Rules of Building Private Gardens: Part 3

Private gardens cannot afford the vast space of imperial gardens, or the imposing groups of architecture. Instead their space is complex and contained, including a full array of architectural types, mountains, waters and vegetation. Therefore to create a place fit for seeing, touring and living, in addition to efforts made in the general layout, great attention must be paid to the treatment of details in the architecture, the mountains, the waters and the vegetation.

First let us look at the architecture. There many kinds of architecture within the private garden. To take the pavilion as an example, there are pavilions that are square, oblong, circular, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal, plum flower-shaped, cross-shaped, fan-shaped, double squared and double circular, each placed in its appropriate location within the garden, some already a scene in itself while still others a perfect spot for the enjoyment of the scenery.

On the Blowing Platform on the Slender West Lake in Yangzhou is a square pavilion that is an important scenic spot on the lake. There are walls built of earth on all four sides of the pavilion, and on each wall there is a circular doorway carved out. Looking out from one of the doorways is the scene of Five pavilion Bridge on the lake, and from another doorway the Lama Pagoda can be seen from afar.

The doorways frame the lake scenes into perfect pictures. Most gardens of the scholars and most private gardens in the south have maintained a similar style in decorum, despite the variety of halls, houses, and buildings-there is never the use of the five-colored antique roof tiles, the use of colorful paintings on roof beams and frames, nor painting window and door frames with red and gold.

Instead the use of black-colored flat tiles, brown roof beams, whie-washed walls and gray bricks tightly knit the architecture with the mountains, waters and vegetation in an elegant manner.

Doorways on houses and courtyard walls are often oblong, circular, octagonal, plum-flower-shaped, flower, ruyi-shaped or various kinds of bottle-shaped. In addition to the commonly-shaped windows, there are patterned glass windows, lattice windows and empty windows with nothing but frames. Just in Suzhou gardens alone there are hundreds of styles of window lattice patterns on a white sheet of paper from a distance, but only when looked at from up close does one see the meticulous and handsome craftsmanship.

The window frames are often pieced together carefully with gray bricks, finely polished and lined with different borders. Whether geometrical or foliage shaped, the lattice patterns are all molded with brick strips and clay, giving a clean outline and sharp image. This kind of fine artwork that reflects the high skills of the southern craftsmen has become the exemplary stroke of genius for the private gardens within this region.

On the gate facing the grand hall and the gate of the Xiexiu Mansion courtyard wall at the Master-of-Nets Garden, there is attached to the wall a decorative doorhead that imitates wooden structure with bricks. One of the doorheads has on both sides of the beam carved stage scenes complete with figures and buildings, and the multi-layered carving was done so meticulously that even the facial expressions of the figures are clearly visible.

On the sides of the other doorhead there are also carved images of chimes (qing-homonymous with celebrate) and fish (yu-homonymous with abundance), meaning auspicious happiness with overabundance.

Grounds in the gardens are often paved with bricks, pebbles, stone pieces or bricks. Craftsmen like to use their varying styles, colors and textures to make patterns on the floor, mostly geometrical or foliage-shaped and sometimes even in the shape of animals such as lions or deer. After being washed a few times of by the spring rain, fresh green sprouts push through the stone gaps on the road surfaces with different patterns, adding to its freshness and life.

In nature, plants vary by region. In addition to utilizing the existing trees and vegetation, the garden builder would carefully choose the most appropriate type of plants and trees. Through observation and research on the growth of trees, flowers and plants, and by the way they grow, the way they look, their growth period, as well as the color of their flowers and foliage, the garden builder would determine what combination of plants to use, and match the plants to fulfill the need of the garden environment.

source: Chinese Gardens, published by China International Press