A Chinese farmer has spent more than US$1 million of his personal wealth on creating a landscape of 21 gardens to celebrate the country's long history.
Walking along a corridor of green grape vines, visitors can see a 2,000-meter-long bas-relief made of white marble, recording China's history from primitive societies to Macao's return to the motherland.
The corridor, together with the 21 gardens, was built by Fan Haiting, who amassed his fortune as a farmer raising turtles in a village in Pingshan County in north China's Hebei Province.
The monumental landscape cost 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) and took three years to create.
Historians were invited to write epic poetry on the walls of the gardens which were designed to represent different historic periods. To enhance the effect, the gardens were decorated with vivid line engravings.
The garden with the theme of the People's Republic of China is the largest. A section of the Great Wall is lifted by a rising sun on the gate which represents the nation being led by the Communist Party of China.
"Many farmers have become rich by scientific techniques, however we cannot forget it is the Party which leads us to a better life," said Fan.
"By seeing this in the context of China's long history, farmers will understand the dramatic changes brought by the Party and cherish today's happy life," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2002)
