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China - Table of Contents .................. Chinese Architecture Dictionary ................... Illustrated

Architecture Dictionary .

Classical Chinese Gardens

In contrast to the buildings, Chinese gardens are a notable exception which tends to be asymmetrical. The
principle underlying the garden's composition is to create enduring flow.

Gardens typically include the following:

1. Rocks

The artificial mountain (jiashan) or rock garden

Eroded limestone from lakes, often used as sculptures
Yellow rock piled up to recall mountains and caves

2. Water

Used as a mirror
Used to balance the rocks
Home for goldfish, symbol of good luck

3. Plants

Lotus, symbol of purity

Bamboo, symbol of resolve
Plum, symbol of vigor
Pine, symbol of longevity
Peony, symbol of wealth

4. Buildings

Pavilions and waterside halls

Open kiosks to Multi-story halls and meeting rooms
Place for contemplation
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A specific viewpoint
Interior pavilions functioned as venues for creativity
Poetic names for pavilions

5. Bridges

Zigzag shape
Shelter from sun and rain

6. Moon gate

Round door that neatly frames a view

Shape can be square, jar-shaped, book-shaped

7. Patterned screens

Allow in a certain amount of light

May be used to cast patterned shadows on white walls
Fretwork

Chinese Gardens
The Chinese house and the Chinese garden are designed from two differnt philosophies.

The purpose of the garden is to replicte in miniature the fullness of nature in all its avariety, so as
to produce an environment in which the soul can immerse itself and find tranquility and peace.

Garden design is a great art, akin to the composition of a poem or of a landscape painting ...
cunningly contriving scenic arrangement of natural and artificaal elements intended to reproduce
the irregularities of uncultivated nature.

- Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Tenth Edition, by Richard G. Tansey and Fred S.
Kleiner. Harcourt Brace College Pub. 1996, pp. 520-521

"Mountains and Water"

The Chinese term for landscape is shan shui, literally “mountains and water.” Water is the yin,
the calm, nurturing, yielding element; mountains are the complementary yang, vertical and
powerful.

The garden is completed with a body of water, its spiritual heart, and monumental T’ai Hu
stones, from the Tai Hu region of China and other nearby regions. These fantastically shaped
boulders of eroded limestone serve as nature’s statuary, evoking the awe of ancient mountains,
seeming at once solid and transparent, suggesting faces, animals or spiritual forces.

- Missouri Botanical Garden (online Dec. 2013)

Rocks and Mountains

Rocks were to the Chinese garden what sculpture was to its European counterpart. A deep
appreciation for rocks stemmed from ancient religious attitudes toward nature, which included
the veneration of mountains. Rocks were believed to have a concentrated amount of natural
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energy and symbolized the dwelling places of the Daoist immortals.

Rocks were introduced into the garden as individual specimens and as components of complex
rockeries. One of the most characteristic and outstanding features of the Chinese garden is the
artificial mountain built of individual stones, which were cemented together to form complex
structures.

As an element, rock is classified by the Chinese as "yang" because it is strong, durable, hard and
"male"), but the best garden stones also exhibited spareness and delicacy.

If a rock appeared porous with many holes penetrating all the way through and had a strangely
contorted overall form, it was considered a highly valuable asset to the garden. Lake Tai near
Suzhou produced the most prized rocks; the chemical composition of the Great Lake caused the
limestone on its bed to erode in an irregular fashion.

- University of Washington (online Dec. 2013)

Water
Water was believed to serve as a balance for other elements in nature and in the garden.

The water in a city garden is typically broken into small, separate areas that are sometimes
connected with ponds or flowing water. Pools are made to wander, disappear, then reappear at the
next corner.

Semi-circular bridges, as seen below, are often chosen because they "complete themselves" as
they are reflected in the water; they are also a symbolic reference to the moon.

Water quality is not always clean and brilliant - often the ponds are rather murky and opaque.
When water is thick with algae it is imbued with a sign of life.

- University of Washington (online Dec. 2013)

Buildings
Despite the fact that many buildings in gardens could actually serve as residences year round,
most garden architecture is fanciful and decorative. The overall arrangement of buildings divides
the interior space of the garden into smaller cells that contain one or many small scenic views.

Buildings in a garden are often connected by covered walkways and different spaces are visually
linked by views glimpsed through open doorways, lattice windows, and decorative openings in
walls. At other times, the view is purposely obstructed by building placement and other "natural"
barriers such as artificial mountain structures.

The Garden as a Site of Social Activity

As pleasant retreats that were easily accessible, gardens were favorite locations for social
gatherings of many kinds. One could entertain distinguished guests, throw elaborate or intimate
parties, or relax in private with family members.

The garden served as an extension of the house proper in summer, and often the architecture built
within the garden portion of the family compound included habitable living quarters.

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Some of the wealthier families could extend their hospitality to friends or colleagues in need of
temporary lodging, and the guest, especially if he were a painter or poet, might even spend a
productive year or two as an extended member of the household, providing the host with
paintings, calligraphy, or serving in some literary capacity in lieu of his expenses.

The depiction of men and women together in Chinese art is not a very common subject.
Woodblock prints from the Ming, however, frequently illustrate men and women in what seems
to be an acceptable locale for them to meet.

Examples:

Illustration above: Old Town Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai 7 illustrations

Rock sculpture - Forbidden City, Beijing

Rock sculpture - Summer Palace, Beijing

Photos and their arrangement © 2013 Chuck LaChiusa

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