Chinese Garden Purpose

Chinese have a long tradition of being in harmony with nature. Tracing the roots of the Chinese love for nature is a difficult process. Perhaps it came in part from the particular geographic and economic condition of each individual people. As noted before, ancient Chinese people depend heavily on their agriculture. The fertility of the soil and suitability of the climate have greatly influenced the life of Chinese people. Thus, nature seemed to have a supernatural power to ancient Chinese people. From primitive times, Chinese people seemed to have bowed to the nature forces and learned that living in harmony with their environment was the only way to live harmoniously, even only to survive in the world.

The second reason of the Chinese people’s love of nature was from the beautiful landscape picture, which functions spiritual refuge. There was a long time in Chinese history that the whole country was full of war and devastation, a political chaos and a continuously changing social condition, and corrupt and hypocritical government. All of these lead Chinese people to lose faith in the Confucian hierarchy system and their interesting in political life. Mentally they escaped from the physical chaos into a new interest in Taoist views of nature. But, the Confucian ethics value of neutrality had so deeply influenced on Chinese people’s mind that they usually had the passive attitude toward the corrupt political system. In according to the Confucian’s demand, in the time of a bad government, one should not tend to be against his government, but should withdraw from the political, and even the public life. So, in ancient China, many Chinese assumed a political tinge and a character of passive resistance and a tendency to seek a life in the solitude of nature. A place where close to nature but far from the human beings had a particular appeal for those Chinese anchorites that some Chinese scholars used to be proud to call themselves. This is vividly manifested in one of Wang Wei’s poems (Wang Wei, 699-761, one of the three great poets of the earlier Tang Dynasty):

I sit alone deep in the bamboo grove,
Strumming on my lute while singing a song.
In this deep forest, no one knows that I am here,
Only the bright moon comes to shine on me.

In fact, there were only a small number of Chinese beside those who already retired from the activities of the world wishing to spend their contemplative old age in quiet harmony with nature that lived in the small huts or cells on the remote solitary mountains, due to lack of opportunity. In ancient China, most of the literati were also officials. Once in office, it was not easy to escape the duties of their position. At most, they only could temporarily leave their offices and family to enjoy their anchorites’ life in the country area. When it was impossible for them to go and live in nature, those Chinese literati-officials brought nature into their houses in the cities or towns by laying out gardens. These Chinese gardens arise out of an attempt to imitate nature, they then became a substitute for nature in urban surroundings. Thus, although living in the rustic huts held the most appeal to most of the ancient Chinese scholar officials, it was always just as common for them to retreat to the Chinese gardens adjoining to their house. As one Chinese scholar-official once remarked, “if your heart is at peace, why should one not create a wildness even in the midst of town? All that was needed was a high wall to exclude the bothers of men, and your heart inside could return to nature.” Because those Chinese gardens were private, one of their most important characters was their serenity. Chinese private gardens served as a setting for the masters’ tranquil retreat as well as their relaxation and enjoyment. These quiet, serene gardens provided their masters with the places for contemplation, introspection and poetic mediations and help them to gather and renew their energies during their time of absence from the activities of outside world. Ancient Chinese scholar-officials used to love nothing better than to wander along the intricate paths inside the Chinese gardens. The beautiful scenery of the Chinese gardens helped to mold their temperament and heighten their artistic cultivation. This feeling vividly described in one of Yuan-ming Tao’s famous poems (365 – 427, a great pastoral poet in Chinese history.)

I lean on the south window and let my pride grow,
I consider how easy it is to be content with a little space.
Each day I stroll in the garden for pleasure,
There is a gate there that is always shut.
Cane in my hand, I walk and rest,
Occasionally raising my head to gaze into the distance.
The clouds aimlessly rise from the mountain peaks,
The birds fly wearily knowing time to go home.
As the sun grows dim and disappears from view,
I walk around my lonely pine tree, strolling.

In addition to providing a quiet refuge place or offering the owner a enjoyment of nature while living in the city, the private garden also served as a place for scholars to gather together to discuss philosophy, art and politics. Thus, it was customary to share several jars of wine with friends inside the garden, just as Lao-lze said in the forty-seventh dictum of his Tao-te-ching (It was regarded as the Taoist original doctrine):

Without going outside the door, you could know the world.
Without looking out of the window, you could see the Tao of Heaven.

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