Artistic Concept of Chinese Gardens: Part 3

Gathering Scenic Wonders and Historical Sites from all over the Country

Whether in imperial gardens or private gardens, it is always a common practice to introduce the scenic wonders and historical sites into garden building. Even from the same scenic spot that appears in different gardens, people of later generations will find the same cultural and historical implications.

The Five Famous Mountains of China were the representatives of mountains in ancient times. Each mountain had temples built for worshipping the God of Mountain. And the kind of practice was also the remains of the nature worship in early stages of human beings. In private gardens in Suzhou, garden builders often place five stone peaks in front of or behind the halls to represent the Five Famous Mountains.

The appreciation of mountains and stones was even more popular in the later stage of the Qing Dynasty. Gardeners put small rocks in pots and placed them on the table. Through this way, they introduced the wonders of five mountains into the building.

Scenic spots such as The Moon Reflected in Three Lakes , Autumn Moon Huang above Peaceful Lake in the Garden of Perfect Splendor were modeling after some of the well-known top ten sights of the West Lake in Hangzhou. A tower inside Jiang Tian Temple that stands on the mountaintop of the Gold Mountain beside the river in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province is the landmark of Zhenjiang City.

The related legend about Lady White Snake fought with the Monk Fahai in order to save her husband is widely-known in China. This legend brings strong cultural tinge to the old temple. So in the Summer Resort Chengde, a scenic spot imitating the view of the Gold Mountain was built.

In the region south of the Yangzi River, whenever March 3rd of lunar calendar comes, people would go on excursions to suburbs. More than 40 scholars including famed calligrapher Wang Xizhi (303-361) would travel to the Orchid Pavilion outside Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. Sitting scattered beside the canals of running water, they placed their wine cups into water and let them flow freely.

When a wine cup stopped in front of a certain person, this person must finish the wine first and then make an extemporaneous poem. This process repeated until the wine was finished. Poems they made that day would be collected into a volume with a prefacing from Wang Xizhi. Later these poems were engraved onto stone tablets and placed in the orchid Pavilion.

So not only the Orchid Pavilion in Shaoxing became one famous scenic spot, the practice of drinking wine and chanting poems beside the running water was frequently followed. Inspired by its symbolic implications, Garden builders built flowing-cup pavilions in the Garden of the Peace and Longevity Palace in the Forbidden City and the Summer Resort in Chengde, but the natural running water canals beside the Orchid Pavilion in the old days became the winding water canals engraved on the floor of the pavilion.

With these famed scenes being introduced into the garden, their cultural and historical implications were also introduced into the garden. They not only create scenic views in the garden, but also enrich the cultural and artistic realm of the garden.

source: Chinese Gardens, published by China International Press