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The elements of Yin and Yang - Round and Square, clear and misty, dry and wet

The history of Chinese Gardens dates back nearly three thousand years. It was rarely documented before this time but we can assume that the development of garden art was taking place from the early part of Chinese History. It came into its own however around the later Han Dynasty. Gardens were part of the Imperial Court and it was the scholars who laid down the guidelines for garden design. The three elements of Chinese Garden design included the ‘Space’ the ‘Spaces within the Space’ and the ‘Areas for contemplation within these spaces’..

The purpose of having 3 garden spaces is;

To provide some human-scale living spaces, and to make each garden space look like a landscape poem with landscape pictures. The garden would comprise a series of smaller gardens. So a big garden would be just like "an album of landscape pictures" and "a collection of landscape poems."

Who built these gardens?

Many officials of the Court retired to Suzhou and built gardens, many quietly vying with each other to build bigger and better gardens. Few of these still exist apart from the restored gardens of Suzhou where once these were numbered in their thousands. Many gardens are now being restored though for the pleasure of the populace as well as the tourist.
In the time of Kublai Khan, gardens were also popular and tales of these were passed down. Marco Polo visited the great Khan and brought back stories of these mysterious lands. From his stories came the legend of Xanadu.
In Xanadu did Kublai Khan a stately pleasure dome decree..." so starts the famous poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
There is one Xanadu in Inner Mongolia. What is left, however, is a square earthwork about half a mile each side. Its much overgrown, but you can see the shape very clearly. However, the official site for Xanadu was discovered towards the end of the 20th Century in Shang Du , China, when snow had fallen on an ancient site and had melted at different rates and areas, showing the outlines of streets and buildings, visible from the air. Gardens were part of this large complex although little can be seen today.

n Ancient Chinese mythology abounds with tales of mountain mysticism. Outstanding peaks were believed to be the abodes of immortals, spurring man's imagination and fuelling his desire to command the elixir conferring eternal life.

n Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (141-87 B.C.) sent an expedition to the Three Blessed Isles of the Eastern Sea, a group of island mountains off the coast said to be a favourite haunt of immortals, in the hope of partaking in their secret.

n His envoys never returned, but Emperor Wudi, in an effort to entice those elusive immortals to take up residence with him, commemorated the magic islands by having three peaks set up in the lake of his luxurious garden Shang Lin (Great Grove)

The outer square of the character is the Chinese radical "Ling" which represents a boundary or enclosure.

The second letter or middle letter is the Chinese character "Kou" which has the meaning of mouth, and often used in Chinese (as in English) to represent people.

The third or lower part of the character is a contracted form of the Chinese character "Yi" meaning "appearance".

The story that the Chinese character "Yuan" tells is that it represents "an enclosure of land with people that has beauty"

Stones are a very important element of Chinese Culture and apart from gardens, form part of the aesthetics of the culture. They are as popular today as they have been for two thousand years. Some thought that these were individuals trapped in the spirit world and gave special places for these stones

The Mustard Seed book holds many secrets of the Chinese Garden art. Published nearly 700 years ago, it is still used today.

Symbolic design in Chinese gardens reflect the landscape, homes for the mountain spirits, stones that represent mythical beings or that look like mountains, boats or islands. The studying and collecting of stones, or Gong Shi, became extremely popular in China and these stones are called Scholars Stones.

n The garden style was developed from the natural and very beautiful landscapes that are throughout this land. From the domed peaks of Gwelin to the deep forests, the unique coast line to the ragged peaks. All these feature strongly in the Chinese garden design.

n The interest in all things Chinese in the West started with the explorers such as Marco Polo. In Louis XV’s court, Chinese pagodas were built in the garden and his Porcelain Trianon held his collection of Chinese imported Porcelain and other wondrous items from this far off place. Around this period in Sweden, Germany and other countries, Chinese buildings started to be built as part of the new Chinese ‘style’ garden design

Many wonderful gardens now exist through the generosity of Chinese Communities and local cities. Many of these gardens have been created by the Garden builders from Suzhou who travel worldwide building gardens in the Suzhou style. These include Portland, Vancouver and New York.

n While I do not expect you to be able to build massive pavilions and lakes, you can create the peace and beauty of a Chinese Garden by using some of the elements of this ancient gardening art. Beautiful pathways, bordered by lattice fences, Hidden areas that you suddenly come across when you come round the clump of Bamboo, moss, stones or a water feature that is a scaled down version of a larger lake.

n All help in creating the feeling of a Chinese Garden. Above all, you can create tranquillity for yourself. Unlike the formal classical Japanese Garden, the Chinese Garden seems more friendly, looser in design (although that can be the art) and with a little planning, a serene ambience will soon emerge from your effort. Is this not worth a little work?

n There are aspects of the Chinese Garden that are very interesting when you are working out your design. Looking at established gardens the following key points go towards the whole design.

v If you are able to use the views around your garden, blend the internal elements of your garden into these, this is called the Borrowed View. Using hills, or structures, trees and the neighbours plants, try to work these into your design and make the image flow into these outside elements.

v Preferred views or vantage points, are sometimes called The Opposite View. These are where you use a Moon Gate or window in a wall to frame a particularly beautiful part of the garden. Just stop for a minute and enjoy the view.

v Hidden Views. Come round a corner of your garden and suddenly you see a new part of the garden. Previously hidden from view. A surprise element of your Chinese Garden.

Yin and Yang. These terms are often used in working out a Chinese Garden. You need to balance the hard and soft, the wet and dry, the rough and smooth and the tall and short.

Rain can be visually stimulating on a beautiful path or stone feature and sound can be heard when a breeze flows through certain species of Bamboo.

Spring will burst into life when you make creative planting of bulbs between some of your Chinese Garden features.

Guan Daosheng and Bamboo:
Chinese Garden Plants
Gaun Daosheng was a renowned calligrapher, poet and painter of bamboo. Bamboo was a favorite subject of Chinese painters because the plant bends in adversity, but does not break. This is likened the perfect Chinese gentleman.

China is blessed with one third of all the plant varieties in the world. Many well known plants originated in China and have the Latin, Chinensis tagged on their description.

‘Tings’, resting Places, to contemplate nature and an essential part of the Chinese Garden.

Bridges can be low, high, straight or zig zag

Paths can be plain or extremely Geometrical. Always interesting though.

A garden for four seasons

The beauty of the Chinese Garden is that with small architectural features, snow can form on some of these elements.

Each season brings new beauty

The garden needs to be enjoyed through the year and when designing a garden this should be part of the plan. Not just a matter or ignoring everything in winter. Use winter as a part of the design.

To conclude our visit to the Chinese Garden

Potted Trees and Stones or by now you will know these as Penjing and Gongshi, allow you to create nature in miniature. You can make landscapes in your garden and when you have read this, this is what you should be able to consider and perhaps the essence of the Chinese Garden is well within your reach.

In my design I had to incorporate Bonsai or Penjing and as such my designs would be based on the function of working on my trees as well as the display of these trees in an harmonious design.

n Penjing was established in China around the 3rd century and by the time it went to Japan in the 10th century it was already a well established hobby with many regional schools.

n Penjing feature in many Chinese Gardens. The representation of nature in miniature fits well into the garden design and Penjing that are hundreds of years old, are on display throughout China.

Some of these schools still exist and now Penjing is fast becoming as popular a hobby in the West as Bonsaï. Penjing has many histories although some feel that Penjing evolved because of the Chinese Garden. Creating the majestic cliffs of Gwelin and planning some small ancient trees naturally stunted by the wind and snow, were in great demand over 1500 years ago. However it was not until the later Sung Dynasty, around 1200 that Penjing and its landscape planting sister, Pentsai arrived through trading with Japan. Pentsai eventually became Bonsai.

Japan was eager to bring in many cultural areas from China including the religion called Chan Buddhism which then became Zen Buddhism.

Japan imported many things including the wonderful textiles, crafts and art from China. Stones were also extremely popular and the Japanese called their hobby Suiseki. One true story involved a Samurai Warlord who exchanged one of his Castles for a particularly fine stone he coveted, such was the degree of desire for stones that represented landscapes.

Penjing is now widely practised around the world and Chinese Masters regularly travel to share their art with the West.