Modern landscape design is a comprehensive integration of nature and culture, form and function, ecology and life. Landscape architects in China are looking for a brand-new road of landscape design that is both national and modern. National design must absorb the essence of national culture. With the rapid development of science and technology, the author interprets the natural spirit of traditional gardening in China, evaluates its value in modern landscape design, and probes into the creative spirit that modern landscape designers should firmly believe in.
1 China ancient natural spirit and its formation background
Plekhanov said: "A nation's culture is determined by its spiritual essence." Both the East and the West demand nature in gardening, but China people and westerners have different attitudes towards nature. This has also created two different gardening styles in China and the West. Westerners believe in the idea that man can conquer nature, and man's greatest wish is to control, conquer and conquer nature. China people advocate the harmony between man and nature and emphasize the unity of "heaven" and "man". The idea of harmonious coexistence between man and nature embodies China people's respect for nature.
The ancients in China emphasized "the unity of man and nature" and "the integration of everything and me", and the integration of things and nature brought out the best in each other. This is a profound emotional and spiritual exchange. The formation of this natural spirit is closely related to the geographical environment and political structure under the natural economy in China. China has deserts in the northwest and mountains in the southwest, so it is much more difficult to communicate with the outside world than Greece and Rome. The geographical environment of the mainland, which is so isolated from the West, once gave China people the benefits of reproduction. It provides unique conditions for the survival and development of agricultural economy. The self-sufficient pastoral life with favorable weather and favorable people makes people rely on, conform to and believe in nature. This is a unified, orderly and harmonious concept. This forms an introverted cultural mentality different from that of westerners.
2 the crisis of the traditional view of nature
However, after modern times, China's traditional culture faced a huge impact from western foreign cultures. China people have to be deeply impressed by the scientific system established by westerners, because of the trend of thought or form of western modern landscape design that has been gaining momentum abroad for a long time. For a time, China has become an amusement park and exposition park of western landscape, but the poetic landscape of China with overlapping mountains and water management is increasingly rare in modern landscape environment, and the traditional local natural environment has been developed and impacted unprecedentedly. While enjoying comfortable and convenient living conditions, people are also suffering from the adverse consequences brought by the "destructive construction" in the West. Therefore, it is particularly important to re-examine the value of China's native natural spirit.
Undoubtedly, facing the challenges of nature and western culture, China's traditional view of nature is losing its ability to cope successfully. In the development of modern landscape design, the western mechanized garden style is all the rage. This is most obvious in the real estate industry. In order to achieve good results, developers often use foreign design agencies. Many designs are purely western garden styles, with Roman columns and European sculptures everywhere. In the arrangement of plants, they pay attention to group planting, flowery and luxurious style, and it is hard to find a traditional garden art in China. In the early days of its appearance, people lamented its style and luxury, but also its open and unrestrained style was very novel. The works are full of exquisite technical beauty, and the geometric, simple and symmetrical layout shocked people's sight (figure 1), which made people feel refreshed. This style and style reached its peak in the late 1990s. Similarly, the trend of worshipping foreign things and obsessing foreign things has also influenced other landscaping, such as road greening, street sketches and large squares (such as Bayi Square rebuilt in Nanchang, Jiangxi). , all with a strong western garden color. Today, the style of traditional gardens has been severely challenged. China landscape is calling for the spring of "China today". Under the strong impact of western science and technology, China people have to question the view of nature under the general thinking. The traditional spirit of China gardens can no longer meet the needs of today's society for landscape. Today, the nature of each landscape project presents a diversified trend: from the preservation of natural original landscape to the reconstruction of artificial ecology, from the excavation of traditional culture to the pursuit of modern spirit, from the analysis and reconstruction based on rationality to the free will based on romance, from the calculation and demonstration based on engineering technology to the inspiration and epiphany based on literature and art. In short, the modern landscape planning and design implemented in each specific project has far surpassed the traditional ones, with its large time and space span, many types of projects and rich achievements.
All this makes China people reflect on a question: Can the natural spirit of traditional gardens in China remain invincible in the wave of modern landscape design? Faced with such a problem, the answer we give is: innovation according to local conditions is the only trustworthy way.
3 Re-understanding of the traditional natural spirit
Rationality of traditional natural spirit
China gardens advocate "nature". From Laozi and Zhuangzi advocating nature to the emergence and development of landscape poems, landscape paintings and landscape gardens with the theme of expressing natural beauty, the philosophical concept of harmony and unity between man and nature runs through. This concept has profoundly influenced the creation of China's garden art. The natural spirit of traditional gardening emphasizes "nature is precious to law" and "nature is interesting to law", and opposes artificial carving that becomes law and violates nature. This concept of respecting nature is extremely valuable in today's landscape design.
Qian Xuesen, a famous scientist, said: "Humans leave nature and return to nature." Modern metropolis facilitates people's life, but it also keeps people away from the true meaning of nature.
The most precious thing in China's natural spirit is the high-level "natural spiritual realm", that is, the expression of artistic conception. The traditional gardens in China are unique among the world gardens because of their harmonious atmosphere. Its lively and natural techniques create an artistic conception based on nature and higher than nature. Man and nature have established a friendly and harmonious relationship, and people have deep feelings for the vitality of nature (Figure 3). Therefore, China's view of nature is definitely not a simple imitation of nature. It is impossible to create a garden landscape with far-reaching artistic conception by putting one or two China pavilions, building rockeries and digging ponds to raise fish in the landscape. Because what China gardeners create is a natural environment, or an expression of natural feelings. The feeling is not simply the accumulation of garden symbols. The rigid, pale and geometric landscape in the west does not have the function of expressing meaning.
The inherent agility of traditional natural gardens has become the source of life interest and cultural sensibility of modern urbanites. Today, human beings are surrounded by the world of reinforced concrete all day and are more attached to nature. Modern people have a fast pace of life, so it is impossible to enjoy flowers and drink all day like the ancients, and they will not have so many rich emotions. What people lack is to let the soul return to the environment of the id, and the environment where the scenes blend can awaken the soul in people's hearts. The phrase "people are in the Jianghu, but they can't help themselves" often reveals in private, which is enough to reflect people's desire to return to their id and stay away from the hustle and bustle of the bustling city. City people want to use their leisure time to find fun in the local nature and enrich themselves. Nowadays, few people can feel "until, I raise my cup, I ask the moon and ask the sky for wine". Therefore, the landscape garden with mixed scenes is a good place in the city. Excellent landscape designers should have insight into people's emotions and appreciate the aesthetics of culture and philosophy, and their works must have more * * * voices with social monomer. What we want to see is the scene, not the simple scenery. The creation of artistic conception makes it possible for people to communicate and interact with the scene (Figure 4). Today's landscape should make people return to the "natural spiritual realm". Only when the human spirit is fully injected into the natural environment as an aesthetic object, can the object have anthropomorphic life color.