Strolling through Zhang Family Garden, I admire the landscape and view the flowers against the backdrop of Cangshan
Zhang Family Garden, a private garden at the foot of Cangshan Mountain, carries the Bai ethnic architectural art, historical heritage, and culture. Integrating local customs, it showcases the magnificent garden of 'Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon'.
Upon entering Zhang Family Garden, you are greeted by the beautiful camellias. But once inside the courtyard, you realize that what you're admiring is not just the flowers, but also the richly colored and splendidly grand residential courtyards.
With its three-sided halls and one screen wall, four-sided enclosures and five skylights, Begonia Spring Courtyard, and Western-style Yihong Garden, the buildings – towers, pavilions, platforms, and gazebos – are so exquisitely beautiful in this compact space, it's like a dream.
The halls, corridors, doors, and railings, even the inscribed plaques and couplets, are all ingeniously designed, a work of art by nature. The rooftop scenery is crafted, with pavilions standing atop the buildings. Climbing to the top feels like reaching the dome of the sky, overlooking the clear waters and bright snow, open and clear.
On March 1st at noon, after dining at the restaurant next to Zhang Family Garden with classmates, and urged by an old friend, my wife and I toured Zhang Family Garden, marveling at its intricate and artistic design.
The poem says:
Strolling through Zhang Family Garden
West of Erhai Lake, below Cangshan, Zhang Family Garden's palace shines bright.
Craftsmen create towers, pavilions, and gazebos with skill, halls and screen walls are artistic delights.
In the courtyard with skylights, corridors wind, steps and stairs stretch long.
Climbing to the rooftop to view the clear waters, turning back to see the snow on Cangshan's peak.
Address: North side of Guanyin Pond, Qiliqiao, Dali City, Yunnan Province
Ticket prices: Adults 90 RMB/person, Students 70 RMB, Half-ticket 45 RMB, Children under 1.2 meters in height and seniors over 70 years old free
Opening hours: 08:00~18:30