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| What are the special features in the Chinese art of gadening? |
Before taking a tour to the classic gardens in Shanghai we'd better first say something in brief about the Chinese art of gardening for this will be good for the visit and appreciation of them. The Chinese style ot garden is an integrated entity, an art piece consisting of some buildings and pavilions, hills and rockeries, water-pools as nell as flowers and plants. Judging from the artistic point of view the uniqueness of the Chinese garden is often and always expressed by way of three traditional and related artistic methods, namely the "reahn of life," the "picturesque scene" and the "mood of an artwork." What we call the "realm of life" refers to the creation of a realistic environment rich with vivaciousness of life in which hills and waters, flowers and birds and fish and insects are full of vigor and vitality as though they were in an actual life. The "picturesque scene" means that with the raw materials taken from the nature, such as hills, waters, grasses and plants to make them, by way of selection and discard, epitomizing and priming and enhancement and by using a freehand for bringing out vividness, iuto a diversified yet an integrated layout with a drastic contrast between the major and the minor in which they set off one another as though they were in a whole piece of an artwork, thereby presenting people a "picturesque scene". And the "mood of an artwork" refers to the reflection and embodiment of the people's wishes, ideals, temperaments and interests in the creation of gardening, namely "there are poems in pictures and pictures in poetry," in a word a "mood of poetic imagination."
In view of the patterns and styles, the traditional architecture of the Chinese gardening normally falls into the following three categories: the palatial style, the temple and homestead styles.The world renowned Summer Palace, Ynanmingyuan Garden and Beihai Park in Beijing are the typical palatial style of gardening. The Western Garden and the Lion Groves Garden in Suzhou are the representative works of the temple style in gardening while the Humble Adminlstrator's G3arden, the Lingering Garden and Garden of the Master of Nets in Suzhou and the Jichang Garden in Wuxi are the masterpieces of the homestead style of gardcning in China. And the Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai is also a typical one in the third category.
The Yuyuan Garden is the one of homestead style and is reputed as a "Garden of Terrific Elegance in Southeast China." It is a garden of a classical style that combined the gardening styles of the Ming and the Qing dynasties. It remains so far one of the few renowned gardens in the south of the Yangtze River which is greatly appreciated by numerous visitors from home and abroad. The Yuyuan Garden was listed as a cultural unit under the protection of Shanghai Munieipality in 1958 and in 1982 it was counted as one under the preservation of the State Council. In a word, the Yuyuan Garden is one of the marvels in the Chinese art of gardening. continue... ... |
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