Classical Gardens

General information History of classical Chinese garden The characteristics of Chinese garden Elements for creating the garden Categories of classical Chinese garden Ways of creating the garden’s view

General Information

Classical Chinese garden also can be called traditional Chinese garden. With its long history, rich cultural significance, special characteristics, and charming artistic enchantment, it has been regarded the most important and leading gardening system among the three gardening systems in the world. 

General Information The Chinese consider gardens a serious art   form and

as with painting, sculpture and  poetry aim to attain in their design the  balance, harmony, proportion and variety that are considered essential.

The art of the Chinese garden is closely related to Chinese landscape painting - it is not a literal imitation of a natural landscape, but the capturing of its essence and spirit. It is a landscape painting in three dimensions

The garden is created by the human hand, but should appear as if created by heaven.

General Information

Now China has about 1,000 classical gardens. The most important examples of Chinese landscape gardens are located in Beijing, Chengde and cities south of the Yangtze river such as Suzhou and Wuxi.

History of classical Chinese garden The art of Chinese garden has a history of more

than 3,000 years. The Records of the Historian( 《史记》 ), tells that in the Shang Dynasty, there were special places, called “You” ( 囿 ) ， for the rulers to enjoy the beauty of nature.

After Emperor Qin Shihuang of the Qin Dynasty(221BC-206BC) unified China, Shanglin Garden( 上林苑 ) was built. It shows that the garden was called ‘yuan’( 苑 ).Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty followed the scale of the Shanglin Garden to build the Taiye Pond in the Shanglin Garden.

History of classical Chinese garden

In the Western Han Dynasty people begun to build private gardens. The development of classical Chinese garden during the 400 years in the Han Dynasty laid the foundation for the art of Chinese gardens.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the art of Chinese garden matured. Private gardens in the Song Dynasty also developed rapidly. The private gardens were mainly built with streams or hills or all kinds of plants and flowers or halls and pavilions.

History of classical Chinese gardenThe Ming and Qing Dynasties were the golden age of

garden building. In the middle and the late Ming Dynasty, the artists summed up their experience in designing gardens by writing articles about gardens, which laid the foundation, in theory, as well as in practice.

Chinese garden culture matured as a comprehensive school of its own during the this period of time, after the practice of many preceding dynastic periods, and rose to become one of three garden construction schools along with Western Asia and Europe.

The characteristics

The creation of classical Chinese gardens depended on mountains, rivers, buildings,plants, animals and even the weather. In these gardens usually the ground is like that of a mountain area. This kind of garden layout imitates real terrain. The hills in classical gardens provide natural surroundings for visitors. Looking at the hills, people feel as if they live in a mountains area and enjoy the beauty and stillness of nature.

Elements for creating the garden ——RocksDecorative rocks, sometimes termed Chinese scholar’s rocks, are used both for structural and sculptural purposes. The sculptural Taihu rock is especially prized because it represents wisdom and immortality, and is only procurable from Tai Lake, just west of Suzhou. During the Song dynasty, they were the most expensive objects in the empire. Such rocks, combined with streams and pools, form the basis of a garden's plan. The Chinese word for landscape, shan shui, literally means "mountains and waters" while a common phrase for making a garden means "digging ponds and piling mountains".

Elements for creating the garden-Water

Water is the blood of a traditional Chinese garden. The most important element of a garden is water, in any form: ponds, lakes, streams, rivers and water-falls. The movement of flowing water gives pulsating life to the garden’s cliff, stones, bushes and flowers. 

Elements for creating the garden-Plants

Trees and flowers, especially in private gardens, are carefully selected for the overall layout of the gardens, because of the limited space. Plants and flowers reflecting the beauty of the four seasons are planted. In spring, peach trees blossom; in summer, lotuses blossom; in autumn, the maple leaves change color; and in winter, the evergreen, bamboo and plum trees provide greenery.

Among the most popular flowers are lotuses, peonies, chrysanthemums and orchids. Special flowers are planted to attract bees and butterflies. These small insets make the gardens more lively.

peony

lotuse

plum

Azalea

Elements for creating the garden-Structures Among the most important structures of garden ground

are walkways, pavilions and bridges. Timber frame（木质结构） construction plays a decisive role here. Pavilion-like houses have neither a harsh nor dominant effect, but rather bend effortlessly into their general surroundings.

More specificly, we can divide the structures in classical Chinese gardens into the following :

Lobby( 大厅 ),  Corridor （廊） ,Parlour （客厅） ,  Waterside   Kiosk （凉亭） ,Storied Chamber （房间） , Bridge  ,Storied Pavilion （阁） , Pagoda （塔） , Kiosk , Wall .

Categories of classical Chinese garden

There are two major ways to classify Chinese gardens. First, they can be classified into imperial gardens and private

gardens according the ownerships of the gardens. Second, in terms of geographical location, there are northern

garden, which are mostly found in Luoyang, Kaifeng, and Beijing, with those in Beijing as representatives; gardens in the lower Yangtze River valley, which are mostly found in Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou and Hangzhou, with those in Suzhou as the most representative; and the Lingnan school of gardens, which are found in Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shunde.

The Humble Administrator's Garden Covering 51,950 sq.m,the Humble Administrator's

Garden is the largest of all classical gardens in Suzhou .It is centered upon the broad expanse of a lake,making up about one fifth of the total area. With well spaced buildings,the garden landscape and water scape are simple,extensive and natural,possessing the traditional appearances of the Ming Dynasty.It is divided into three parts;the eastern,middle and western parts. The house lies in the south of the garden.

The Lion Forest Garden Compactly yet harmoniously spaced,the Lion Forest Garden

has a prominent part for series of man-made mountains with various buildings around the lake ,and an artificial waterfall and cliffs at the edge of the lake on the west. Remains of the 14th century man-made mountains,covering 1,152 sq.m.and being the largest of all at Suzhou,can be still seen today.Noted for its labyrinthine mountains with winding pathways and caverns,old pines and cypress trees,awesome peaks and jogged rocks of grotesque shapes resembling dancing lions with striking and unusral poses,it possesses with pride the true delights of mountain and forest scenery in limited space with a flavor of Zen Buddhism.

Imperial garden The earliest imperial garden dates back to the late

Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1027 BC) with the construction of an imperial hunting ground, followed by the Shanglin garden built by the Emperor Qinshihuangdi in his capital at Xianyang. The latter was completed by the Han Emperor Wudi (r. 140-87 BC) and is thought to have been the basis upon which the Summer Palace was designed.

The represants of the imperial gardens: the Summer Palace and Yuanmingyuan

The Summer Palace The summer Palace, located approximately twelve kilometers to the

northwest of Beijing's city proper, was first built in 1750 and rebuilt in 1886. An outstanding example of imperial gardens in classical Chinese style, the Summer Palace spreads on an area of 2.9 million square metres, three fourths of which are water surfaces. Its major attractions are the Wanshou (longevity) Hill and the Kunming (Jade Spring)Lake. The garden is a showcase of pavilions in diversified, exotic designs which are strung together by a corridor more than seven hundred metres in length and a seemingly unending chain of balustrades of snow-white marble. With western hills simmering in the background, the Summer Palace is strewn with postcard perfect sceneries, including the Yuquan(Jade Spring)Pagoda, the Kunming Lake, and the bridge with seventeen arches. The huge garden's artistic style, which is at once kaleidoscopic and harmonious, is attributable to the unknown designers' ingenious landscaping skills.

Yuanmingyuan Yuanmingyuan was composed of three separate gardens:

Yuanmingyuan , Changchunyuan , Qichunyuan . It covers an area of about 350 hectares with scenic spots up to one hundred. In 1707 the Qing Emperor Kangxi built the first garden on this site. In the next 150 years through the reigns of other five emperors:Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng.The garden was constantly expanded to be the largest imperial garden in the world at the time.

The builders of Yuanmingyuan not only inherited and developed the traditional gardening art of China by reproducing many famous natural scenes and gardens south of the Yuangtze River, but also introduced some European horticultural techniques.

Yuanmingyuan, located in the northwestern suburbs of Beijing next to the Summer Palace, is a theme park with particular historic meaning renovated on the ruins of the famous imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty.

Ways of creating the garden’s View

Generally speaking, the Chinese architectuers often use the following ways to creat a garden and recreate the nature.

obstructive scenery( blocking view ) , adding the view, vista line (vista) , opposite scenery (view in opposite place) , enframed scenery , leaking through scenery , borrowed scenery, view borrowing .

远景 distant view 近景 nearby view

障景 obstructive scenery, blocking view

借景 borrowed scenery, view borrowing

对景 opposite scenery, view in opposite place

缩景 miniature scenery, abbreviated scenery

漏景 leaking through scenery 框景 enframed scenery

尾景 terminal feature 主景 main feature

副景 secondary feature 配景 objective view

夹景 vista line, vista 前景 front view

背景 background 景序 order of sceneries

景点 feature spot, view spot