An Introduction to Classical Gardens The Development of Classical Gardens The Art of Chinese Gardening

Classical Chinese Gardens

“The Mother of World Gardens”

“A Wonder of World Art” A fantastic integration of

exquisite building crafts and natural scenery

The pursuit of natural beauty is the ultimate goal

Introduction

Features An essential part of traditional Chinese culture A symbol of one’s status (royal families/the

wealthy/the literati) Artistic design (landscape painting/poetry) A reflection of people’ outlook towards life Influenced by Chinese philosophical/religious

thoughts The gardens are man-made, but they look like

a divine creation

Imperial Summer Re

sort

Summer Palace

The Humble Administrator’s Garden 拙政园

王献臣

文徵明

The Lion Grove Garden (Buddhist)天如 倪云林

The Essential Elements of the Garden

Rockeries Water Plants Architecture

The Art of Chinese Gardening

Cloud-capped Peak 冠云峰（ 6.5 meters King of Taihu rock)

The Nine Lions Peak 九狮峰

Taihu rocks are slender and elegant in shape, marked with clear veins, rich in curves and lines on the surface, riddled with holes, and porous in substance so that water may be passed up and down foran even distribution of moisture.

Water plays an essential role It gives pulsating life to the garden

In spring, peach trees blossom; In summer, lotuses blossom & willows;

In autumn, maple leaves change color;

In winter, the evergreen provide greenery (plum blossom)

The Long corridor in Summer Palace

The Zigzag Corridor

The Corridor on Water

The footpathsof colored pebbles arranged in patterns

It is the feature of Chinese landscape gardening

Patterned Footpaths

The Marble Boat

The largest marble boat in Summer Palace

The Scenic OpeningThe fancy gates and windows, the artistic feature of Chinese architecture

Any form (round, square, oval, leaf-shaped)

Plants or rockeries

Scenic windows

Latticed windows ( 漏窗 )

The Development of Classical Gardens

The Shang and Zhou dynasties (3000 years) Imperial parks: the earliest form of Chinese

gardens (Yuan or You)

The hunting parks: high terraces were built; birds and beasts were raised for emperors tohunt for pleasure.

The Qin & Han dynasties Hunting parks were further developed into palatial

gardens royal palaces for recreation and banquet

(the architecture were the major form)

Shanglin Park: the first royal garden

Celestial Lake (where stand three mounts of immortals) Penglai, Yingzhou and Fangzhang

“One lake with three mounts”

Hua Qing Palace A model of imperial gardens

Northern Song DynastyThe Literati Gardens

Canglang Pavilion

苏舜钦

Southern Song Notion: gardens should imitate

nature and go beyond the beauty of

nature. Natural landscape gardens

The Yuan Dynasty

The Lion Grove GardenA pearl of private gardens in Suzhou

The Ming Dynasty

The largest private garden

The Qing Dynasty

The Lingering Garden 留园