You havenoticed that most pavilions and halls in Guyi Gardenare built on the water. In Chinese thought, pavilions should be located nearwater, and houses should not block the views of the mountains.
You can walkover the steps to the top of Turtle Hill. The Floating Cloud Pavilion islocated on the top. From there, you have a great view over the garden,including the Mandarin Duck Lake, theBamboo Garden,the Pine and Crane Garden, and the GooseTeasing Pond.
Theoverhanging eaves of Floating Cloud Pavilion look like of the extended wings ofa white crane.
On the topof Turtle Hill, there is a monument standing on a base which is turtle shaped.The front of the monument has an inscribed character, Shou, which means longevity.On the back, there are one hundred ‘Shou’ chiseled.
The turtleshape animal is called BiXi. BiXi is a legendary animal, it is supposed to beone of the nine sons of the Dragon. It looks like a turtle and is good for carryingheavy loads. Many stone monuments have BiXi as their base. It is said thattouching this hard working turtle will bring you good fortune. Floating Cloud Paviliongives shelter to this monument, and makes a permanent place for it to bringhappiness and peace to the people in this town.
Turtle Hillis close to the Pine Crane Gardenand the Bamboo Garden, it therefore forms a joint themeof Pine, Crane, Turtle, and Bamboo. These four objects are symbols of longevityin Chinese culture. Our more senior visitors tend to gravitate to this area, thesymbolism of longevity.
Once youcome down from the hill, please walk towards the north, make a left turn whenyou walk through Willow Bridge, which is the entrance to the Pine and Crane Garden.
