Various halls, apartments, walking galleries and pavilions could be found anywhere inside a private Chinese garden. It may seem at first that the architectural features are invading the natural beauty of the scene. However, the natural space, in turn, penetrates architectural spaces in different ways. The clearest and the most obvious example occur when the different sizes of Chinese courtyards are inserted inside the architectural space.

In China, the entire building complex is composed of alternating buildings and courtyards. Many beautiful pieces of furniture, such as stone tables, stools and benches, are assembled in the courtyard to accommodate outdoor activities. The courtyard satisfies its owner’s functional needs, at the same time with some rocks and plants, displays a sense of the landscape of nature. As a result, the Chinese courtyard presents a midway place between the Chinese architectural interior space and Chinese garden space. Thus, the courtyard is a particular garden place for living or uncovered rooms. After passing a series of Chinese courtyard space, one will not feel an abrupt change when entering into the Chinese garden. Besides those formal Chinese courtyards, there are many tight spaces or tiny courtyards attached to one side of back rooms or side halls that do not face a large courtyard or garden. Inserting these tiny courtyards into the building originally comes from the practical requirement for the lighting and ventilation of the building. This design approach related to Chinese geomancy was defined as the “art of adapting the residences of the living and the dead so as to cooperate and harmonize with the local currents of the cosmic breath.” (“”””18) According to Chinese geomancy, a common natural force, the ch’i, influenced everything under the universe. Keeping this natural force flowing fluidly inside a building is a key point necessary to preserve a harmony with the environment. Thus, although a tiny courtyard is only a very tight open space, it keeps the natural force flowing into a building. By doing so, it gives “life” to the building. Besides serving to ventilate the building, the tiny courtyard also provides beautiful landscape scenery to the building. Because it is in a compact area, the tiny courtyard is only for viewing not for entering. The scenic compositions in the tiny courtyard are often limited to one or two stalks of trees complemented with a few pieces of rock. The landscape inside the tiny courtyard can be seen as an enlarged bonsai in the building.

Not only does the tiny courtyard provide beautiful views, but it also offers olfactory and acoustic satisfaction for the residents. The fragrance of the plant and the noise of raindrops coming from the tiny courtyard create a highly poetic atmosphere. Moreover, the slathering of the leaves swaying in the wind inside the tiny courtyard is reminiscent of the feeling of thatching in a remote mountain.

A walking gallery may be attached to the side of a building or a walk will often turn away from the attached element and then turn back to it to form a tiny courtyard between the gallery and the side of the building. The miniature landscape inside those tiny courtyards serves as a vista along the touring route. Repeated appearances of these tiny courtyards along a walking gallery intensify the sense of penetration between the Chinese architectural and the Chinese garden spaces.

The platter landscape was considered as necessary component of the interior space in China. The “platter landscape” is a recreated natural landscape on a greatly diminished scale. It is praised as “living sculpture” and treated as a miniature garden inside the room.

From the five holy mountains, to accessible artificial mountains inside the Chinese garden, to the pieces of rock and plant inside the Chinese courtyard, and finally to the platter landscape inside the room, nature was gradually incorporated into Chinese architecture.

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