[Billy]

Xieqiqu (Harmonious Wonder)

Located in the southwest corner of Xiyanglou, Xieqiqu was an architectural group with the first European-style fountain. The main building had three stories, with three rooms on the top floor, and seven on each of the lower two floor, and seven on each of the lower two floors. It was connected by a pair of curving verandahs at both sides with twin tow-storied octagonal buildings in front, which served as orchestras. To the south was a large fountain in the shape of a flowering Chinese crabapple, with bronze water jets in the shapes of rams and ducks, and Western-style stone fish. To the north of the main building was a small fountain in the shape of a chrysanthemum. The fountains were fed from the Water Pavilion (a water tower) to the northwest of Xieqiqu, where water was drawn up by a mule-drawn waterwheel to the cistern at the top of the pavilion and flowed down through a copper pipe to the jets.