DONGJING MENG HUA LU / 卷七
駕幸瓊林苑
The garden across the road.
Qionglin Garden faces the pond across the avenue: old pines, orchards leased to wine sellers, and a Zhenghe-era hill planted with flowers sent up from the far south.
ENTER THE GARDEN ↓1. The garden opposite.
駕方幸瓊林苑，在順天門大街，面北，與金明池相對。大門牙道，皆古松怪柏。兩傍有石榴園、櫻桃園之類，各有亭榭，多是酒家所占。苑之東南隅，政和間創築華觜岡，高數丈，上有橫觀層樓，金碧相射；下有錦石纏道，寶砌池塘，柳鎖虹橋，花縈鳳舸。其花皆素馨、末莉、山丹、瑞香、含笑、射香等，閩廣二浙所進南花。有月池、梅亭、牡丹之類，諸亭不可悉數。
The emperor then visits Qionglin Garden, which stands on the great avenue of the Shuntian Gate, facing north, directly opposite the Golden Bright Pond. The paved way from the main gate is lined with old pines and strangely shaped cypresses. On either side are pomegranate orchards, cherry orchards and the like, each with pavilions and terraces, mostly occupied by wine sellers. In the southeast corner of the garden, in the Zhenghe period, the Huazui Ridge was built, several zhang high. On top are a long viewing gallery and storied towers whose gold and green flash at one another; below are winding paths of patterned stone, jeweled embankments around ponds, willows that lock the arched bridges, and flowers that wreathe the phoenix boats. The flowers are all suxin, moli (both jasmines), shandan, ruixiang (daphne), hanxiao (michelia), shexiang and the like, southern flowers presented from Min, Guang and the two Zhe. There are also moon pools, plum pavilions, peonies and the like, and the pavilions cannot all be counted.
The entry places the garden before it describes it: on the avenue from the Shuntian Gate, facing north, directly opposite the pond. Read with entry 53, which puts the pond north of that street, the two grounds face each other across the avenue. The approach is old trees; the orchards on both sides have their own pavilions, and most of them are held by wine sellers, so the commercial occupation noted at the pond continues here. The only dated construction is the Huazui Ridge of the Zhenghe period, described by height, gilded towers, paths, pools and bridges. The flowers are listed by provenance: the south (Fujian, Guangdong and the two Zhe regions) supplies the capital’s planting, and the verb 所進 marks them as presented, not bought. Nothing happens in the entry. The emperor’s visit is announced and then forgotten in the inventory.
Three small decisions.
The Siku witness reads 高數丈. Modern editions read 高數十丈 (“several tens of zhang”). The page keeps the Siku wording, the smaller figure, and does not adopt the larger.
The text writes 末莉 for the flower usually written 茉莉 (jasmine). The page keeps the witness spelling and glosses it.
It is unclear whether 月池 and 梅亭 are garden features or flower names. The page reads them as features beside the peonies and does not press the point.
The imperial garden on the south side of the avenue, opposite the Golden Bright Pond.
An artificial hill built in the garden’s southeast corner in the Zhenghe period.
The paved approach lane running from the gate into the grounds.
Flowers brought up from Fujian, Guangdong and the two Zhe regions.
The reign period (1111–1118) in which the ridge was built.
The sellers who occupy most of the orchard pavilions.
Entry 55 is an inventory under an emperor’s name: pines, orchards, a built hill and flowers from the south. Its function is spatial: it fixes where the garden stands before the next entry moves to the tower and the halls behind it.
兩傍有石榴園、櫻桃園之類，各有亭榭，多是酒家所占。The inventory is Meng’s. The punctuation is editorial.
The primary text is read from the Siku-family witness (Kanripo KR2k0111, 卷七); punctuation and the standardization of Siku variant glyphs are editorial. The Siku 剙→創, 栢→柏 and 華觜 are standardized silently; 末莉 is kept as written.