全屏显示专题章节

To be honest,my fi rst book should have been my earliest book.However I am a person with a wide range of interest.My earliest books are not on the line of my profession,for example,the Biography of Poet Xu Zhimo（徐志摩年谱）.This biographical writing is the brainchild of an emotional impulse.Besides,I wrote miscellaneous monographs on architecture.They are based on some materials I collected occasionally.The fi rst book I wrote in real earnest should be the Suzhou Gardens.It was completed in 1956.This is the fi rst book on a systematic study and discussion of Suzhou gardens after 1949 when the People’s Republic of China was established.

In early nineteen fi fties,I was a teacher in the Architecture Department of Tong Ji University in Shanghai（上海同济大学）.At the same time I did some spare-time teaching at Su Nan Industrial College in Suzhou（苏州苏南工专）.These classes were scheduled on Saturday morning.I took the night train on Fridays,stayed in a hotel near Guan Qian Jie（观前街）.Earlier next morning I went to the college located at Cang Lang Pavilion（沧浪亭）to teach my class.After taking a siesta,I rambled in the gardens,with notebook,camera,tape measure and scratch paper at hand.“I watch leisurely mosses and berries,as my migrant interest dictates.”I enjoyed the sceneries and recorded their beauty at will.On early Sunday morning,I entered the gardens again.At noon,with a pot of fragrant tea and a dish of pastries,I sat by the rockeries to savor my snack.At that time,there were few viewers in these gardens.I could linger around as long as I wish.Excited by the scenes,I was not aware of the drowsiness.It was not until sunset that I left gardens with full satisfaction,and took the train back to Shanghai.My kids were waiting for me at the door and were elated with the Suzhou delicacies I brought back.Now they are as old as I was at that time.It is already the era of my next generation when the second edition of my book Suzhou Gardens came to light in Japan the year before last.

I did the same every week for the next few years.I derived great pleasure from the excursions.Then I started to write the book based on the material and the thoughts I accumulated during this period.My viewpoints presented in the book are abstracted from the factual materials I have collected,and so,I believe,are fully substantiated.Touring the gardens triggered noble sentiment.Chinese gardens in essence catered to artists and men of letters.Therefore,the design and construction are underlined by poetic grace and picturesque romance.So naturally when I sorted out and edited the photographs I had taken of the gardens,I recalled those sentences and phrases from our ancients’ poems.I entitled each photo with words or phrases from Song ci.As a result,I unwittingly turned a professional book on garden architecture into a literary writing.This seemed an act of originality on my part.After it was published,the book was highly acclaimed by the readers.But later in 1958,to my surprise,I became a target of criticism for the so called feudalistic scholar’s ideas in the book.I had no way out but to bow to these accusations against the alleged outworn concept of mine.Almost 30 years later,with the new-emerging advocacy of closer integration of science with humanities,garden construction began to be imbued with artistic imagination and poetic inspiration.My much depreciated“absurdities”of the past was again highly appreciated by the public.“Smiling with tears”is what my fi rst book off ers me.

My first book left me with a bit of“trauma”,but I have not been disheartened.In these years I have never relaxed my eff orts to write and up till now made much headway.To a learner,perseverance is the mostimportant motive force in life.There is no easy path in one’s career.Sink or swim,all depends on whether one has courage to pursue the objective one has correctly chosen.I have a very peculiar aftertaste each time I pick up my fi rst book.“Three decades of joy and woe all arise from Suzhou;On recalling it I’m still tender-hearted and full of yearning.”My passion for Suzhou and its gardens is still smouldering,to tell you the truth.

I am gaining on age now.However,“The Heaven pities the somber grass;The Earth cherishes the golden twilight.”I expect to spend the remainder of my life writing more books in dedication to my beloved people and country.