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Context Texcotzingo was located next to the capital city of Texcoco, served as the imperial summer gardens, and was resplendent with all the royal paraphernalia of the time, including the imperial and courtesan residences; it also had a genuinely exceptional water supply. However, Tetzcotzingo must also be seen as a sacred/hedonistic space, an agricultural space, a kind of political statement or emblem, a space for performance, and land works. Texcotzingo was created and designed by Nezahualcóyotl in the 15th century. These imperial gardens were used to collect and display specimens of plants and animals for an exhaustive understanding of the entire Aztec Empire and the cultivation of medicinal plants. It was conceived as a place for sensual indulgence and as a recreation of paradise. Dedicated to Tláloc, the god of rain, these gardens were designed and built with sculptures depicting Aztec mythology, including the celebration of sacred numbers. Texcotzingo was the outstanding achievement in the brilliant career in the landscape architecture of one of the Aztec empire’s most powerful kings, Nezahualcoyotl. Texcotzingo was not just a botanical garden, but it was the family dynasty’s own sacred and recreational retreat, their columbarium for ancestral remains and living map of their domain. This imposing hill overlooking the city and imperial capital, Texcoco, was also a triumph of hydrological engineering which brought water from the adjacent lower slopes of Mount Tlaloc, “the holiest mountain of pagan Mexico,” via a massive aqueduct and then sent it downslope, flowing through channels and pools, cascading in waterfalls over the king’s extensive gardens and highlighting the sculptures gracing them. Finally, the water-fed the terraced farm fields that bordered the lower edge of the royal pleasure park. (Evans n.d.) The Aztecs have a divided sympathy of their culture because of the relationship with their bloody sacrificial rites. Even though a lot of many botanical gardens landscape design based on a format made by the Aztecs and many of species were nurtured by them. The eastern side of the hill was dominated by two major features: an aqueduct terminus and its receiving pond. This landscape got several features that represent not only a technical side but also several philosophical statements. Evans, Susan Toby. The Garden of the Aztec Philosopher-King. Pennsylvania: PennState College of Liberal Arts, n.d. Evans, Susan Toby. Aztec royal pleasure parks: conspicuous consumption and elite status rivalry. Pennsylvania: PennState College of Liberal Arts, n.d.

There are indeed many oppositions to anything. And of course a lot to this important issue of establishing a university. It is rather interesting to see in this report some of the rooted mindsets and values that used to be the norm for the society. Things like the uselessness of learned science and dispute over private and public education are really different from what we currently hold true: we currently value heavily on science and applied science. These differences show the trace of evolution in our society, either in a good or a bad way. It is the most important information we can get—the background knowledge that set the tongue for the past views or opinions. Moreover, since this university was erected in the long history, values or visions have been changing and need to continuously change to follow the globe. Otherwise, we will fall behind and lose our competitiveness as a global force. -- Haoyu Li