Liang Sicheng, History of Chinese Architecture, 02

(translated by Di Luo)


Emperor Yang ascended to the throne in 604 A.D. and instantly "started building the city of Dongjing in Yiluo".[3] "The grand city of Dongdu was seventy-three Li and a hundred and fifty Bu in perimeter... The imperial palace was five Li two hundred Bu east to west and seven Li south to north."[4] Streets and roads in the city were neatly arranged, such as "Duanmen Street...a hundred Bu wide, with cherries and pomegranate planted along both sides... Each Fang...had four gates, with the major one two-story-high, facing the street, and painted red... Grand streets and narrow alleys went perpendicular with each other." The imperial palace took Qianyang Hall as its main hall, "of which the foundation was nine Chi high, while two hundred seventy Chi was the distance from ground to Chiwei; thirteen bays, twenty-nine Jia, three Bixuan. The columns are 24 Wei in perimeter. Hanging lotus were leaning against the ceiling-grids, dazzling those who look up upon them... Daye Hall was smaller in scale compared to Qianyang, yet more luxurious... Daye, Wencheng, Wu'an...all had loquat, Haitang, pomegranate, Qingwutong and various trees and herbs planted in their gardens."[4] Also there were "Yuanjing Hall, enclosed by a continuous veranda, as the imperial library to keep scripts and statues."[4] "Dongdu's Guanwen Hall constructed its east and west wings to store "the books of the secret attic", with the east wing storing Jia and Yi (Jing and Zi) and the west wing Bing and Ding (Shi and Ji). Also collected were some famous handwritings and paintings since Wei Dynasty. Behind the hall raised two Tai: the east one was Miaokai Tai, storing handwritings; the west one was Baoji Tai, storing paintings."[5] To have archives and pieces of art discussed and stored together, and to have a specific building for them, as the notion of libraries and art museums of the later generations, was indeed initiated by Emperor Yang.

Emperor Yang's "West Paradise was two hundred Li in perimeter, within which sixteen courts were built, and meandering through was the Longlin Ditch... Each court had its gate next to the ditch; the ditch was twenty Bu in width with flying bridges spanning upon. Over the bridge about a hundred Bu, planted were poplars, willows, and tall bamboos; all around were luxuriant and exuberant with notable flowers and pleasing herbs, screening while shining upon the eaves and the steps. Among those there were Xiaoyao Pavilion, eight-sided, whose structure was so gorgeous that it surpassed any other pavilions past and present... Inside the paradise hills were built and seas were made, of which the perimeter was more than ten Li and the water was several Zhang deep; in the water there were three mountains named Fangzhang, Penglai, Yingzhou, three hundred Bu from each other. Mountains were as high as a hundred Bu above water with palaces and platforms on top...wind pavilions and moon platforms, all created by the way of nature, were rising or diminishing as if being miraculously mutated." The Ganquan Palace, "with an alternative name Fangrun Palace, was more than ten Li in perimeter. To the north it led to the West Paradise. Inside there were abundant hills and mounds, lofty peaks and winding mountain streams; all were elegant, fair, and spectacular." Pavilions, platforms, bridges, halls were in a large number, and "the pleasure and joy of touring and sightseeing, reached its top in here".[4]