Mount Vanke

Vanke Zhenshan Jing in Dongguan, Guangdong, is a sales-garden demonstration landscape that draws on the Chinese recluse tradition, quoting Tao Yuanming's return to nature: "I long for hills and mountains; I am happiest when I return to them." The site sits below Huangqi Mountain, the most celebrated hill in the Lingnan region, long regarded by Dongguan people as a fengshui vantage point; a folk ballad refers to the lantern on Huangqi Mountain as a spiritual symbol, and the old Lianquan spring was a gathering place for scholars. The design treats the journey home as a journey back to the mountain, moving from the city to the community as one returns from the city to nature. A sequence of named spaces unfolds. "Birds Long for the Mountain" is the reception lobby, with rising ridges and dense trees hiding the building behind. "Reclining Travel Through Hills" is a tea room where one can appreciate landscape without leaving the couch, in the spirit of old Chinese garden writing. "Leisure in an Empty Room" is the negotiation area, free of worldly clutter. Further nodes include a stream-side commercial street with birdsong and dappled shade, a view of the mountain gate from afar, a still-water courtyard recalling the mirror-like surface of East Lake, and a final return to the garden. The project, designed by A&N Shangyuan Landscape at 12,756 square metres, is located on Guanchang Road in Dongguan and is developed by Dongguan Vanke as a modern-style demonstration zone.