During the reign of the Qing emperor Kangxi, the high-rank official Feng Pu built a garden estate called Yiyuan or Wanliutang in the east of Beijing’s outer city. Ten thousand willow trees created a spectacular forest garden, and there were rockeries with gentle hills and meandering streams designed by Zhang Ran, a master garden planner from the south of the Yangtze River. Feng Pu opened the garden to the public and often held ‘elegant gatherings’ with scholarly and cultivated friends, reciting and producing poetry. Studying historical literature enabled the author to explore the source of the garden theme, the construction process, landscape composition, and gardening ideas as well as the refined activities that took place in Wanliutang, in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of this famous private garden in Beijing during the Qing dynasty.
