Many outstanding stacked mountain works are generally only eight to nine meters long. From their stacking rules and composition management, they are all generalizations and refinements of the laws of natural mountain formation. This kind of abstract and typical shrinking and copying fully shows the artistic discovery technique that originates from nature and is higher than nature.
All kinds of water bodies dug in the garden will have twists and turns, and rocks will be used to decorate the banks and rocky areas, to make bays and inlets, or to build islands, dikes and bridges, so as to imitate the whole picture of natural water features as much as possible in a limited space. This pursuit is the concept of "a spoonful will make rivers and lakes thousands of miles", which is a common means in the construction of classical gardens in China.
The plants in the classical gardens in China often play a role in rendering the atmosphere. Plant configuration is mainly based on trees, not paying attention to rows and columns, but randomly uneven, using a small number of trees to summarize the colorful natural vegetation. In addition, ornamental trees and flowers are "anthropomorphic" according to their shape, color and fragrance, giving them different personalities and moral qualities, and trying to show their symbolic meanings in garden landscaping.
In order to meet the needs of the owner's living and recreation, the buildings in the garden can be organically organized with the landscape flowers and trees in the garden, regardless of their nature, function and modeling structure. In terms of materials, the buildings in the park make full use of the flexibility and randomness of the internal and external walls of the wooden frame structure, such as dispensability, virtual space and permeability, and create a variety of vivid and lively appearance images; The layout is divided into parts, and the integration relationship between architecture and natural environment is strengthened through the changes of complete freedom, random, high and low. Communicate the small space of the building with the large space of nature, and reach the realm of harmony between man and nature pursued by gardeners.
As an art form, gardens were influenced by aesthetic ideas when they were built. Many ancient gardens in China were built with the direct participation of literati, which made China classical gardens deeply influenced by paintings, poems and other literature, with strong feelings and colors. First of all, this is manifested in the gardener's attitude towards life. Through the arrangement of the space constructed by buildings, rocks, water bodies and trees, the gardener condenses his own deep-seated cultural contents such as thoughts, feelings and will quality, which means a deeper and wider realm of beauty, that is, "the scenery is endless and the meaning is endless". This is the essence of China classical gardens. Such as Suzhou classical gardens, it is often through imitation and imagination that the feeling of reaching a mountain forest in a limited space is realized.
The creation of this artistic conception of China classical gardens is the core pursued by the masters of landscape design for thousands of years. It comes from the following aspects:
1 China classical poetry and painting
China classical gardens are a kind of garden art that reflects the literati atmosphere. The level of gardens reflects the cultural level of the owners. Most of the gardeners in Chinese classical gardens are literati, who generally have high attainments in literature and painting. The garden construction technique is in the same strain as poetry, calligraphy and painting, and it has accepted the universal law of traditional art. China's classical garden's "writing feelings with scenery" is exactly the painting theory of China's painting "writing spirit with form". The scene of all kinds of objects created in the garden is mixed with the thoughts and feelings of the creators and tourists, and the artistic conception is the pouring and sublimation of the feelings of the creators and appreciators, and it is the highest realm of "the scene outside the scene and the image outside the object" to be achieved. Generally speaking, there are two ways to create and express it: one is to express it by symbolic means, such as the four-season rockery in Yangzhou Geyuan, in which the changes of spring, summer, autumn and winter are represented by ink stone, lake stone, Yellowstone and snow stone respectively. This association generated by analogy, the picture and artistic conception created by literary language means, has a strong aesthetic effect, thus improving the appeal of garden art; The other is to express the artistic conception of the garden by couplets. In the garden, a large number of techniques such as plaques, inscriptions, couplets and inscriptions are used to make landscapes, which plays an irreplaceable role in enriching the garden landscape.
2 China's traditional philosophy thought
China's traditional philosophy thought directly influenced the construction purpose, overall layout and design techniques of classical gardens.
First of all, from the purpose of building a garden, Zen has the most far-reaching influence. Zen advises people to achieve a completely calm and serene spiritual realm, because everything in the world is impermanent and illusory. On the other hand, the Zen believers are in the real society, which contradicts their belief that "the heart is the Buddha" and is "empty", which is a true reflection of the gardener's mentality. This contradiction has been well solved in the garden, which provides a place for quiet meditation, exaggerates the atmosphere of Zen and arouses people's meditation.
Secondly, Confucianism plays a decisive role in the overall layout of gardens. Confucianism pays attention to the theory of self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, ruling the country and leveling the world, and establishing order in chaos, which reflects pragmatism. The builders of classical gardens are mostly idealists, not politicians. They read a lot of poems and books, but subject to the Confucian thought of monarch and minister, it is almost their consistent pattern to resign and retire, but seclusion is only a manifestation of their helplessness. In order to express this feeling, they often attach their feelings to things. Many classical gardens in China were built in this situation.
The principles of Taoist aesthetic philosophy have directly influenced the design techniques of classical gardens in China. Taoism and Nature —— The guiding principle of China's garden art and design. "Nature of Taoism" is the core of Taoist philosophy, and Taoism's thinking method and understanding of the nature of the world are based on the concept of "Nature of Taoism". The design and construction of Chinese classical gardens are completely based on the natural layout, and buildings are also based on the overall trend of mountains and rivers, and the artistic interest of natural mountains and rivers is touched.
3 Secular geomantic theory
Secular geomantic theory originates from the Yin-Yang theory of Yi-ology, and its core is to emphasize the overall environmental model. The builders of classical gardens in China pay more attention to the environment inside and outside the gardens than the buildings themselves. According to the general principle of geomantic omen, the purpose is to live comfortably and ensure the cleanliness and tranquility of the architectural environment by various means. For example, it is generally believed that lush forests around buildings are auspicious, and "feng shui forest" is planted according to plant growth characteristics to gather gas. These customs, which originated from people's life experience, constitute a set of theories about landscape geomantic omen, adding a vivid and wonderful color to the structure of China classical gardens.
China classical gardens, from the elements of construction to the methods of garden construction, embody the natural landscape style at multiple levels, which is as poetic and picturesque as strong feelings. Color gardens are directly influenced by China's traditional art, philosophy and customs, and also reflect the literati's thoughts and the mainstream values at that time, fully expressing people's understanding of nature and society in a specific historical period.
Although the ancient gardens in China have a long history, the summary of garden art and technology is not sufficient. It is the main problem in the research of contemporary garden theory to identify and sort out the ancient garden literature in detail, try to get rid of the floating sentences and the contents that are beneficial to the study of ancient gardens, and sort out the clues and threads of the development of China's gardening culture, style and technology in a systematic and scientific way, so as to guide and correctly evaluate the artistic value and historical position of China's gardens.
Compared with classical architecture research, China's garden theory research is extremely inadequate, and there are many gaps in the theoretical system, mainly due to the following reasons.
(1) The physical objects of ancient gardens in China are rarely preserved, and the authenticity of existing relics is poor.
China's garden practice gradually matured as early as the Han Dynasty, but due to the lack of physical data, it has been difficult for the theoretical circle to draw a conclusion. Most of the existing garden works in Ming and Qing dynasties have been rebuilt and superimposed in different degrees in later generations. Judging from the existing situation, the transformation of works before the mid-Qing Dynasty was mostly unsuccessful, and the continuation of mink works accounted for the main part. Most of the existing royal gardens in Beijing have been rebuilt in Tongguang and the Republic of China, and the present situation of multi-style superimposed gardens has brought some difficulties to the in-depth study of ancient gardens in China.
(2) There are few targeted gardening documents.
As far as the theoretical summary of China's ancient gardens is concerned, until the publication of Yuanye in the late Ming Dynasty, there was no real monograph or technical summary of China gardens. Moreover, the early garden literature is insufficient and the content is too vague. Most of the ancient gardening documents are mainly appreciative essays and notes of scholars, lacking specific technical statements. There are few introductions about the specific materials and modelling technique of gardening, and the basic technology is mainly descriptive language, which has poor reliability. As Mr. Tong Mao pointed out in the Annals of Gardens in the South of the Yangtze River, these garden literary theories "are all caused by hobbies, and they are discussions, not their own experience." It has nothing to do with techniques. " Even if it is involved, in the subtlety, it is like scratching the boots. All these make the early garden research more difficult. Due to historical documents and other reasons, the research on gardening technology in modern times has mostly focused on the gardens in the south of the Yangtze River since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the research on the gardens in the north is obviously insufficient. In particular, there is a serious shortage of systematic research on craftsmen, material management and construction planning of large-scale royal garden projects in Qing Dynasty.
On the other hand, most landscape theory researchers neglect to discuss specific technical research or avoid technical details, which often leads to vague and blank theories. All these have led to no standard for the style appraisal and technical evaluation of gardens, and the quality of works is often determined by the preference of a family, which has brought many negative effects to the development of traditional gardening art.
(3) The theory is out of touch with the craftsman's technical practice for a long time.
Since China's gardening practice has a long history and is inherited in an orderly way, the famous craftsmen, masters, skills and techniques that have emerged over the past 2 years must be brilliant and colorful. However, there are very few craftsmen and technologies that can really be passed down to this day. Take the Record of Philosophers as an example. There are only more than 3 craftsmen recorded in the whole history of China gardens, including many emperors, eunuchs and bureaucrats who love to search for peak stones. It is rare to see craftsmen who are really proficient in gardening skills. Moreover, the deeds of many folk craftsmen are unknown, and some are mixed with legends and even imagination. This kind of garden record is obviously out of proportion to the landscape practice in China, which has lasted for more than 2, years. Due to the lack of theoretical summary and documentary records, thousands of skilled craftsmen and their skills in Qian Qian are unfortunately lost.