Genyueji 艮岳記

Genyueji 艮岳記 (might also be written 艮嶽記) is a book on landscape architecture written during the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279) by Zhang Hao 張淏 (jinshi degree 1157), courtesy name Qingyuan 清源, who also wrote the book Yungu zaji 雲谷雜記 and the local gazetteer Guiji xuzhi 會稽續志.

Genyue Hill 艮嶽 (the hexagram gen ䷳艮 is a symbol for "mountain"), also called Longevity Hill (Shoushan 壽山 or Wansuishan 萬歲山) was located in the northeast corner of the Northern Song capital Bianjing 汴京 (Kaifeng 開封, Henan), and Emperor Huizong 宋徽宗 (r. 1100-1125) had in 1117 a park with zoological facilities built there the features of which are described in Zhang's book. Exhausting the national treasury, the emperor accumulated in the garden the "skills of the world" (tianxia zhi jiyi 天下之伎藝) like exotic flowers and trees or rare birds and animals. The many palaces, pavilions and terraces were known as Hall of Outflowing Jewels (Qiongjin Dian 瓊津殿), Palace of Descending Clouds (Jiangxiao Lou 降霄樓) or Hall of the Azure Calyx (Lü'ehua Tang 綠萼華堂). The introduction to the book explains the impact of fengshui theory on the construction of the park.

The garden with its palaces, rockeries and ponds was destroyed when the army of the Jin empire 金 (1115-1234) assailed the Song capital. The date of the text's compilation is unknown, but it makes use of quite a few older, now lost texts like Huizong yuzhi ji 徽宗御制記 (which is also recorded in Wang Mingqing’s 王明清 (1127-c. 1214) Huichen houlu 揮麈後錄) or the monk Zuxiu's 祖秀 Huayanggong jishi 華陽宮紀事.

The text can be found in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Gujin shuohai 古今説海, Shuofu 說郛 (Wanwei Shantang 宛委山堂 edition), Lidai xiaoshi 歷代小史, Wuchao xiaoshuo daguan 五朝小說大觀, Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編 and Zhongguo neiluan waihuo lishi congshu 中國內亂外禍歷史叢書.