The document summarizes key elements and design principles of Chinese gardens. It discusses the evolution of Chinese gardens from imperial gardens for emperors to private gardens for scholars. The two main types are imperial gardens found in northern China featuring grandness, and private southern gardens designed as retreats. Design aims to recreate nature through stylization and abstraction. Key elements include rocks, water, vegetation, pathways, and bridges arranged to reveal scenes along paths and connect vistas. Structures like pavilions are integrated harmoniously.

1. CHINESE
GARDEN

2. CHINESE GARDEN
• Gardens were designated as homes for animals used
for hunting and for enclosing an outside plot of ground
fortheemperor.
•After the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), gardens
wereplacesfortheemperortorestandrenewenergy.
•Then, agardenwascalled a yuan.
•The imperial garden, Lin Yuan, added buildings and
becameavilla-likeescapefortheemperor.
•The Lin Garden was embellished with little palaces,
pavilions and rooms on little islands in a pond, and
plantswereaddedforbeautification.
• This technique of garden development is attributed to
theQin(221–206 BC)andHandynasties.

3. •Emperor Kangxi of the Ming Dynasty (1386–1644)
and Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644–
1911) again brought focus to the building structures in
the garden, but specifically toenhance appearance.
• Buildings were added solely to create pleasant or
striking scenery.
•The royal garden evolved with time and changing
tastes over the centuries and inspired gardens in other
areasof China. PARTERR
E
EMBROIDERY
•The Chinese gardens are also called as Chinese classical gardens is a place for solitary or social contemplation of nature
.
•It has been regarded the most important and leading gardening system among the three gardening systems in the
world.
• The Chinese consider gardens a serious artform andaswith painting, sculpture andpoetry

4. EMBROIDERY
• 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 andHangzhou.
•Private gardens were designed and createdasa place ofretreat for theancient scholars toescape thechaosofthe city
andhave private relaxation.
2 TYPES: The Imperial garden & The private garden
IMPERIAL GARDEN
PRIVATE GARDEN

5. DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
• Chinese garden may be viewed as a miniature of the
Chineselandscape.
•Nature is loved and held in highest honour in Chinese
art, but this does not mean that the nature must be simply
“duplicated”in itsoriginalform.
•The main principle of Chinese garden art is to recreate
nature,topresentitsessencewithoutanartificialeffect.
•The recreation must be based on profound observation
anda deepunderstandingofthenature.
•The design of Chinese garden is a process of abstraction
andstylizationoftheexistinglandscape.
•The aimof creatinga natural form inChinese garden isto
celebratethehumanspirit.

6. EMBROIDERY
•In the Chinese garden, the garden scenes are concealed inside
different scenic sections, thus, they only can be revealed in sequence
along the paths.
•The paths in a Chinese garden are usually constructed with varying
widths or paved with different pavement materials to give the
beholders the different senses of experience: constriction, roughness,
release, andsmoothness.
•The scenic spots in the private Chinese gardens are built for static and
dynamic viewing, andlingering observation.
•Thus, a scene in a private Chinese garden was designed for viewing
fromanumber ofobservation points andangles.
•Every scenic section should have its own landscape character, but the
garden aswhole must beunified under a central theme.
• Walls were the most common means of demarcating one spatial
segment fromanother.

7. ELEMENTS:
1.ROCKS:
•The stone loving of the Chinese stems from the magical
viewsoftheChinesefiveholy mountains
• Rock was valued for its bumps, furrows and hollows, and
forthecolour andtextureofitssurface.
•In Chinese gardens, artificial mountains are also function
as space-dividingstructuralcomponents.
• The sculptural Taihu rock is especially prized because it
represents wisdom and immortality, and is only procurable
fromTai Lake,justwestofSuzhou.
• The Chinese word for landscape, shan shui, literally
means "mountains and waters” while a common phrase for
making a garden means "digging ponds and piling
mountains".

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ELEMENTS:
2. WATER:
• Mountains and water complement each other in
the Chinese arts.
•Water serves as peaceful opposition and balance
to mountain scenery, and is regarded as the
absolutely necessary element to represent the
totality ofnature in perfect harmony.
•Water was also used for providing listening
satisfaction in the Chinese private gardens.
•Watercourses were never shaped into any
unnatural geometrical patterns in the Chinese
private garden.
•A water fountain is never found in the private
Chinese garden.
•Physically water absorbs the heat and adjust the
microclimate during the warmseasons.

9. EMBROIDERY
3.VEGETATION
•Trees and flowers, especially in
private gardens, are carefully
selected for the overall layout of
the gardens, because of the
limited space.
•Unlike other gardens, Chinese
gardens incorporate minimal
variety of plants and trees in a
single garden.
• Everything in a Chinese garden
seems to have an inner meaning,
including the plants.
• Trees and shrubs are planted in
more naturalistic arrangements-
perhaps in pure stands or in
association with a special rock.
•Sparseplantings of seasonal flowers are scattered about but will never
be found in geometric arrangements- again the objective is to achieve a
stylized, naturalistic feel.
•Western gardens tend to have a profusion of plantings whereas the
Chinese garden style ismoreminimal.
• Lawn is used least in the private Chinese garden, for its beauty is best
perceived with inexhaustible sight ranges, and contradicts the private
Chinese garden design principle of avoiding total exposure of
everything ata glance.

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ELEMENTS:
4.PATHWAYS:
• Paths are constructed to accentuate the changing scenes
andviewsintothegardenand beyond.
•PathsinChinesegardensareoftenunevenandzigzag.
•The paths are like the passages of a human life. There is
always something new or different when seen from a
different angle, while the future is unknown and
unpredictable.
•Paths may also link to the beauty of scroll paintings where
the landscape is revealed not in one hit but in a succession
of views.
•The path may be covered in stone, pebbles or tiles. Or it
might be swept clean and interspersed with patches of
mossorotherlowgroundcovers.

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ELEMENTS:
5.BRIDGES:
• The bridge connects the two different
vistas in the Chinesegarden.
•These are also constructed as a symbol
of contrast against the moving water.
•The half moon cavity under the bridge,
which gets completed after the reflection
on the water surface follows the
principle of harmonyand balance

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ELEMENTS:
6.GARDENSTRUCTURES:
•Among the most ground are walkways,
pavilions, and bridges.
•Timber frame construction plays a decisive
role here.
•Pavilion-like houses have neither a harsh
nor dominant effect, but rather bend
effortlessly into their general surroundings.
•More specifically, we can divide the
structures in classical Chinese gardens into
the following: Lobby, Corridor, Parlour,
Waterside Kiosk, Storied Chamber, Bridge,
Storied Pavilion, Pagoda, Kiosk, Wall.