Bird's eye view of Chinese and western gardens

First of all, the landscape of China's classical gardens mainly imitates nature, that is, the natural scenery is created by artificial power, reaching the artistic realm of "although some people do it, it is natural". Therefore, in addition to a large number of buildings, the garden also needs to cut mountains, plant flowers and trees, imitate the natural landscape by hand, or take ancient landscape paintings as the blueprint to participate in the emotional appeal of poetry and form many picturesque scenes. Therefore, the classical gardens in China are a combination of architecture, mountain ponds, gardening, painting, sculpture and even poetry.

Secondly, due to the long-term feudal social and historical conditions, most of the classical gardens in China are closed, that is, there are walls around the gardens and the scenery is hidden in the gardens. Moreover, except for a few royal palaces, the area of gardens is generally relatively small. To reproduce the beauty of natural landscape in a small scale, the most important and difficult thing is to break through the limitations of space and let the limited space show infinitely rich landscapes. In this respect, China classical gardens have high artistic achievements and become the essence of China classical gardens. Thirdly, China classical gardens are particularly good at using various buildings with strong national styles, such as pavilions, terraces, buildings, pavilions, corridors, pavilions, pavilions, boathouses, pavilions and bridges. Combined with natural water, stone, flowers and wood, it forms a garden landscape that embodies various tastes.

China classical gardens not only objectively and truly reflect the different historical background, the rise and fall of social economy and the level of engineering technology in China, but also vividly reflect the evolution of China people's views on nature, life and the world, including philosophy or religious thoughts such as Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as the influence of traditional arts such as landscape poems and paintings. It embodies the diligence and wisdom of China intellectuals and skilled craftsmen.

Third, the mutual influence of eastern and western garden art It should be noted that eastern and western garden art are complementary, each has its own strengths and is difficult to learn from. For example, Spanish gardens are deeply influenced by Islamic garden styles, and their layout is mostly: square gardens surrounded by buildings, arcades in buildings, pools in courtyards, and Woods inside and outside the gardens.

From17th century to18th century, Britain began to accept China's gardening ideas. An encyclopedia? Introduction of Natural Landscape Gardens in Britain: In Epicurus Garden Theory, it is mentioned that the completely irregular gardens in China may be more beautiful than other forms of gardens. 1757, 1772, British landscape architect w? Chambers published China Architectural Design, Introduction to Oriental Gardens and other works. He introduced the gardens he saw in China to Britain and advocated introducing Chinese architectural sketches into British gardens.

China gardens also have an influence on French gardens. It is said that there are more than 20 places in Paris that imitate China's classical gardens. 1670, the blue and white porcelain palace built in Versailles imitated the glass tower in Nanjing. /kloc-in the 8th century, the French learned more about China's gardening art from the reports sent by missionaries in China. 1774 Little Trianon Garden, built in Versailles Garden, is a Chinese-style garden, with verdant rocks, pavilions and pavilions, and pursues natural wildness.

Western landscape theory has its own systematicness and depth, and also has its own characteristics in strict planning. Especially in modern times, public gardens have been vigorously promoted, which is more prominent than in the East.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, China gardens were influenced by western culture. In the Qing Dynasty, Yuanmingyuan, a garden called Wanyuan, was built on the outskirts of the capital, which was a fusion of Chinese and western garden art. The landscape layout in the garden and courtyard design are both Chinese, while a large number of sculptures and pavilions are Western. Although the Yuanmingyuan was destroyed in Eight-Nation Alliance, western decorative patterns can be seen from the broken beams and columns, such as the Garden Cinema, Haiyan Hall and the square appearance, all of which are Western-style buildings.

In the late Qing Dynasty, with the appearance of concession, the infiltration of western culture into China was strengthened, and some gardens imitating western styles appeared in the Yangtze River basin. For example, Verdun Park in Shanghai and Park in France are all in the style of Lenotel in France. The water steps on the south slope of Xishan in Wuxi have the style of Italian terraced gardens.

From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, private gardens were also westernized. For example, Meiyuan and Liyuan in Wuxi are all known as gardens combining Chinese and Western styles. Some bureaucrats, comprador, businessmen and scribes are most influenced by western thoughts, and almost all of their families are westernized.

In a word, Chinese and western gardens influence each other, with similarities and differences. Western gardens pursue the beauty of material form, artificial beauty, geometric layout and unobstructed beauty. China gardens pursue the beauty of artistic charm, the beauty of harmony between man and nature, the beauty of romanticism and the beauty of ups and downs. If western gardens are compared to oil paintings, then China gardens can be compared to landscape paintings, and China gardens are more natural than western gardens.