水墨渲染、磨墨、過濾、分層渲染，繪畫課由中央美術(shù)學(xué)院的教授任教。

我有幸成為1952級造園專業(yè)一年級新生，乃是人民賦予我的希望，以造園服務(wù)人民。后來我才知道汪菊淵先生是把我班作為實(shí)驗(yàn)班來辦的，借此積累經(jīng)驗(yàn)再擴(kuò)大招生和發(fā)展學(xué)科。汪先生和吳先生帶著清華的朱自煊先生和農(nóng)大的陳有民先生為我們編制了培養(yǎng)目標(biāo)和教學(xué)計(jì)劃。汪先生在全國召集了高水平的師資，為我們開設(shè)園林藝術(shù)課程和公園花園設(shè)計(jì)課程的孫筱祥先生就是從國立浙江大學(xué)農(nóng)學(xué)院借調(diào)而來的，先借后調(diào)，把我們領(lǐng)進(jìn)中國傳統(tǒng)園林設(shè)計(jì)之門。學(xué)生進(jìn)了門才能終生修行，逐步積累成材把寶貴的傳統(tǒng)園林傳承下去。汪先生宣講的中國古代園林史課程（圖1）告訴我們中華民族有獨(dú)特、優(yōu)秀的園林傳統(tǒng)，并號召學(xué)生深入挖掘和發(fā)揚(yáng)光大。我們有幸把民族傳統(tǒng)印在心中并為之奮斗終生。在學(xué)習(xí)國外經(jīng)驗(yàn)方面，主要通過汪先生開設(shè)的外國園林史課程（圖2）和反映當(dāng)時(shí)蘇聯(lián)先進(jìn)經(jīng)驗(yàn)的城市及居民區(qū)綠化課程使學(xué)生了解城市綠化規(guī)劃和設(shè)計(jì)的原理和方法。汪先生英文水平很高，但沒有學(xué)過俄文，又無中譯教材，汪先生夜以繼日地閱讀俄文原著，譯為中文為我們開講。老師講課時(shí)眼睛布滿紅血絲還要打起精神為我們講課，我們深為感動。還指導(dǎo)我們做綠化設(shè)計(jì)，頭一題目為北京某幼兒園綠化設(shè)計(jì)。植物材料必須絕對安全，無毒無刺，借植物啟迪幼兒的自然知識，如季節(jié)更替和植物的人文知識等。通過設(shè)計(jì)看地形，設(shè)計(jì)和制圖把理論和實(shí)踐結(jié)為一體。汪先生還帶我們參觀古代園林實(shí)習(xí)。我們班就7個人，四女三男，夏天汪先生請我們吃冰棍，現(xiàn)場講中國園林史。畢業(yè)后，帶我們做明清北京宅園的科學(xué)研究，給我們鑄定了研究中國傳統(tǒng)園林的學(xué)術(shù)方向。

1 中國古代園林史課程講義（1980 年鉛?。㏕he lecture notes of the History of Ancient Chinese Gardens (letterpress printing in 1980)

2 外國園林史課程講義（1981 年鉛?。㏕he lecture notes of the History of Foreign Gardens(letterpress printing in 1981)

汪先生常給我們講園藝與造園的共性和區(qū)別，使我們明確園林設(shè)計(jì)是學(xué)科的中心。他請來的孫筱祥先生忠實(shí)和優(yōu)秀地完成了這項(xiàng)艱巨的任務(wù)。1949年中華人民共和國成立，20世紀(jì)50年代初他就受聘于杭州市副市長余森文先生，完成了花港觀魚公園的設(shè)計(jì)。這本是西湖十景之一，但當(dāng)時(shí)只剩下亭內(nèi)石碑。孫先生守正創(chuàng)新，根據(jù)原有意境開出了花港，設(shè)計(jì)了觀魚，也種了雪松大草坪供團(tuán)員和少先隊(duì)過隊(duì)日，并精巧地設(shè)計(jì)了自然式的牡丹園，吸取了英國自然風(fēng)景園大草坪做法。他當(dāng)時(shí)并沒出過國，他告訴我們是學(xué)習(xí)了上海中山公園英式高爾夫球場的草坪。全園文人自然山水布局都有規(guī)劃圖紙，大草坪和觀魚的花港以及牡丹園都有等高線的施工圖。山石駁岸結(jié)合水生植物有平面和斷面圖，還有鋼筆和淡彩鳥瞰圖，體現(xiàn)了集書法、繪畫、詩詞和印章于一身的傳統(tǒng)，成為我朝思暮想追逐的境界。中國傳統(tǒng)園林藝術(shù)簡直就像烙印一樣打在我們身上。孫先生說他是中國現(xiàn)代園林設(shè)計(jì)之父，這還是很實(shí)在的。他的書法繪畫輔佐了園林設(shè)計(jì)，讓學(xué)生逐漸學(xué)得“以文載道”和“山水以形媚道”的真功夫，不僅理論有很深的傳統(tǒng)性，而且動手能力強(qiáng)，手把手地教學(xué)生。講到植物種植設(shè)計(jì)時(shí)，更煥發(fā)出了他的專長。他的大學(xué)本科就讀于國立浙江大學(xué)農(nóng)學(xué)院，不僅正規(guī)地學(xué)習(xí)了園林樹木和花卉園藝，還非常重視課外實(shí)踐。他認(rèn)識很多植物并熟知它們的拉丁學(xué)名，為了認(rèn)識植物，他懇求采標(biāo)本的老師傅帶他上山，老師傅鑒定植物的手段有很多，不僅用眼睛觀察，而且用鼻子嗅，甚至放在口中細(xì)嚼其味，準(zhǔn)確確定植物的種和品種。有了豐富的植物知識，再結(jié)合中國山水畫中植物布置上升到理論為我們講“花木情緣易逗，園林意味深求”。植物種植的類型總結(jié)出孤植、對植、樹叢、樹群、樹林。樹叢講三株、四株、五株、七株怎樣搭配出畫意，與建筑、山水和山石如何組合，生動出彩，令學(xué)生永記心中。他的學(xué)術(shù)報(bào)告和發(fā)表的文章也是園林傳統(tǒng)藝術(shù)（圖3）。

3 孫筱祥著《園林藝術(shù)及園林設(shè)計(jì)》Garden Art and Garden Design, a representative work of Sun Xiaoxiang

他的學(xué)科知識廣泛深入，這與他“修行在個人”密切相關(guān)。地道農(nóng)民出身，可“泥巴腳板”卻又喜愛文化藝術(shù)，他哥哥是書法家，他自幼酷愛金石藝術(shù)，學(xué)習(xí)和研究木石刻圖章，而基礎(chǔ)必然是書法。我在他90歲時(shí)以我收藏最好的石料懇請他治印，他欣然接受，刻出“孟兆禎”三字下面都較長，不言而喻地教我“扎根學(xué)傳統(tǒng)、根深才葉茂”。我還經(jīng)?？此臅ㄅc繪畫，他既有中學(xué)書法繪畫的基礎(chǔ)，又有西學(xué)素描透視學(xué)的基礎(chǔ)。他先為自己定了學(xué)科方向，那就是傳統(tǒng)的園林藝術(shù)和園林設(shè)計(jì)，他的繪畫得到徐悲鴻大師的指導(dǎo)，最后感到自己建筑學(xué)得不夠，便到當(dāng)時(shí)的南京工學(xué)院求教于劉敦楨教授。他“讀萬卷書，走萬里路”積累了綜合的學(xué)識用于園林設(shè)計(jì)，在課余還參加師生聯(lián)歡，在燈謎會上他給大家出了一個字謎“春雨綿綿妻獨(dú)宿”，大家百思未解，最后他講“一”字，春雨綿綿是把“春”字去掉代表太陽的“日”字，妻獨(dú)宿再去掉“夫”字，最后只剩個“一”字，我方知處處有文化的根基，我學(xué)一輩子也學(xué)不完。我暗下決心，也要學(xué)做能書、會畫、可詩，能做文人寫意、山水園林設(shè)計(jì)之人。發(fā)現(xiàn)我業(yè)余為之癡迷的京劇和園林才是民族統(tǒng)一的文化載體。孫先生說人腦兩半，一半是管音樂的，他不擅長，學(xué)生不信，想嘗試一下。其實(shí)，孫先生的文藝修養(yǎng)是相當(dāng)高的，上課時(shí)提到受柴可夫斯基某樂章的交響感染，中華人民共和國成立前國立浙江大學(xué)話劇社演出有先進(jìn)性的話劇，擔(dān)任導(dǎo)演的就是孫筱祥先生。

1956年我本科畢業(yè)留校做教師，并值院系調(diào)整從北京農(nóng)業(yè)大學(xué)遷到北京林學(xué)院，那時(shí)地名稱肖莊，屬北京郊區(qū)，有人打野兔。我初出茅廬，非常惶恐，聽過來人的教師說，年輕的助教要承擔(dān)多方面的工作，不要挑肥揀瘦，于是我擔(dān)任了畫法幾何學(xué)、園林工程學(xué)兩門課程的助教并幫孫先生畫教學(xué)掛圖，我繪圖能力不強(qiáng)，更不習(xí)慣著彩色，為了讓主講教師滿意而練私功，未想為孫先生畫樹葉受病蟲害的掛圖竟得到孫先生的表揚(yáng)。我還擔(dān)任了1956級一個班的班主任，學(xué)生有事都來找我，過元旦一人交了多少錢，買什么花錢少而效果好。歸根結(jié)底是我如何進(jìn)修“師傅領(lǐng)進(jìn)門，修行在個人”。我請教了資深的外系教授，他們一致的意見是學(xué)好學(xué)科的基本理論和牢牢掌握基本技能。

我又向?qū)O先生請教園林設(shè)計(jì)的基本理論是什么，他介紹了3本古書，計(jì)成的《園冶》、李漁的《閑情偶寄》和文震亨的《長物志》，其中我認(rèn)為最難和最重要的是《園冶》，于是我籌款先后請了3位精通國學(xué)的老先生為我講《園冶》。第一位是汪雪楣先生，他是陳毅同志同班同學(xué)，他的湖南話我聽得懂，引經(jīng)據(jù)典講給我聽，似有頓開茅塞之感。第二位是王蔚柏先生，年齡很高了，在文學(xué)和書法方面很有造詣，從原文引到書法繪畫以增加我的認(rèn)識，特別是文學(xué)的“比興”和園林“借景”的溝通，使我初步體會到園林設(shè)計(jì)“遷想妙得”的要理。第三位是研究林業(yè)史的張鈞成先生，也是在云南結(jié)交的好友，他在主講中穿插討論，這樣又深入一層。這樣我對傳統(tǒng)的基本理論有了扎實(shí)的基礎(chǔ)（圖4～6）。

5 孟兆禎著《避暑山莊園林藝術(shù)》Landscape Art of Mountain Resorts, a representative work of Meng Zhaozhen

6 孟兆禎著《孟兆禎文集》Collected Works of Meng Zhaozhen, representative works of Meng Zhaozhen

學(xué)科的基本技能包括文學(xué)和繪畫兩方面，我自幼便對書法產(chǎn)生濃厚興趣，硯墨、紅土都練過字，開始喜歡顏?zhàn)?，豐滿端莊，有骨有肉，我念小學(xué)一年級時(shí)，鎮(zhèn)上油條豆?jié){鋪的老板要我給他寫“開堂”，這可樂壞我了，真有用。逐漸練歐、柳、隸體。大學(xué)畢業(yè)后練仿宋字和美術(shù)字，有一本線裝的《圓明園記》是珍仿版，筆畫挺拔，下筆如刀刻，字體清晰而秀麗，我從中總結(jié)了寫法，編成口訣用仿宋字寫出來。在制圖課程中邊講邊示范，后來青年教師教制圖時(shí)請我宣傳仿宋字。以前我仰慕人家寫美術(shù)字，開會或?qū)憳?biāo)語都用得上，要在比例勻稱、結(jié)構(gòu)豐碩、筆畫細(xì)膩，人家需要時(shí)我有求必應(yīng)，盡量使人家滿意，這樣便把工程印刷體字練出來了。對我而言，難在繪畫，要畫山水、建筑、山石和各種小品，不是一蹴而就的，山水參考文人山水畫和名師在學(xué)刊上發(fā)表的插圖，透視基本學(xué)會，畫鳥瞰圖就不必一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)求了。我照著《中國建筑史》后面屋蓋類型的附圖摹寫，有零碎時(shí)間就練，久之便可用白描畫鋼筆鳥瞰圖了。山石又是一個專項(xiàng)，參加韓良順師傅假山的跟班勞動學(xué)置石和掇山，做學(xué)生畢業(yè)論文的助教總結(jié)山石張（張蔚庭）的山石結(jié)構(gòu)十字訣，沒錢買石頭就找砂漿和撿煤核，把繩結(jié)做成小模型。其中有一段受激發(fā)的故事，我承擔(dān)了《中國古代建筑技術(shù)史》（圖7）置石和掇山章節(jié)的編寫任務(wù)，其中不少插圖，總編輯知我繪畫水平便說：“你先畫個草圖，我們再找人畫正式圖出版?！边@對我刺激很大，下決心要你們就用我畫的草圖。雖說不是十年寒窗苦，卻也是畫不好就撕，終于練成在打字紙上用毛筆表現(xiàn)山石技術(shù)。總編輯先請國畫師照我的圖畫，藝不印術(shù)，后請建筑師畫也不滿意，最后真用我的草圖由香港出版。

在我制定的學(xué)科基本技能中，最難實(shí)現(xiàn)的是置石和掇山設(shè)計(jì)。從讀萬卷書而言，我可以搜集深讀，行萬里路，我可以趁年輕盡可能跑遍三山五岳和十二洞天，天然山石之美可廣采博覽，難在假山施工我頂替不了假山師傅，唯有多方求師，北京的山子張、蘇州的山石韓、南京的王其峰師傅、杭州的樓建勇師傅，心中拜他們?yōu)閹煟退麄兞亩焉?，幫他們理論提煉，參加跟班勞動，學(xué)習(xí)相石和掇山要領(lǐng)，故察名假山園和琢磨置石要領(lǐng)，最后轉(zhuǎn)為能為師傅們接受的掇山模型設(shè)計(jì)。

提起模型又是各種困難，心中之山石畫都畫不好，哪里談得上做模型呢。20世紀(jì)70年代，廣州有位吳家松園林工藝美術(shù)師，專門學(xué)過雕塑而且有很多成功的作品，見面就很相投，為他做白云賓館高樓庭院中保留幾株小葉榕大樹的難題，從外師造化、道法自然而言，我提出了“榕根壁”之想，真假榕根，混假于真，過些年真的長出來覆蓋假的后，就融為一體，真假難分了。吳大師很贊成，而且他動手能力很強(qiáng)，頓時(shí)完成了生動形象的模型，向上匯報(bào)，馬上獲批，后來我也求他代制模型，無奈模型都大而重，難于搬運(yùn)。

還是要自力更生才能解決問題，開始嘗試以聚苯乙烯脂為骨，以橡皮泥為皮肉的做法。正好給西苑飯店做設(shè)計(jì)方案，骨架都搭好了，請清華學(xué)過雕塑的女研究生來貼橡皮泥假山模型，等著匯報(bào)，我在一旁觀察學(xué)點(diǎn)手藝。未料3個多小時(shí)后依然不現(xiàn)石形，剩下20多分鐘了，我用小鋼筆桿連雕帶捏，石形瞬時(shí)而出，胸中有山，丘壑、峰巒、洞穴、谷壑相繼而出，形象逼真，皆大歡喜。但橡皮泥模型溫度高容易變形，還是不理想，但確實(shí)建立了塑山的自信心。

用電烙鐵燙山書法與繪畫給了我很大的啟發(fā)。我用15 W的小電烙鐵不經(jīng)意地碰了一下聚苯乙烯脂，發(fā)現(xiàn)其不僅可隨意塑形，而且材料也意外地發(fā)生了變化。堅(jiān)硬如石表，用手去摸還扎手，這可喜出望外了，形和意解決了，還有色彩的問題。為了不掉色，決定用丙烯顏料。但聚苯乙烯脂不容易上色，更不能將顏色吸入里層。我在丙烯顏料里加一點(diǎn)肥皂粉，不僅能上色，而且還能被吸入里層（圖8）。

7 《中國古代建筑技術(shù)史》A History of Chinese Ancient Architectural Techniques

8 孟兆禎先生的假山設(shè)計(jì)模型Rockery models designed and made by Meng Zhaozhen

初作為北京宣武區(qū)（現(xiàn)西城區(qū)）大觀園內(nèi)薛寶釵的庭院，《紅樓夢》形容山石突兀高出墻外。寶釵長于心計(jì)、外柔內(nèi)陰，是個冷美人。于是假山中穿山洞，山上種帶刺白花的喬木。模型比例1∶100，做出來形象逼真。由蘇州韓良源師傅領(lǐng)班，相互配合。

第一個大作是北京奧林匹克森林公園，占地面積大而須多層疊水?？傄?guī)劃中景名“林泉高致”，這與古書名雷同，根據(jù)《園冶》中“時(shí)宜得致，古式何裁”的道理。當(dāng)時(shí)正是中國北京承辦奧運(yùn)會，中心思想是“同一世界，同一夢想”。

這夢想就是世界和平，戰(zhàn)爭時(shí)期停辦，和平時(shí)期倡辦。據(jù)此我建議景區(qū)名為“林泉奧夢”，意釋“奧，涵奧妙、奧秘等意”，就是奧運(yùn)過了，還可納入中國夢的遠(yuǎn)大志向。

先要修整現(xiàn)有土山，化陡坡為緩谷，改直為曲，重點(diǎn)部分打谷為壑，通過本區(qū)的園路均成為與掇山融為一體的路。奧運(yùn)會運(yùn)動員來自多國多方，故山泉之水源選擇潨泉，做土山時(shí)便用等高線和百分之一的模型做出主、次兩處水源，以派匯流，主流多泉或瀑，土山谷壑出來了，假山的基址便落實(shí)了，欲用巖壁石刻“異域同天”表同一世界，以“澄”名潭表示和平，毛主席詩詞有“玉宇澄清萬里?！?。故一個“澄”字就能代表和平。遺憾的是這些設(shè)計(jì)思想沒有落在地上，上面一段掇山由韓建國師傅領(lǐng)班，下面一段由韓良源師傅的女婿領(lǐng)班，通力合作，大功告成。當(dāng)時(shí)英國園林學(xué)會的主席到工地參觀，問到偌大工程的掇山如何完成設(shè)計(jì)的，我們?nèi)鐚?shí)相告，他表示敬佩。設(shè)計(jì)單位負(fù)責(zé)人趁大雨傾盆之時(shí)視察工地，發(fā)現(xiàn)有溪底漏水及時(shí)解決。在山麓規(guī)劃中大型茶室改為山洞茶寮。

沒有中國共產(chǎn)黨就沒有新中國，沒有新中國就沒有中國風(fēng)景園林學(xué)科。70年來之不易，理當(dāng)感謝領(lǐng)我們?nèi)腴T的師恩，學(xué)科發(fā)展成而今的規(guī)模和質(zhì)量，我們師生都要涌泉相報(bào)地感謝黨，在黨的長期陽光雨露下，學(xué)科的學(xué)會由原來附屬在建筑學(xué)會變?yōu)楠?dú)立的一級學(xué)科的學(xué)會，在周干峙院士任學(xué)會理事長時(shí)，恢復(fù)了中華人民共和國風(fēng)景園林學(xué)科在國際風(fēng)景園林師聯(lián)合會（IFLA）成員國的地位，學(xué)科的喉舌《中國園林》《風(fēng)景園林》無論內(nèi)容還是形式都達(dá)到國家核心刊物的水平，城市鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)園林綠化水平普遍提高。古代名山名園得到保護(hù)和修繕，人民對風(fēng)景園林教育、科研和建設(shè)實(shí)踐的質(zhì)量的滿意度日益提高。綠水青山和金山銀山的向往和實(shí)踐日漸深入人心。在脫貧的基礎(chǔ)上全面進(jìn)行現(xiàn)代化。習(xí)總書記要求我們攀高峰，師生們都要以實(shí)際行動貫徹執(zhí)行。2021年慶祝建黨百年華誕。黨要千秋萬代作為領(lǐng)頭雁傳下去。要化黨中央的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)為實(shí)際行動。致力于建設(shè)人類命運(yùn)共同體。習(xí)總書記最近指示，“堅(jiān)持中國特色世界一流大學(xué)建設(shè)目標(biāo)方向”，號召“努力構(gòu)建具有中國特色、中國風(fēng)格、中國氣派的學(xué)科體系、學(xué)術(shù)體系、話語體系”，我們當(dāng)作為長期建設(shè)不懈地貫徹，和美麗中國夢融為一體地促其實(shí)現(xiàn)，造福于人類命運(yùn)共同體，我們的目標(biāo)一定能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)。美麗中國的中國夢一定能實(shí)現(xiàn)。迎著困難而上的中國和平發(fā)展得到世界多數(shù)國家支持，我們都從內(nèi)心高呼慶祝中國共產(chǎn)黨建黨100周年，中國共產(chǎn)黨萬歲！

圖片來源：

文中所有圖片均由作者提供。

（編輯/劉昱霏）

Gratitude to The Communist Party of China for Nourishing Landscape Architecture Discipline: In Honor of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of Landscape Architecture Discipline

MENG Zhaozhen

Forecasting farsightedly the potential demand of urban construction of New China, Mr. Wang Juyuan and Mr. Wu Liangyong wrote jointly to the responsible authority to suggest establishing the major of Landscape Architecture. In 1951, the Department of Architecture of Tsinghua University and the Department of Horticulture of Beijing Agricultural University (now China Agricultural University) jointly inaugurated the major of Landscape Architecture with later awarding of cosignatory diploma to the first batch of graduates.

After graduating from Chongqing Nankai Middle School in 1952, I was fortunately admitted to the major of Landscape Architecture of the Department of Horticulture, Beijing Agricultural University. I jumped up with joy when I found my name in the enrollment announcement of thePeople’s Daily. As a matter of fact, I didn’t know at that time what the major was. I thought I was going to learn how to grow tangor. More excited than that,I would be able to go to Beijing to see Tiananmen Square and experience my favorite Peking Opera.After several days of travel by land and water with a sleepless night on train, I finally arrived in Beijing.I was so overjoyed that I put down my luggage at the Red Building in Shatan Area to go straight to Tiananmen Square. “Beijing is so big and Tiananmen Square is so magnificent,” Facing the fluttering Five-Starred Red Flag in wind, I felt immediately inspired,“My motherland is so great.”

At that time, Beijing Agricultural University was located at Luodaozhuang of Fuxingmenwai Area (now the southwestern part of the middle section of Yuyuantan Park). The campus buildings were arranged compactly, with the East Gate facing the green and vigorous Yuyuantan Park. The light green willows with drooping branches and the tall dark bluish-green lombardy poplars provided not only a superior environment for walking, but also a good learning environment in natural landscape.

Beijing Agricultural University has a strong faculty, primarily because it integrated high-level teachers from multiple collages and disciplines,including agriculture, forestry, horticulture,architecture and landscape architecture. As far as the discipline of agriculture is concerned, the faculty in Beijing Agricultural University was an aggregate of the College of Agriculture of Peking University, the College of Agriculture of Tsinghua University, etc. The fundamental courses of agriculture, such as Soil Science, Meteorology and Botany were taught by well-known professors in lectures usually with hundreds of students in big classrooms. For example, the course ofSoil Sciencewas taught by Professor Hua Meng. I have a deep impression of him and seem to see his smile and hear his voice today as clearly as if he was standing beside me. I remember that he defined the term “soil” as “a matter that has fertility”,with a standard Beijing accent and full rich voice.His sound logic of expression and much explicit lecturing allowed students to take notes easily.The teacher of the Entomology course that had a small class could always bring a boring lesson to life. He taught us how to analyze the regularity of insect life to put forward a treatment strategy accordingly. In his class, there were not only wall charts and pictures, but also live insects in small bottles. Hence, the students nicknamed him “Mr.Insect”. For the examinations, he would bring a few small insects and require his students to make replies to the scientific names, ecological habits,predators and effective control methods of these insects. For the Mensuration course, the teacher taught us how to use sizes of plane tables and gradienters. Taking Beijing Zhongshan Park as a fieldwork site, he would take us to live in the park to survey the landscape terrains and architectures.The teacher of Pomology course often took fresh and dried fruits to classroom for identification by the students. Sometimes, he would cut the fruits into small pieces for us to taste to deepen our impression on fruit species. The Architecture course was taught by a teacher from Tsinghua University.To learn Descriptive Geometry, the students need to understand space through plane. Mr. Jin Chengzao had long taught the course in Tsinghua University. He explained the principles and methods of drawing thoroughly and gave a lot of exercise assignments to consolidate the basis for aerial view drawing. For the drawing course, the students could learn ink rendering, ink grinding, filtering, and layered rendering. The painting course was taught by a professor from Central Academy of Fine Arts.

As a fortunate freshman of Grade 1952 of the major of Landscape Architecture, I believed it is the people that gave me hope so it is my mission to serve the people with my commitment to the profession. It was not until later that I learned that Mr. Wang Juyuan took our class as an experimental class to accumulate experience so as to expand enrollment and develop the discipline. Mr. Wang and Mr. Wu, together with Mr. Zhu Zixuan from Tsinghua University and Mr. Chen Youmin from Beijing Agricultural University prepared the teaching objectives and syllabuses for us. Then Mr.Wang convened a team of well-qualified teachers from all over the country. For example, Mr. Sun Xiaoxiang who taught the courses of Garden Art and Park Garden Design was seconded from Agriculture College of Zhejiang University. It was him who ushered us into the Chinese traditional landscape design. Only after a learner entered the academic door can he or she become a practitioner accumulating persistently practical experience and passing scholarly on the precious traditional gardens to the next generation. In the course of History of AncientChinese Gardens (Fig. 1), Mr. Wang unfolded the unique and excellent garden culture of the Chinese nation and called on the students to deeply explore the tradition and carry it forward.It was a great honor to have the national tradition imprinted in our mind and strive for it in our lives.In addition, I had the opportunity to learn foreign experiences, mainly from the course of the History of Foreign Gardens (Fig. 2) given by Mr. Wang and other courses reflecting the advanced urban and residential greening practices of the Soviet Union to deepen students’ understanding of principles and methods of urban greening planning and design.Mr. Wang had a good command of English, but he studied few Russian. With no Chinese version teaching materials, Mr. Wang spent days and nights reading the original Russian works to translate them into Chinese before he started each class. I still remember that with bloodshot eyes he gathered his strength to give lectures for us. We were deeply moved. Besides, he guided us to do greening design with the first project for a kindergarten in Beijing. The plants must be absolutely safe, nontoxic and thornless and can enlighten children to acquire some knowledge about the nature such as seasonal change in addition to general humane knowledge of plants. Through terrain survey,design, and drawing, we learned how to integrate theory and practice. Mr. Wang also took us to visit ancient gardens onsite. My class consisted of only 7 students, four girls and three boys. In summer,Mr. Wang treated us ice suckers when lecturing on the History of Chinese Gardens. After our graduation, he led us on scientific research programs of Beijing private gardens of the Ming and Qing Dynasties which contributed to our academic orientation in Chinese traditional garden.

Mr. Wang often explained to us the similarities and differences between horticulture and landscape architecture, which made us realize that landscape design is the core of the discipline. Mr. Sun Xiaoxiang invited by Mr. Wang had faithfully and excellently completed this arduous course task. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China was founded.In the early 1950s, Mr. Sun was employed by Mr. Yu Senwen the vice mayor of Hangzhou to complete the design of Viewing Fish at Flower Pond Park which was one of the top ten scenes of the West Lake, but at that time there was only the stone tablet remained in the pavilion. Mr. Sun with his inheriting and innovating spirit made the design of new flower pond, fish watching area according to the original artistic conception, along with the Cedar lawn plantation for members of the Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers to spend their activity days. In addition, he designed a natural peony garden by referring to the British practice of large lawn in natural landscape gardens.He had never been abroad before that, and he told us that he learned the practice of the lawn of the English-styled golf course of Shanghai Zhongshan Park. There were planning drawings for the layouts of all natural landscapes for the park including the contour construction drawings for the lawn, the flower pond, fish watching area and the peony garden. The plane and section drawings as well as the pen and light color aerial views of the combination of rockery and stone revetment with aquatic plants reflected the genuine tradition of integrating calligraphy, painting, poetry and seal which is a higher stage I had aspired for all day and night. Chinese Traditional Garden Art imprinted us like a brand. Mr. Sun said that he is the father of modern Chinese landscape design, which is true. His calligraphy and painting complemented his landscape design enabled his followers to gradually learn the real skill of“carrying philosophy in words” and “favoring philosophy through landscaping formations”. His classes contained deep-rooted traditional theories and required good hands-on ability. He often taught his students in person hand by hand. When it came to planting design, he showed his expertise.He studied in Agriculture College of Zhejiang University as an undergraduate where he not only systematically studied Landscape Dendrology and Floriculture with plenty of field practices. He knew many plants and their Latin names. In order to know more plant species, he entreated favor from the plant specimen-collecting staff to take him into the mountains. The staff was experienced in identifying plants by observing plants with his eyes,by smelling and sometimes by chewing and tasting to accurately identify the species and varieties. With a wealth of plant knowledge and combined with the theory of planting layout in Chinese landscape painting, Mr. Sun would tell us that “It is easy to find flowers and trees pleasing, and it is difficult to find out the authentic meaning of landscape settings.” He summarized the planting regimes into solitary planting, symmetrical planting, group planting, group patch planting and forest planting.For example, when talking about group planting,he impressed the students by illustrating how the three, four, five and seven trees can be taken as units for planting design to reflect the artistic inspiration to match vividly and outstandingly with the architecture, landscape rocks, etc. His academic reports and publications are also regarding traditional garden arts (Fig. 3).

His extensive and in-depth disciplinary knowledge came from his immense efforts.He was born a genuine farmer, but he loved culture and art. His elder brother a calligrapher keen on epigraphical art, thus since childhood he studied wood and stone engraving on basis of his calligraphy skills. When he was 90 years old, I pleaded him for seal cutting with the best stone I’ve collected. He agreed with pleasure and engraved my name “孟 兆 禎”. The three carved Chinese characters presents relatively long strokes for the lower parts reminding apparently me of“taking deep roots in learning traditions to grow luxuriant leaves”. I often read his calligraphy and paintings to find that he has both the foundation of traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting and the foundation of western perspective of sketch. He first set himself a discipline orientation,that is, the traditional garden art and landscape design. He was instructed by Master Xu Beihong in painting, but he felt he was not good enough in architecture, so he then went to the Nanjing Institute of Technology to seek instructions from Professor Liu Dunzhen. He had accumulated his intelligence strength and practical expertise of landscape design by “reading thousands of books and travelling thousands of miles”. After class, he would participate in teacher-student get-togethers.At a lantern riddle gathering, his word puzzle “the spring rain keeps falling and the wife sleeps alone”baffled everyone. In the end, he said the answer was the Chinese character “one (一)”. He further explained, “the spring rain keeps falling” means the sun is missing, hence one removes the character“sun (日)” from the character “spring (春)”,and then since “the wife sleeps alone” means the husband is not home, then the character “husband(夫)” is meanwhile removed from the character to get the final answer character “one (一)”. Only by then had I realized that cultural foundations were everywhere in life and I could not finish learning them all in my lifelong journey. I then made up my mind to learn to become a person who can not only write, draw and compose, but also can make literati landscape design. Later I found that Beijing Opera and gardens which I am obsessed with in my spare time are both true consolidated cultural carriers of the nation. Mr. Sun said, “a human brain has two halves, and one half is in charge of music which I am not good at.” The students didn’t believe and wanted to challenge him. In fact, Mr.Sun has quite good artistic accomplishment too.In class, he mentioned that before the founding of new China, affected by the symphony of one of Tchaikovsky’s movements, the Drama Society of Zhejiang University performed advanced dramas,and the director was Mr. Sun Xiaoxiang.

In 1956, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree to become a teacher in my college. At the time of department adjustment, I was transferred from Beijing Agricultural University to Beijing Forestry College (now Beijing Forestry University)located at Xiaozhuang area, a Beijing suburban site where people came to hunt rabbits. It was at the beginning of my career and I felt nervous when I was informed by elder teachers that young teaching assistants should take on many tasks and not be picky. Therefore, I took on the teaching assistant work of two courses, the Descriptive Geometry and Landscape Engineering, and helped Mr. Sun draw teaching wall charts. At that time, I was neither good at drawing nor used to applying colors. In order to satisfy the lecturer, I practiced a lot in my spare time.I had not imaged that I was praised by Mr. Sun for my wall chart drawings of leaf diseases and insect pests for him. In addition, I was appointed as the class instructor of one class in Grade 1956. Students would come to me whenever they needed help.Before the celebration of one New Year, they asked me how much everyone should hand in and how to be cost effective when buying things? In the final analysis, it is a matter of how I cultivate myself by following the motto “The master teaches the trade,but the apprentice’s skill is self-made”. I consulted several senior professors in other departments, and their consensus was to mater the basic theory and master the basic skills of the discipline.

I also asked Mr. Sun what was the basic theory of landscape design, and he introduced me the three ancient books, Ji Cheng’sYuan Ye, Li Yu’sXian Qing Ou Jiand Wen Zhenheng’sZhang Wu Zhi, among which I believe the most difficult and important one isYuan Ye. I therefore invited three old masters proficient in traditional Chinese culture to explainYuan Yefor me. The first master was Mr. Wang Xuemei, a classmate of Comrade Chen Yi. I can understand his Hu’nan dialect, and he liked to quote from classics which did enlighten me now and then. The second master was Mr. Wang Weibai, a very old man with great accomplishments in literature and calligraphy. He started from the original text and expanded to calligraphy and painting to deepen my understanding. In particular,his explanation of “Bixing” (to express figuratively in literature) and “Jiejing” (to organize landscape settings by scenery borrowing) made me initially understand the essence of “imaginal thinking leads to magical achievement” for landscape design. The third one was Mr. Zhang Juncheng who studied forestry history. As my good friend met in Yunnan,he facilitated my understanding with discussions when giving me classes. In this way, I laid a solid foundation of the traditional basic theory (Fig. 4-6).

The basic skills of the discipline include literature and painting. I have had great interest in calligraphy since childhood and used inkstone and red clay to practice calligraphy. At the beginning, I liked the calligraphic style of Yan Zhenqing because the characters in this style appear plump and dignified like a life with full bones and flesh. When I was a first grade primary school kid, the owner of a breakfast shop of the town invited me to write a shop signboard “Kaitang” (meaning “open hours”) for him. This amazed me immensely. “The calligraphy is really useful”, I thought. Gradually, I practiced the calligraphy styles of Ouyang Xiu, Liu Zongyuan and clerical script. After graduating from college, I practiced the Fangsong calligraphy style and artistic calligraphy. I have a precious threadbound replica version ofThe Old Summer Palace Recordthat contains tall straight strokes and the writing resembles knife carving beautifully. The font is clear and elegant. I summarized the writing method to a pithy formula and wrote it down in Fangsong calligraphic style for demonstration in my drawing course. Some young teachers came to invite me to publicize my Fangsong calligraphy when they taught drawing courses. I once admired the calligraphers who could write artistic calligraphy, meeting the needs of writing banners and posters with Chinese characters symmetrically structured with full delicate strokes. Whenever my writing was requested, I offered help with my best calligraphic efforts. In this way, I was finally able to write engineering printing styled characters. For me, the prime difficulty is on drawing because the competence of drawing landscapes, architectures,rockeries and various structures is never achieved overnight. To learn landscape drawing, I referred to famous teachers’ and literati’s landscape paintings and illustrations published in academic journals.With primary grip of the perspective sketching there is little need to spend much time learning how to draw aerial views. I kept imitating the attached drawings of the roof types at the end of the bookChinese Architecture Historywhenever I had spare time. As time passed, I could draw aerial views with a line drawing pen. Learning how to draw rockery was another special project. I joined master Han Liangshun’s rockery team to learn how to set stones and build rockery and worked as a teaching assistant to help graduation thesis-writing students summarize ten-character formula regarding Zhang Weiting’s rockery structuring technique. I could not afford buying stones so used mortar, partly-burned coal balls instead and tied rope knots into small models.There was an inspiring story. Once time, I was assigned the task of compiling the chapter of stone setting and rockery building in the bookHistory and Development of Ancient Chinese Architecture(Fig. 7) that contained many illustrations. The chief editor knew my drawing level and said, “Just draw a sketch first, and then we’ll find someone to draw the formal version for publication.” These words irritated me so I determined to make them use my sketches. I could affirm my achievement from hardship year after year, but I did keep practicing despite of failures until I could artistically use a brush to draw mountain stones on typing paper.The chief editor first invited a traditional Chinese painter to imitate my drawings, but the effect was unsatisfactory. Then he invited an architect to draw,again not satisfied. In the end, he gave up and decided to publish my sketches in Hong Kong.

Among all basic discipline skills that I have specified, the most difficult skill is how to design stone settings and rockeries. To exercise the motto “reading thousands of books and travelling thousands of miles”, I can collect and read as many books as I can and spend my youth visiting all the high mountains and fairylands to witness widely the beauty of natural rocks. Nevertheless, it is difficult for me to replace the rockery masters in rockery construction. The only thing that I could do to make up for this was to learn from as many rockery masters as possible including the famous Zhang family in Beijing, Han family in Suzhou, Master Wang Qifeng in Nanjing and Master Lou Jianyong in Hangzhou. I regarded them as my teachers from bottom of heart,discussing with them about piling up rocks, helped them extract theories, participated in their attendant work, and learnt the essentials of selecting stones for rockery building. With every effort in observing famous rockeries to grasp the essentials of stone setting, I became finally able to put forward rockery model designs acceptable to the masters.

When mentioning the model, I remembered that I had more difficulties to overcome. As one that cannot well portrait the mountains in mind,how can a model be made properly? In the 1970s,Mr. Wu Jiasong the garden craft artist in Guangzhou specialized in sculpture had made many successful works. My first meeting with him came to be much congenial. In order to solve his problem of retaining several little-leaf banyan (Ficus microcarpavar.pusillifolia) trees in the courtyard of the highrise courtyard of the Baiyun Hotel, I put forward the idea of “banyan root wall” from the perspective of “l(fā)earning from nature and following the rule of nature”. The specific design is to mix the fake banyan roots with the real ones so that after years of growth of real roots to cover over the fake, they would be integrated to become undistinguishable.Master Wu could not agree any more. He was quick in action. With a vivid model finished very soon,he reported to the management and the proposal was approved immediately. Later, I invited him to make models for me too which however were unfortunately too large and heavy to transport.

I realized that I must rely on my own efforts to overcome difficulties. For a time I try to make models using polystyrene grease as “backbone” and plasticine as “flesh”. It happened that I was going to make a design scheme for Xiyuan Hotel. With the framework set up, I invited a female graduate student who had studied sculpture in Tsinghua University to paste up the plasticine rockery model. I stood beside her waiting, watching and also trying to learn some skills. But I didn’t expect that with more than three hours passed, there was still no shape of stones.With only about 20 minutes left, I started to carve and even pinch the plasticine with a small penholder.Then the shape of stones appeared instantaneously.With mountains in my heart, the gullies, peaks, caves and valleys came out of my pen vigorously one after another. The images were so vivid and everyone was satisfied. Although the plasticine model was easy to deform under high temperature, the event of innovation established firmly my self-confidence in building rockery models.

The application of electric soldering irons to make rockery models. Calligraphy and landscape painting inspired me significantly too. I accidentally used my 15-Watt electric soldering iron to touch the polystyrene grease to find that the polystyrene grease can be shaped at will and the materials changed unexpectedly too. It became as hard as a stone surface. When touching it with hand, I even feel prickly. I was pleasantly surprised. After solving the problems of forming and meaning, there was only the problem of color. In order to keep the color, we decided to use acrylic paint. However, the polystyrene grease does not dye easily with coloring material absorbed. Then I added a little soap powder to the acrylic paint, which easily resolved the two problems (Fig. 8).

The first work was Xue Baochai’s courtyard in the Grand View Garden in Xuanwu District (now Xicheng District), Beijing. In the bookA Dream of Red Mansions, the mountains, and rockeries were described as abrupt and higher than the wall.Xue Baochai was a cold beauty good at scheming,outwardly gentle but inwardly insidious. Therefore,I designed caves in the rockery and planted trees with spiny white flowers. The scale was 1:100 and the model was vivid. With Master Han Liangyuan from Suzhou as the foreman, we cooperated with others to put the model into reality.

The first masterpiece was the Beijing Olympic Forest Park which covers a large area and needs cascade waterfalls. In the master plan, the scenery“Lin Quan Gao Zhi” (forest waterfall hangs over)named after an ancient book is consistent with the principle of “adapting historical traditions to create updated formations to meet the development needs of the times” inYuan Ye. At that time, Beijing was hosting the Olympic Games, and the central idea was “one world, one dream”.

This dream is world peace. The Games would be suspended in time of war and hosted in time of peace. Therefore, I suggested that the scenery name could be changed into “Lin Quan Ao Meng”(Olympic dream hangs over forest waterfalls).“Ao (奧)” in Chinese means both Olympic and wonderful secrets. Even after the Olympic Games,the scenery name can be interpreted as the great ambition of the Chinese Dream.

The first step is to recondition the existing landform, change the steep slopes into gentle valleys, and straights into curves. For the key parts,valleys were made into steep gullies, and the roads in the park were integrated with hills and rockeries.The athletes of the Olympic Games come from different countries. Therefore, the mountain spring water are multiply sourced for merging.When making earth mountains, contour lines and 1:100 model were used to form the primary and secondary water sources to confluence. With the springs and waterfalls joining the main stream and formation of the earth mountains and valleys,the site base of the rockery could be determined.We once wanted to carve “Yi Yu Tong Tian”(worldly lands under the same sky) on rock wall to represent “one world” and to name the pond“Cheng (澄)” to represent peacefulness. As stated in Chairman Mao’s poems “The world becomes peaceful and dustless for thousands of miles”, the single character “Cheng” connotes peacefulness or tranquility. Unfortunately, these design ideas were not implemented in the end. The piled stone hills in the former section were constructed under the guidance of master Han Jianguo, and the latter section completed under the guidance of the sonin-law of master Han Liangyuan. The two teams worked together to achieve a great success. At that time, the chairman of The British Landscape Institute visited the construction site and asked how such a huge project design was completed.When we told him the truth, he expressed his great admiration. The person in charge of the design project inspected the construction site during a heavy rain and found water leakage at the bottom of the stream, which was solved in time. In the planning of piedmont, the large tea house in the original plan was changed into a cave tea house.

Without The Communist Party of China(CPC), there would be no new China. Without new China, the current landscape architecture discipline would be nowhere. The 70 years witnessed the indispensable contribution the first generation teachers who pioneered the discipline and guided us and whom we owe uttermost thanks. We teaching faculty and students today should thank CPC with actions. It is the warm grace and care of CPC that create conditions for Landscape Architecture discipline to develop in terms of both scale and quality as it is today. With the lasting grace nurturing and warm care of CPC, the society of the discipline has evolved from an affiliate of the Architecture Society of China to an independent first-class discipline society. When academician Zhou Ganzhi was chairing the society, the IFLA membership of the People’s Republic of China was regained. The mouthpieces journal of the discipline,Chinese Landscape ArchitectureandLandscape ArchitectureJournal in both content and form has reached the level of a core journal in China. Moreover,the landscape greening in cities and towns of the country has been generally improved. The famous ancient mountains and gardens are protected and repaired, and people become increasingly satisfied with the quality of landscape architecture education,scientific research, and quality of construction practices. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s philosophy of “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” are practiced and heartfeltly accepted by the nationals. On the basis of poverty alleviation, we are going to realize comprehensive modernization.General Secretary Xi Jinping requires us to scale new heights and all teachers and students should put his call into actions. In 2021, the whole country is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of The Communist Party of China who will pass on its prime leadership generation after generation.The leadership of CPC Central Committee will be materialized into practical actions to build up the“community with a shared future for mankind”.As instructed by General Secretary Xi Jinping recently, we shall “adhere to the goal and direction of building up world-class university with Chinese characteristics” and “strive to construct discipline system, academic system, and discourse system with Chinese characteristics, in Chinese style and in Chinese manner”. As a long-term endeavors,Xi’s instructions shall be implemented with our unremitting efforts by integrating with the “beautiful China” and “Chinese dream” and to benefit the community of common destiny for all mankind.Our goal will certainly be achieved, and the “Chinese dream” and “beautiful China” will surely come true. China’s peace oriented development in face of difficulties has received extensive support from most countries in the world. We all shout from bottom of our hearts to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of The Communist Party of China. Long live The Communist Party of China!

Sources of Figures:

All figures are provided by the author.

(Editor / LIU Yufei)

Translator: WANG Xiyue