Ge Yuliang was a famous master of stacked stone gardens during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty in my country. He built many gardens and countless mountains in his life. In his hometown of Changzhou, he also built Xipu, the Yang Clan Ancestral Hall Garden in Hengshan Xizhan, etc. The most outstanding one is Suzhou Huanxiu Villa, which is now listed as a World Cultural Heritage. Ge Yuliang (1764-1830), with the courtesy name Lishan, was born in Wujin, Changzhou. He was born in Dongyue Temple outside the East Gate of Changzhou (now Shizhu Lane, south of the river). He was born in a poor family. When he was young, he went out with his father and brother to stack mountains and build gardens. His hard work has been recorded in history. According to historical records, Ge Yuliang learned painting from others when he was young and mastered certain painting skills. Later, he followed his father to make gardens. He was good at using painting techniques to design rockery, and he built gardens according to painting principles and followed the laws of nature. He arranged mountains and managed water, so he became one of the most famous masters of stacked stone gardens in China. Qing Dynasty writer Hong Liangji highly praised Ge Yuliang, saying that "there are two outstanding people in the past three hundred years, Zhang Nanyuan and Ge Dongguo" (Zhang Nanyuan is Zhang Lian from Huating, Songjiang, and Ge Dongguo is Ge Yuliang), comparing the two masters and praising them highly. Qing Dynasty writer and calligrapher Qian Yong also wrote in his book "Lüyuan Conghua": "Among those who piled up rockery, Zhang Nanyuan was the best in the early years of the country. In the middle of the Kangxi period, there was the monk Shitao, and later there were Qiu Haoshi, Dong Daoshi, Wang Tianyu, and Zhang Guotai, all of whom were masters. Recently, there is Ge Yuliang, a native of Changzhou, whose rockery method is even better than others, such as the Pu Garden in Yizheng, the Wen Garden in Rugao, the Wusong Garden in Jiangning, the Yixie Garden in Huqiu, and the mountain in front of the study hall of Sun Guyun's family, all of which are his works." It can be seen that 180 years ago, the superb skill of the "hook and belt method" of stacking rockery created by Ge Yuliang had already been popular and famous in the world. Ge Yuliang's original "hook belt method" for stacking mountains is to connect large and small stones with hook belts, such as the stone arch bridge method, which can last for thousands of years. Ge Yuliang generally chooses limestone materials from the Taihu area, commonly known as Taihu stone, and uses Huangshi from southern Jiangsu. He is good at stacking Taihu stone mountains. Taihu stone is limestone. After long-term immersion in rainwater, the soft part of the stone body gradually weathers, forming the characteristics of wrinkles, leaks, thinness and transparency. The surface of Taihu stone is round, the stone body is rich and colorful, and there are many changes. Therefore, the rockery built with Taihu stone is full of elegant aura. The most important thing about using Taihu stone to stack mountains is to achieve the effect of "although it is made by man, it seems to be opened by nature". During construction, try to keep the surface of the lake stone intact and not damaged; the incision of the stone is concealed to reduce artificial traces. After a wise eye to identify materials and ingeniously stacking stones, the mountain has a foundation, a gully, and a peak. The texture of the "mountain" is clear and the aura of the "mountain" is connected. Changzhou is the hometown of Ge Yuliang, who is considered the first person to stack mountains with the "hook and ribbon method". When Ge Yuliang was alive, he built many gardens in Wujin, Changzhou. Among them, the Hongliangji Xipu and Xizha Yang's Ancestral Hall (Tomb) Gardens and other mountain stacking works were preserved until the late Republic of China and the early days of the People's Republic of China. Some Changzhou craftsmen who worked with Ge Yuliang also mastered Ge's stone stacking skills and passed them down among the people. Most of the mountain stacking works in Changzhou in the late Qing Dynasty, early Republic of China and the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, such as Yueyuan, Keyuan, Yiyuan, Yiyuan, Liaoyuan, Weiyuan, the First Park (renamed People's Park after liberation), and Dongjiao Park (now Dongpo Park), were made by Changzhou craftsmen. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)(No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)