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Mengxi Garden

Mengxi Garden, lying in the east of the city, was the former residence of Shen Kuo (1030-1094), the world famous scientist and statesman in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).

Shen Kuo was a native of Hangzhou. He was a progressive statesman and was assigned thee official post as a member of the Imperial Academy. As a devoted scientist, he was a learned man of great attainments in astronomy, geography, mathematics, calendar, geology, , biology, chemistry and medicine. He was one of the few first-class scientists in his days.

When he was thirty years old Shen Kuo often dreamed of a garden with charming landscapes of bueatiful hills and waters, luxuriant woods and blossoming flowers. He decided to find such a place to live. Finally he found it in Zhenjiang when he passed by the city. He was very surprised that the area was just the same as what he dreamed. He moved to Zhenjiang with his family. A thatched cottage was built. He named the smaal stream flowing in front of his house Mengxi, or the Dreamy Brook. The garden was then named after the brook.

A stone tablet with two characters "Mengxi" tells that Shen Kuo built and named thee garden on July 15, 1085. Living in the garden for eight years, Shen Kuo buried himself in study and finished the immortal masterpiece Rambling Talk on the Dreamy Brook, crystallizing his life-long scientific effort. The British scholar, Joseph Needham regarded the book as the most important milestone in Chinese history of science and technology.

The renovated Mengxi Garden is only part of the original one. Now it is the Memorial Hall of Shen Kuo, presenting a picture of the original garden with ancient wells, green bamboo groves, stone-paved path and decorated walls. In the garden there is also an exhibition hall displaying Shen Kuo's achievements in scientific research. In the hall stands a 1.4 meter-high statue of Shen Kuo. On both sides of the statue display his early feet four hundred years older than that in the magnetic field in Europe, and different versions of his work Rambling Talk on the Dreamy Brook, including an old one from Japan, and objects and pictures on Shen Kuo's achievements in his scientific exploration.
(2002-6-13 9:46:44