Feminine beauty and particularly in youth, can rarely be denied;
just as is, the aged beauty in the nature surrounding us all......
None of these natural objects, were transformed in just -
" the twinkling of an eye."
Let us here - attend to just three things........
Nowadays, mankind's scavenge necessitates taking Chinese garden rocks, from wherever they can be still found or are yet to be unearthed.
The later, may mean, even more exquisitely delightful specimens are to be discovered, still.
In his book " The Craft of Gardens," - Master China & Chinese garden craftsman Ji Cheng asked a rhetorical question, along the lines of;
what do the masses know about the beauty of Huangshan ?
Now he was hardly suggesting that people, did not appreciate Huangshan's mountainous beauty, as such, surely.
We believe, he would have been referring to the point of proximity & scale.
Similarly, further on he offers, that Huang rocks, typified by those commonly found in Huangshan, Yaofengshan and Tushan; were considered unworkable, course by nature and described critically as hefty. [ scale ]
He constantly however, seems as if, to pay tribute to the master craftsman of all creation.
Along the way, he also states that rocks from " The Great Lake," had been the most famous;
right from ancient of times.
So. let's take a little more time, to break down these China & Chinese garden rocks; as to their uses.
Way back then, the best Taihu garden rocks with:
twists & turns
grooves
holes, either bullet or eye holes
hollows
perforations [ grey bones ]
were found at the waters edge, in Xiaoxia Bay.
San Bing, produced some blue through black, Taihu like rocks, of very fine quality.
Yixing County rocks, similar to Taihu ones, were used also, however, they were not considered as good for mountain construction.
Then there were those from Green Dragon Hill in Nanjing, with sizeable, distorted holes, for forming mountain bases or foots.
From Dragon Pool, near Nanjing and by the banks of the Yangtze; were collected grey, cracked, holed and interestingly wrinkled rocks, like those of " the Great Lake." for mountain sumits or foots.
Split peak mountain construction, owes it's due to the elegant rocks from Jinchuan and Yixing.
South of Zhenjiang, in the Xian mountains; yellow through grey-brown rocks, with interwoven holes, were sourced for mountain construction.
Lingbi County rocks, were uncovered from Stone Chime Hill and known for their marked twisting shapes and chime effects.
Please visit the Shanghai Museum of Popular Geological Science, through LINKAGE:
Jiangzhou's plank-like, grey, Hukou holed rocks, were found.
From Ningguo County; pure white [ snow like ] Xuan rocks and pure white, knobbly rocks were sourced from Kunshan.
Luhe County, produced fine agate [ translucent, even ] patterned pebbles, for effective use in China & Chinese garden streams etc.
Smaller Ying rocks from Yingzhou, of various colours and interwoven eyeholes;
were extracted for miniature landscapes and this takes us down a scale - to.......
Depicting scenes of Yellow Mountains in Huangshan of Anhui Province;
Jade-Green Pinnacles of Li River, in Guangxi Province; and Three Gorges of the Yangtze River.........
Let us briefly look at some of the exciting rock choices, that the Middle Kingdom, had and / or has, on offer
[ many others, not detailed here, such as Bauxite, Jade, Phosphatic rock and Stalactites, have also been used in the past, to great effect ].
Axe-cut rock - a kind of shale from Wujin County, Jiangsu Province; light grey, through earthen yellow - Tall and slender - Vertical grain - depicts steep cliffs & peaks.
Bamboo Shoot rock - greyish-green [ bamboo colour ] ; purple, hard rock, from Zhejiang Province.
Charcoal - water absorbent [from root material best ]; retains shape and doesn't easily rot - depicts mountain peaks.
Coloured rock - a type of limestone, grey & white; with integrated vertical lines - depicts steep mountain peaks.
Coral rock - white rock from South Eastern China [ ocean ], that is water absorbant; varies from soft to hard ( salt content ).
Lingbi rock - [ earlier referred in China & Chinese garden rock section, above ]; grey-black or light grey and hard rock, from Lingbi County in Anhui Province.
Magnesium rock - dark brown, with vertical veins and hard rock, from AnhuiProvince; slim by nature - depicts high mountain peaks & cliffs.
Petrified wood - siliconized wood, with tree signs remaining; yet very heavy rock characteristics.
Sand flake rock - a type of sandstone from riverbeds of Western SichuanProvince; green-grey and / or yellow-brown, with varied degrees of hardness - depicts vertical peaks & cliffs.
Sandstone - sedimentary, soft and porous rock [ can be harder with higher calcium content ], that is generally water absorbent; earthen yellow, through brown to red-brown. [ not frost hardy ].
Stone - Bamboo shoot rock - [ also for China & Chinese gardens ]; depicts mountain peaks.
Turtle shell rock - roundish, hard rock from Anhui, Sichuan & ShandongProvinces; natural and ancient appearance.
Xuan rock - hard, off-white through yellow & rusty rock from Anhui Province; sharp angular and containing cavities - depicts snow capped mountains.
Ying rock - a type of hard limestone from Yingde in Guangdong Province; grey or light grey, common to have white veins and may have cavities - depicts high mountains due to it being narrow & slim.
This is only a cross-section sampling of once availablepenjing rock, from China and as can be seen; quite a bit of it emanates from Anhui Province.
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![Suzhou [ Garden City ]](./../templates/Retro/img/navi/349934_n.gif?cc=1312091168898){kind=small}
Ooops! this just happened to be picked up, along the path, towards the rocks.
