China News Agency, Jiangxi Lushan, October 7th: Why does the Lushan villa group witness the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures?
——Interview with Zha Xiaorong, former director of Lushan City Museum in Jiangxi Province
China News Agency reporter Wu Pengquan Jiang Tao
Among the countless beauties of Mount Lu, the one that can provide the best footnote for the "Holy Mountain of Humanity", the Villas of Mount Lu is one of them.
This international villa community, which brings together the architectural styles of more than ten countries such as China, Britain, the United States, Germany, and France, highlights the architectural cultural characteristics of the East and the West?
What role has it played in promoting the integration of Eastern and Western cultures?
Zha Xiaorong, the former director of the Lushan City Museum in Jiangxi Province, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Questions".
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Agency reporter: Why is Lushan called the "Museum of Architecture of All Nations"? How did the Lushan Villa Group come into being?
Zha Xiaorong:
After the Second Opium War, Jiujiang, the "north gate of Jiangxi", became a trading port, and a large number of foreigners preached, traveled and traded here.
Jiujiang is hot in summer, but Lushan on the banks of the Yangtze River is very cool. Li Deli, a British missionary and businessman, wanted to build a house in the East Valley of Guling, Lushan.
In 1895, he obtained the lease right of the Changchong River Valley in Lushan Mountain through illegal means, and then established the Guling Development Company and began to build villas.
Since then, many foreigners and old Chinese dignitaries have come one after another to build small villas.
Since Li Deli first built a villa in Lushan, there were more than 1,000 villas in Lushan during the peak period, forming a large-scale villa group. There are still more than 600 villas, showing the architectural styles of more than ten countries such as China, Britain, the United States and France. .
Hundreds of villas in various poses are hidden in the shade of greenery, so Mount Lu is known as the "Museum of Architecture of All Nations".
A group of villas in Guling Town, Lushan Mountain, Jiangxi Province, surrounded by clouds.
(UAV photo) Photo by Liu Zhankun
Many of the villas in Lushan have fascinating stories.
Among them, Soong Meiling is the third owner of the "Meilu" villa. This British coupon-style villa is named after the word "beauty" in Soong Meiling's name.
There is also a "Pearl Buck Villa", which was built by the father of the Nobel Prize winner and American female writer Pearl Buck. For a long time, their family would go to Mount Lu for summer vacation every summer.
Meilu Villa.
Photo by Liu Zhankun
Reporter from China News Service: What architectural cultural characteristics and style of the times do the Lushan villas show?
Zha Xiaorong:
The villas on Mount Lu have various architectural styles, including Gothic, Romanesque and other Western architectural styles, Byzantine architectural styles with round domes, Islamic and Japanese architectural styles.
Hundreds of villas covering a variety of architectural schools from the East and the West coexist harmoniously here, forming a kind of solidified art.
Most of Lushan villas are European country-style villas with low floors, and many have only one or two floors.
The traditional Chinese building materials are mostly wood and soil, while the materials used in the Lushan Villa Group are mostly local materials. The outer walls are built with blue-gray rocks. The rocks are basically unpolished and retain the rough stone surface. The rocks are integrated.
In addition to rock walls, Lushan villas widely use flat geometric roofs. The roofs are mostly covered with iron nails and painted in red and green. The iron tiles are heat-resistant and cold-resistant, not easily deformed, and have practical functions of resistance to wind and ice and snow.
Most villas in Lushan contain European architectural elements such as fish scales and arch coupons, which are full of exotic flavors.
Lushan villas widely use flat geometric roofs, which are mostly covered with iron nails and painted in red and green.
(UAV photo) Photo by Liu Zhankun
With social changes and changes in lifestyles, construction methods, and technical means, the Lushan Villa Group gradually presents the characteristics of a fusion of Eastern and Western architectural cultures in the process of development.
For example, according to the topography and climate of Mount Lu, the windows of the villas in Mount Lu are not as large as those of Western-style buildings, and are more inclined to Chinese-style buildings.
Some villas have added local Chinese architectural elements to the decoration - a Chinese-style corner pavilion appears on the roof, the gate has a Chinese-style facade, and a "drum-holding stone" is placed at the gate.
The architectural form of Lushan villas is "combination of Chinese and Western", which constitutes the unique cultural landscape of villas in Lushan.
China News Service reporter: Villas with different architectural styles from many countries are gathered in one mountain. What role has it played in promoting the integration of Eastern and Western cultures?
Zha Xiaorong:
Lushan has two golden signs in the world, namely the world cultural landscape heritage and the world geological park, which is also an important basis for Lushan to become a "world famous mountain".
Lushan villa group is an important part of Lushan human landscape.
United Nations experts commented on the successful application of Mount Lushan to the World Heritage List: "The historical relics of Mount Lushan are integrated in the natural beauty of outstanding value in a unique way, forming a monument with extremely high aesthetic value and closely connected with the spirit and cultural life of the Chinese nation. Cultural Landscape."
Since ancient times, the majesty, strangeness, danger and beauty of Mount Lushan have made famous scholars and literary giants of all dynasties come to the world, and the countless poems they have preserved have added infinite humanistic brilliance to Mount Lushan.
Foreigners build villas in Lushan to live here, which will help them better contact and understand Chinese culture.
The villa that used to be the "American Academy".
Photo by Liu Zhankun
The villas in Lushan Mountain were built by foreigners in the early days, and villas led by Chinese people appeared in the later period, but they also borrowed the characteristics of Western-style buildings, making some villas in Lushan Mountain "integrate the east and the west" and become a carrier for local people to understand Western culture.
Most of the foreigners living in Lushan are missionaries and businessmen, which also makes Lushan form a multicultural pattern of "one mountain has six religions".
China News Agency reporter: How do you think we should strengthen the protection of the Lushan villa complex and promote cultural exchanges between the East and the West?
Zha Xiaorong:
As an important cultural attraction in China's 5A-level scenic spots, the Lushan Villa Group has always enjoyed a high reputation in the tourism and architectural circles.
However, the once "one mountain and six governance" not only hindered the development of Lushan Mountain, but also had an impact on the protection and utilization of the Lushan villa group, and some villas had changes in style.
Therefore, it is recommended to formulate an overall protection plan, and develop it appropriately on the basis of protection, break the concept of pure protection, and fully tap the architectural aesthetic value and cultural value of Lushan villas.
Tourists photograph a villa in Gothic architectural style.
Photo by Liu Zhankun
In addition to being visited by countless Chinese cultural celebrities, Mount Lu is also the place where the American writer Pearl Buck's writing dream began, and it is an important node for her to communicate between the East and the West.
Although Pearl Buck, who is committed to promoting cultural exchanges between the East and the West, is in the conflict between two civilizations, she adopts a "bifocal perspective" in culture and voluntarily opens up "the wall between the two worlds".
Lushan has a profound cultural heritage. It should stand at a higher historical starting point, make good use of international cultural elements, be a bridge between Chinese and foreign cultures, and build a Chinese and foreign cultural exchange platform with international influence.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Zha Xiaorong, scholar of Lushan culture.
He has served as the director of the Jiangxi Xingzi County Museum, the director of the Xingzi County Cultural Relics Management Institute, and the party branch secretary of the Jiangxi Lushan City Museum and the Lushan City Cultural Relics Management Institute.