看视频学英语:极度奢侈的私人花园探秘

Zhang’s Garden, one of the most extravagant private gardens that ever exisited in China, is no longer the landmark of Shanghai. Instead, all you can find now are Shikumen houses and alleys. In this documentary, we will visit some of the remaining buildings of Zhang’s Garden and with the help of historical documents and newspapers of the era, we want to bring you back in time to witness the prosperity of Zhang’s Garden.

According to “The Chronicle of Shanghai” by Cao Juren, Zhang Shuke was the owner of Zhang’s Garden. During the First Opium War, Zhang Shuke was one of the four head officers of Shipping Investment Inviting Bureau, the very first private shipping company in China. With the wealth he accumulated, it’s not a surprise that he could afford such a luxurious property.

Purchased from an English businessman, the place was reconstructed into a private garden for Zhang’s mother. After his mother passed away, he reconstructed the garden imitating the style of the Master-of-Nets Garden and the Lion Forest Garden in Suzhou. By the spring of 1885, it was opened to the public. Zhang soon retired, after a near death experience while traveling, and concentrated on bettering Zhang’s Garden.

The most famous building in Zhang’s Garden was Arcadia, located in the middle of the garden. Having great views and its own power station to support all the lamps and bells, it became the most advanced and luxurious building in China at that time. All the important events, balls and meetings were held in Arcadia.

Zhang’s Garden also had its own opera house. It was free to the public and every week hundreds of people would swarm the opera house for the show. “Mao’er Opera”, a kind of Peking opera performed solely by female performers, reached its peak popularity because of Zhang’s effort.

Zhang’s Garden gained a place in history not only because its extravagance—the historical events that happened there played an important role too. In the second part of this documentary, we will tell you all the memorable stories in Zhang’s Garden.

Being the most advanced and luxurious building in China, a lot of important events, balls and meetings were held in Zhang’s Garden.

In 1882, Shanghai Electric Company was established but the general public at that time was afraid of this new technology. In order to cast away this fear, Zhang’s Garden held a Lantern Fair using electricity. Zhang also introduced photography to Shanghai, twice a year, the studio would be opened to the public.

According to “Memorabilia of Shanghai in Modern Times”, Zhang’s Garden was the cradle of reform. Revolutionaries held thirty-nine meetings there. The most famous one was the “Braid Cutting Assembly”. The ex-vice-president of the Board of Punishment led over 2,000 people to cut their braids—an act to break the feudal system and sweep away the disgrace of the people.

In 1909, a foreign giant, Aupium, came to Shanghai claiming to be the strongest guy on earth and saying that Chinese are “Sick Men in East Asia”. His words angered all the people in China. The famous martial artist Huo Yuanjia was invited to Shanghai, where a match would be held in Zhang’s Garden. The foreign giant was scared and soon fled. This incident started a trend of learning kung fu in China.

In 1917, the first human body sketches exhibition done by the students of Shanghai Painting Art Academy was held in Zhang’s Garden. It was provocative enough to have nude body sketches, not to mention that they were all male models. Conservatives bashed the exhibition and threatened the man behind it, Liu Haisu, the founder of Shanghai Art School. In Zhang’s Garden, Liu announced that he would accept the challenge from all opposing forces and continued his course.

To end the documentary, we will bring you to a hospital that occupies one of the buildings in Zhang’s Garden. The leader of the reconstruction team preserved most of the original decoration like lanterns, French windows and western-style timepieces.