brief,type,element

1. Philosophy
 “Even though everything [in the garden] is the work of man, it
must appear to have been created by heaven” - Ji Cheng
 "Chinese classical gardens are a perfect integration of nature
and work by man” - Zhou Ganzhi ( President of the Chinese
Society of Landscape Architecture )
 The zig-zag bridge in the Humble Administrator's Garden
illustrates the proverb, "By detours, access to secrets."

2. History …..
 Five thousand years of
experience in garden building is
significant, and the Shang
(1600–1046 BC) and Zhou
(1045–256 BC)dynasties were
the beginning of gardening as
functional and visually
appealing additions to the
emperor's abode.
 Gardens were designated as
homes for animals used for
hunting and for enclosing an
outside plot of ground for the
emperor.

3. History …..
 After the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), gardens
were places for the emperor to rest and renew energy.
 Then, a garden was called a yuan.
 The imperial garden, Lin Yuan, added buildings and
became a villa-like escape for the emperor.

4. Chinese Gardens
 The Chinese
consider gardens a
serious art form and
as with painting,
sculpture and poetry
aim.

5. Types
 Two Types – The Imperial garden & The private
garden.
 Imperial gardens are mostly found in north China,
with those in Beijing as representatives, featuring
grandness and magnificence.
 Private gardens are mostly found in south China,
especially in cities in south of the Yangtze River,
such as Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing and Hangzhou.
 Private gardens were designed and created as a
place of retreat for the ancient scholars to escape
the chaos of the city and have private relaxation.

6. 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.
 Chinese scholar’s rocks, are
used both for structural and
sculptural purposes.

7. Elements
 Artificial mountains
 Rock gardens
 Water
 Flowers ,
 Plants & trees
 Structures – walkways ,
pavillions , bridges

8. Elements – Rocks
 Decorative rocks,
sometimes termed
Chinese scholar’s
rocks, are used both
for structural and
sculptural purposes.
 In smaller classical
gardens, a single
scholar
rock represents a
mountain, or a row of
rocks represents a
mountain range.

9. Water
 The most important
element of a garden is
water, in any form:
ponds, lakes, streams,
rivers and water-falls.
 Gardens will have a
single lake with one or
more streams coming
into the lake, with
bridges crossing the
streams.

10. Garden –Plants & Trees
 Plants and flowers
reflecting the beauty of
the four seasons are
planted.
 They represent nature in
its most vivid form.
 The pine, bamboo and
Chinese plum (Prunus
mume) were considered
the "Three Friends of
Winter"

11. PEONY
AZALAE LOTUS

12. Structures
 The most important
structures of garden
ground are walkways,
pavilions and bridges.
 Timber frame construction
plays a decisive role here.
 Chinese gardens are filled
with architecture; halls,
pavilions, temples,
galleries, bridges, kiosks,
and towers, occupying a
large part of the space.

13.  Bridges are another common
feature of the Chinese garden.
 Bridges are often built from
rough timber or stone-slab
raised pathways.
 Gardens also often include
small, austere houses for
solitude and meditation,
sometimes in the form of
rustic fishing huts