LIN'S FAMILY MANSION AND GARDEN
The best garden in northern Taiwan, Lin Family Gardens, used to be called "Lin Ben Yuan's Garden" or "Banqiao Resort". Lin Ben Yuan is not a person's name. It represents the meaning of "remembering one's origin" when 2nd generation ancestor, Lin Pingho distributed property among his five sons. Among the five sons, only the 2nd and the 5th sons are Lin Pingho's blood descendents. Thus, the words of "Ben" and "Yuan" are used for commemoration. The Garden was built during 1888 to 1893 and it is the only classic garden as historical site. It is also the well-kept model building representing gardens and residences of Qing Dynasty. Its garden scenes are inspired by Chinese traditional gardens as well as the style of south of Yangtze. The place is eloquent and is listed as 2nd degree historical site. It is admired as "the best garden in Taipei". Part of the construction materials and technicians came from Changzhou of China. The scale of construction was huge. Other than the garden and the architecture, a "three-section mansion" for 150 years old has been restored and presented to the public. The outer walls are covered with brick ornaments. There is delicate carving on the door, within the halls and on the poles supporting roof covers above front porch. There are unique windows of different styles. They are rare items in Taiwan and they fully reflect the beauty of Chinese traditional architecture. (http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/m1.aspx?sNo=0002091&id=152)
History and tradition, this is what the Lins family mansion and garden represents. This is also the first year that i got my DSLR camera and my first birthday shoot. Hopefully, this will also be a precedent to a tradition of celebrating my birthday with a photoshoot.
