Study on the gardening methods of Chinese classical gardens

Abstract. The designers of Chinese classical gardens must focus on layout from large aspect， proceed from small improvements， making use of landscape separation and division to demarcate space， the Para relation of auxiliary axis to highlight the main landscape， and the migration route to organize sightseeing， as well as the uniformed style and artistic conception order to run through the whole garden. This principle is suitable for the planning of modern landscape garden， but forms and contents of modern garden have great changes so as to adapt to the need of modern life. In a word， as long as garden designers have ready plan in mind， grasp the whole； map out a strategy， stick to our goals from the beginning to the end， they could create the garden art realm of “Man-made， like natural”.

Key words： Classical gardens， garden design， garden planning

1. At the beginning of gardening， meaning goes

before writing

It is from the transplantation of painting theory. Meaning refers to will， idea or artistic conception. It strengthens the essential conceptions and ideas before gardening， but this intention depends on the nature and position of garden. Royal gardens must take “Infinite royal graciousness and supremacy” as main intention； Temple gardens of course take “Transcending the mundane and Purdue beings” as objectives. This is the so-called saying of “3 on craftsman， 7 on host” from “Art Garden Building”， which embodies the determinative role of designers’ intention.

Artistic conception refers to the art realm of scene blending and idea distillation. Like the rural artistic conception represented by Tao Yuanming， it reflects ancient literati yearn for pursuing light and hermit life.

Like “Shizheju”， it locates at the end of Songlingu valley of Chengde Imperial Summer Resort， implying the sweetest is at the end of sugarcane， the best scene is also at the end of valley. The scene with poem and scene creation by poem is a common strategy of artistic conception creation. Another examples， Zhichun Pavilion of Summer Palace origins from the first two lines of Sushi’s poem “The Spring Scene of Chunjiang River”—“several peach blossom stretching out of the bamboo， while only the ducks get a hint of the spring river previously”； and the gardens whose names are taken as the themes of poetry to portray artistic conception are as below， Guitian Garden， Humble Administrator's Garden， Summer Palace， Jichang Garden and Canglang Pavilion， such Chinese modern and contemporary gardens and scenic plots of scenic areas. And they still use graceful names to create the profound and magnificent beauty of poetic imagery， expressing the aesthetic taste of modern and contemporary people.

2. Land-survey suitably， garden-construct decently

Both in ancient and modern， Chinese and foreign， according to terrain， relief and landform， any gardening must consider garden nature， scale and design the art characteristics and landscape structures. Only conform to the law of terrain skeleton， is it possible to garden in appropriate structure.

As is well said in the capture of “ Land survey” in “Art of Garden-Building”， no matter the direction， high or low， no fixed model only random form， with the respective that the best for gardening is mountains； the best for cities is quiet and remote； wild zones should be on flat hillock and curved dock， piles of plants. Gardening makes more use of remote and quiet mountains， flat hillocks mountain caves， hills of trees， easy to create tortuous， elegant and colorful landscape， while it takes less good farmlands and it follows the current principles of gardening location.

3. Adjusting measures to conditions， generating opportunities to situations

Land survey could get the correct gardening location. However on this land， if intending to produce a coordinative relation of various landscapes， it needs to depend on means of “adjusting measures to conditions， generating opportunities to situations and responding to the changing circumstances” to layout reasonably. This is another characteristic of Chinese gardening art and one of the management position principles in Chinese painting theory. The Painting Theory mentions “Situation survey goes before layout”， and layout is mainly by “Situation taking”.

In “Art of Garden Building”， there have been many places mentioning the principle of “Landscape to situations” and “Landscape in forms”， nothing more than the meaning that according to specific environment situations， mountains for location， high for low， flexible， adjusting measures to conditions for gardening landscape， also so-called “Higher places for pavilions， low valleys for ponds， building on water surface， basing on resources， dredging source to and from， survey source origin”.

4. Ingeniousness from resort， quintessence from suitability

Since landscape garden is a limited space， it inevitably has some limitations， but those traditional Chinese gardeners who are great lovers of nature， having never give up to the space limitations， by way of a ingenious “resort”， portray the limited garden space and attach wings of infinite glory. “Cause” means surveying the situation at place， “resort” means landscape is not limited in interior or exterior， so-called “Bright and clear mountain， pretty universe and sky； viewing across， taking pretty， refusing unattractive， beauty for all eyes”. This way of where and when has been far more beyond the limited garden space. Like Peking Summer Palace far by Yuquanshan Temple， Wuxi Jichang Garden up by Longguang Temple， Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden back by Beishi Temple， Nanjing Xuanwuhu Garden distant by Zhongshan Mountain.

5. Suppression before development， hard before better

How does a coverall garden space show her mien to visitors？ The Chinese literature and painting theory gives a good reference， such as " Every cloud has a silver lining " and "Hiding before revealing， suppression before development"， and these all accord with the Oriental aesthetic psychology and pattern.

Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring" provides us with an example of “Suppression before development”， exploring elegance through caves， view instantly clearing up， occasionally entering Peach-Blossom grove， giving readers infinite yearning.

6. Start， end， open and close， scene moves as step moves

The sense of rhythm and cadence is the product of the human physiological activities， when reflecting in garden art， rhythm and cadence is to create space of different types and sizes， through the repeated changes of viewpoints， sights， sight lines， visions and perspectives， generating transitions of aesthetic psychology； through transferring the scene at step， increasing the fantastic attractiveness.

Landscape garden a flowing tour space， is good at creating landscape in flows， which is also one of Chinese garden characteristics. No matter climbing Tai Mountain or touring Changjiang River， on the way differences of width and narrow， fast and slow， block and spacious， light and dark， far and near， make people appreciate the nature breathing like symphony. Taking this as a lesson， garden could also create this effect.

7. Much in little， mountain in touching

“Resort” previously mentioned is a way to expand the space by use of exterior landscape. Much in little is to transfer the relationship between landscapes， by comparing and contrasting， giving illusion and imagine to expand the space feeling and form the effect of mountain in touching. This is more used for smaller garden space. By the contrast of form beauty， much in little， less for more， is the usual skill of Chinese painting. Li Yu advocates "a roll for hill， a spoon for river”.

8. Man-made， just like by nature

No matter temple gardens， royal gardens or private gardens， gardening designers’ dominant idea of making use of natural and imitating nature has never moved. They believe as long as "little action" will achieve "both true and false， making false come true"， so it’s no wonder that foreigners praise the Chinese gardens “Ingeniousness by nature”. Overview gardening examples in China， it can be seen that ingeniousness lies in conforming to natural principles and rules.

Another example like the plant arrangement， ancients’ great love of trees and flowers is never less than landscape. In order to create growing conditions， to create a different artistic conception through the characteristic of plants personification， or create landscape by use of plant titling， all these reflect the philosophy of “integrity of man and nature “of the plant landscaping.

9. Have ready plan in mind， consider and plan the

whole situation

Writing requires having a ready plan in mind， so do the gardeners； grasp the whole，plan reasonably，stick to our goals from the beginning to the end. Only taking all into consideration and performing at one stretch， could they create a complete landscape garden system. Landscape gardening in China is a process of landscape miniaturization， not piling up at will. Painting needs a good position， and gardening needs a comprehensive space layout.

In “Six Chapters of a Floating Life”， Suzhou Shenfu says “If attempting to pavilion and ambulatory， piling rock as hill， planting flowers as situation， much in little， little in much， false in true， true in false， hide or reveal， light or dark， not only winding around， but also no futile effort on broad and rocky land， which means overall layout. Only reasonable layout can achieve the effect of “little in much， much in little”.

The landscape layout requires "Mountain surrounding and water circling"， "mountains for guests and hosts， water for coming and going". The previously mentioned villa of beauty embracing， only around 0.2h m2， it has mountain surrounded by 3 sides， and water circled by 2 sides.

The Humble Administrator's Garden in middle takes Yuanxiang Hall as center， in north Fragrant Snow and Cloud pavilion on chief mountain， earth as major， high and broad； in south， Yellowstone rockery as the entry protection， called Bingshan Mountain； In east， the Peony Pavilion on mountain， stone instead of earth， as the sub mountain； in west， Yellowstone of northern Xiangzhou as decorative mountain. So it's really surrounded by 4 sides of mountains like painting， in a classification of high and low， main and secondary.

“Art of Garden Building” mentions “About ten acres of land suitable for 3 ponds， reasonably winding， draining source； 7/10 acre of land suitable for 4 barriers， no high or low， only suitable”. This is the case for layout of landscape gardening. Also all garden take auditorium as center. Landscape first is in direction of south， if several trees， one or two in middle atrium is enough. Construction should be broad， much space for free use， following layout； some for libraries， others for pavilions； planning flexible， all in their place. This clearly points out layout needs a composition center； range needs layout space， architecture styles flexible， but all in their place.

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