Chinese lessons. Lesson two: essential elements of a Chinese garden

Chinese culture is marked by antiquity, originality and a certain originality. Landscape design can be safely called one of the manifestations of Chinese culture, which fully reflects all its features. In the culture of the Celestial Empire, a special role is played by the teaching of Feng Shui, which harmoniously combines philosophy and everyday life. In relation to the Chinese garden, the influence of Feng Shui is expressed in creating harmony between the elements of air, water, earth, as well as plants, hills, plains and, of course, man. The arrangement of a garden area, according to Feng Shui, is a reflection of the mental organization of its owner and is a kind of projection of his inner world.

Philosophy in the design of the green zone

A Chinese garden is most often a landscape garden in which each architectural element has its own symbolic meaning. A feature of the green zone can be called its characteristic hierarchy, the relationship of subordination between individual elements, with the obligatory observance of balance and harmony in the spirit of Feng Shui.

A garden with the mood of the Celestial Empire is the result of the efforts of man and nature, while man-made elements (buildings, sculptures, small architectural forms) surprisingly harmoniously become elements of the landscape, so that the artificial is sometimes not so easy to distinguish from the natural.

Mood concept

In a garden created according to Chinese philosophy, there is always a pronounced center in the form of a dominant composition, and the remaining elements are located around it. Although gardens in this style have a single concept, there are many interesting ramifications. One of them is called “laughing gardens”. They are distinguished by rich colors and a wide color palette. Moreover, even such elements as buildings, paths, alleys are made in bright colors.

“Laughing Gardens” are philosophically and artistically contrasted with “menacing” ones, which are a reflection of the formidable power of unbridled elements. Their peculiar beauty and harmony is expressed in the form of twisted trees, cascading waterfalls, and boulders of stone ready to collapse at any moment.

“Idyllic garden” is another type of emotional state of the Chinese garden. All elements of the composition fulfill the task of establishing calm and peace in the soul, which is facilitated by dim colors, the calming surface of the pond, on an island in which you can retire in a cozy gazebo. It is noteworthy that all three of the above moods can be present in one green zone.

Solutions for a garden in the style of the Celestial Empire (photo)

Sun Yat-sen Chinese Garden

Chinese gardens are strikingly different from European ones. Each of them has its own personality, none is similar to the other, and all together they are irreducible to any general scheme or single style. They do not have regular, geometrically laid out lawns, straight alleys, marble statues, a clear layout - in a word, that which demonstrates the predominance of artificial order over the chaotic world of wild nature. William Temple, in his essay “Through the Gardens of Epicurus,” wrote that Chinese gardens were built according to the principle of sharavaja, that is, deliberately introduced irregularity and lack of symmetry. According to the Chinese themselves, there are no strict and mandatory rules in the construction of a garden; a person must show his passions and skills. “Whoever plants a garden plants happiness. If you want to be happy all your life, plant a garden,” says a Chinese proverb.

Yiheyuan. Long gallery.
Stretching for 728 m, the gallery intricately bends following the topography of the lake shore, connects pavilions located along the foot of the mountain, and between 273 spans there are carved gazebos in which you can relax and quench your thirst.

The image of a traditional Chinese garden is depicted in the works of major Western writers: G. Hesse (the novel “The Glass Bead Game”) and X. L. Borges (the story “The Garden of Forking Paths”). Hesse showed the Chinese garden as a symbol of an ideally arranged world, and Borges - of ideal consciousness. In reality, Chinese gardens and parks played both roles, and sometimes embodied both at once. At the origins of gardening art were philosophers and writers, connoisseurs of fine art, who viewed the garden not as a natural landscape, but as a work of art, built according to special, deep and mathematically verified laws that nature obeys and which have been known to Chinese sages since ancient times. That is why in Chinese parks architecture and picturesqueness are woven together, and not opposed to each other, as was the case in Europe.

ORDERED CHAOS

In the Far East, the opposition of man to nature was not expressed as sharply as in the European tradition. Man there was never considered the measure of all things. Following the Chinese, the Japanese believed that the human race exists in accordance with universal laws: water - blood, stone - bones, human skeleton. Japanese gardens are based on the Chinese idea: everything that exists is formed by a combination of the feminine (yin) and masculine (yang) principles. The most visible natural embodiment of this idea is water and stone, therefore in any garden, no matter what school it belongs to, these two elements are certainly present.

According to the Chinese, parks and gardens, like everything that exists on earth, are only fleeting forms of manifestation of heavenly forces. The variety of trees and flowers, the play of light and shadow, drops of rain and dew are a faint reflection of another, more magnificent celestial landscape. The garden provides an opportunity to get back to the roots, to naturalness and antiquity, to feel the play of primitive, elemental forces of nature and, perhaps, to find with their help the key to controlling reality. It is not for nothing that the legendary ancestor of the Chinese is the giant Pangu after death in nature. His breath became the wind, his voice became thunder, his left eye became the sun, his right eye became the moon, his blood became rivers, his veins became roads, his flesh became soil, the hair on his head and mustache became stars in the sky, his skin and body hair became grass, flowers and trees. , teeth and bones - shiny metals, strong stones, pearls, jasper, and even the sweat that appeared on the giant’s body turned into drops of rain and dew.
Often the garden was “read” like an ancient map, in which the cardinal directions were located in a mirror order, so that the north was at the bottom and the south at the top. The garden as a whole and each of its elements individually personified the interaction of two universal principles: dark yin, embodying the forces of the Earth, and light yang, symbolizing the forces of Heaven. Revealing an image of harmony, the garden also showed the confrontation of various forces: light and darkness, movement and rest, artificiality and naturalness - and their overcoming.

In Chinese gardens, architectural structures - gazebos, pavilions, pagodas, etc. - were designed not so much for staying in them as for admiring the view. In the general plans of Chinese gardens, one can often discern the design of the hieroglyph yuan - “garden”, “park”, and some parks are built in accordance with the calligraphy of this sign. The main aesthetic feeling generated by the park is le (“joy”), revered as the most important since the time of Confucius (6th century BC).
According to legend, the garden was created by the legendary ruler of China, Huangdi, as the embodiment of an ideal world. His successors Yao and Shun also laid out parks that served as an attribute of their universal power. They were inhabited by sacred animals that guarded the countries of the world: a qilin unicorn, a white tiger, a blue-green dragon and a turtle with a snake. From about the 3rd century. BC e., under Emperor Qin Shi Huang, parks began to be perceived as an image of the Celestial Empire, as its model, which had all the properties of the original. In the Qin Shi Huang Park, the landscape of all nine districts of China was recreated in miniature, and the emperor could rule the country without leaving the park. From the Han period (3rd century BC - 3rd century AD), artificial lakes with models of “islands of the immortals” began to be built in parks. Over time, the gardens acquired individual characteristics and became “gardens of the heart,” and from the 4th century. and places for “clean conversations”. Later, in the Tang and especially in the Song periods (X-XII centuries), meeting and talking in gardens was considered a sign of sophistication. Thus, gardens gradually lost their religious meaning, turning into an artistic phenomenon, and their arrangement in the early Middle Ages into a sophisticated art.

Although gardening art in China has been popular throughout the centuries, it reached its peak during the reign of the Ming Dynasty (1868-1644), brilliantly reflected in Ji Cheng’s treatise “Arranging Gardens”
(1684). The garden was considered an indispensable attribute of an “elegant” lifestyle, obligatory for a “man of culture.” At the same time, masterpieces of this art appeared in the cities of Jiangnan, Suzhou and Beijing: the gardens of the Lion Grove, the Master of the Fishing Nets, the Incapable Manager, the Blessed Shadow, etc. Some of them have survived to this day. The miniature gardens are admirable. For example, in the Half Tithe Garden, preserved in Suzhou, in a tiny space of 10 m2 there is a lake with a pine tree on the shore, a gazebo for contemplating the landscape, flowers, stones, and a bridge. In total, by the beginning of the 17th century. in Suzhou, according to the chronicle, there were 271 gardens.

During the same period, the classical aesthetics of the Chinese garden emerged, preserving the meaning of the world in miniature. The garden was the private property of a learned man, striving not for unbridled luxury, but for “solitary peace” and always ready to “wander freely with his soul.” This garden “grew” from the household courtyard of the serving nobility, and it expressed the love for the unpretentious and artless beauty of nature. The layout of the classical gardens of Jiangnan was in general terms similar to the estate: in the center of the garden there was a pond, which was framed by closed courtyards and shady corners reminiscent of living quarters. Imperial and private gardens developed in close cooperation. Royal parks and gardens were usually created by experts from among the scientific elite, so the attributes of imperial parks were often copied in private gardens, receiving, however, a slightly different interpretation.

Ponds, streams, waterfalls, cascades represented the water element in the gardens, ancient and fascinating. They could occupy more than half of the garden, as in the best gardens of Jiangnan. For the Chinese, water served as a multi-valued metaphor for a mirror, silently storing all the images of the world and capturing the peace of emptiness. At the same time, it was a symbol of the fluidity and variability of existence, its eternal and unstoppable movement.

The author of the treatise “Arranging Gardens” Ji Cheng wrote that the best way to arrange a garden is in five places: in the mountains, a city, a village, near a river or lake. But wherever it was located, it was assigned the role of an intermediary between home and the outside world, between civilization and wild nature, and therefore its ability to transform city noise and bustle into peace and regularity was especially valued.
The Chinese interpreted a garden as a combination of earth, water, leaves and a fence. In fact, the garden was built precisely from these materials and elements. It was assumed that their combinations reveal the inexhaustibility of properties and combine natural existence and human history better than anything else. Different corners of the garden, changing depending on the time of day and season, provided connoisseurs of fine art with inexhaustible opportunities for experiencing sublime states of spirit.
I The garden as a “world within the world” is necessarily highlighted and separated by a blank brick fence, coated with clay and whitewashed. In the gardens of Jiangnan it was white, a “feminine” color, and not only limited the owner’s possessions, but also served as an excellent background for garden compositions or for the play of light and shadows on a moonlit night. Sometimes the fence was compared to a sheet of paper on which a person “writes out stones” with taste. It happened that empty space was left on it so that friends or guests of the owner could inscribe some exquisite hieroglyphic inscription. Sadovaya
the fence, although made by man, was still perceived as part of the surrounding landscape.
It curved in the hollows and snaked up the hills, like a “twisting dragon.” Often the top of the wall, covered with tiles, would playfully scatter with the crests of waves, or suddenly freeze in front of a flowerbed planted right there at the top.
Particular importance was attached to the gates and the view opening from them. “When you enter the garden, a mood is created,” wrote Ji Cheng.

The trees of noble species planted in the gardens were not only pleasing to the eye, but also had a deep symbolic meaning. Thus, the evergreen pine, personifying perseverance and nobility of spirit, was considered one of the hermit’s most worthy friends. Its slender trunk and graceful crown were conducive to contemplation, its bark with growths, similar to dragon scales, inspired the idea of ​​wise firmness, and the sound of the wind in the branches reminded of the “music of heaven.” That is why it was recommended to grow a pine tree under the office window, placing a decorative stone in its roots, and orchids and daffodils around it. Evergreen pine and cypress were also a symbol of unfading nobility. Chinese gardeners also loved bamboo. Elastic and hollow inside, it was perceived as a metaphor for the all-encompassing emptiness - one of the most important categories of the traditional worldview. Bamboo was planted in different ways, placing compositional accents, and sometimes even screening the space. Peach, usually planted next to a pear tree, was considered happiness. Peach flowers were likened to a “young darling,” and pear flowers to a “celestial maiden.” A frequent visitor to Chinese gardens was the persimmon, whose white, red or pink flowers were prized. The garden of a person of refined taste was also decorated with lush magnolias, fragrant apricot trees, shady banana trees and almost always weeping willows, embodying the life-giving principle of yang in their sad and poetic appearance. Connoisseurs of beauty did not ignore the plum - a symbol of spiritual chastity and purity. The most popular tree species were shrouded in a web of complex poetic associations. The pine was an image of a tree reaching upward, firmly clinging to the rocky soil, the willow was associated with a water stream, and the banana tree with the sound of rain in the foliage. Birds lived in the trees and bushes, and noble Chinese men enjoyed listening to their incessant chirping and contemplating their flight. They especially loved tall, slender, seemingly dancing cranes and storks. Like the entire garden, they reminded us of the fleeting time and encouraged the tireless vigil of the “enlightened heart.”
LORD OF THINGS

The Chinese garden is distinguished by its extraordinary stylistic persuasiveness. This is not just an oasis of “art” in the desert of everyday routine. Usually located behind a residential building, on the site of a utility yard, it is intended not only for having fun and dreaming, but also for living and working in it. It is not a “window to the world”, a border zone between the natural and the human - a place of reprehensible entertainment or a demonstration of the triumph of the human mind, which European gardens so often appear to be. But this is not a window into the beautiful world of the ideal, cut into the prison of earthly existence. Before us is a garden as an extension of the house, the focus of an aesthetically meaningful life. It was a true center of cultural life, a favorite place for games, walks, playing music, reading, painting, learned conversations, meetings of friends, feasts and all sorts of free fun.
The most important features of the landscape architecture of China are determined by the fact that Chinese gardens were an image of a different, symbolic existence, comprehended in the depths of the enlightened heart. That is why the Chinese garden could not have any fixed, dogmatically established appearance, and experts proudly asserted that no two identical gardens could be found in the entire empire. Landscapes in the gardens were even created with two different types of contemplation in mind: static and dynamic. For the same reason, every garden landscape had to include all the basic elements of the universe - vegetation, earth, water and stones - and, moreover, represent a living, genuine harmony of nature and human activity. The main advantage of a garden landscape is complete naturalness, guiding the spirit to comprehend the virgin purity of existence. If the Chinese garden symbolizes anything, then it is only creative freedom of spirit, including the freedom not to express anything and not to be expressed in anything, but to be serene. There are no imitations in it, there is a search for the very source of things.
Flowers were planted in parterres, in flowerbeds, in pots, or simply on patches of land. Traditionally, they were divided into several categories. The peony, the “king of flowers,” was considered the embodiment of pure yang. Of the hundreds of varieties, the “dancing lion cub” with petals in delicate pastel colors stood out. Its leaves were likened to the “jasper butterfly”, and its seeds were likened to the “Golden Pavilion”. The autumn chrysanthemum, a symbol of peace and longevity, was associated with another principle of life, yin. The most beautiful among chrysanthemums were those whose petals resembled “multi-colored heron feathers.” Roses, hydrangeas, orchids, daffodils, hyacinths and other fragrant flowers made them worthy company. The lotus occupied a special place, clearly demonstrating the unstoppable power of life growth, not subject to any defilement. Rooted in mud and mud, reaching towards the sun and light from the depths of the waters, the delicate lotus was perceived as a symbol of unsullied spiritual purity.

According to the rules of Chinese geomancy - Feng Shui, the feminine principle predominates in the park. The water of the lake also embodies the Taoist principle, best showing the main properties of the path - Tao: pliability and downward direction. Finally, the power of yin is reminded by the special character of the shadows cast by trees and buildings. It is believed that the pattern and saturation of the shadow became a real discovery of Chinese master gardeners.

Each noble flower, like a high-ranking nobleman, had his own retinue. Thus, the royal peony “performed” accompanied by roses and rose hips, the chrysanthemum was surrounded by begonias, and the lotus was surrounded by tuberoses. Flowers were intended for contemplation; their noble appearance was supposed to evoke equally sublime feelings, for example, to remind one of the transience of existence. “A flower is grown all year round, and admired for ten days,” said one of the treatises on home economics.
Water streams washing motionless stones, butterflies and dragonflies fluttering over the calm surface of the pond, coastal flowers, the play of light and shadow - everything reminded the contemplative mind of moments that had irrevocably sunk into the past, of the fleeting nature of life and its eternal movement. Pavilions, terraces, openwork bridges and other architectural structures gave the water a new aesthetic quality. A walk along a path winding along the water, a picnic on the shore of a pond, and breeding ornamental fish were a worthy activity for the sophisticated “lover of idleness.” With dozens of breeds of ornamental fish, red ones with a yellow tint and an unusually shaped tail were especially valued. The Chinese believed that the contemplation of shadows sliding in the water was evidence of “transformations of deceptive appearances.”
The Chinese garden landscape necessarily contains decorative stones, which are considered a semi-natural, semi-human material: although they are created by nature, they can be processed. Standing alone or in groups, complementing the appearance of greenery or buildings, serving as tables, benches or rising above the water, the stones, like a kind of abstract sculpture, balanced the water and tree elements, testifying to the eternal harmony of the world and the fact that the garden is a world in miniature. Hundreds of varieties of decorative flowers were used for garden compositions.
stones, and about a dozen of them were especially valued, for example, “divine” boulders from the bottom of Lake Taihu with a bizarre surface worn out by waves, reminiscent of sacred Taoist calligraphy, or flint monoliths from Mount Kunshan. What was most valued about the holey, wrinkled, spongy, “water chestnut-like” stones was their unusual shape, which indicated that the stones served as a receptacle for cosmic energy. An “independent science” was the construction of artificial slides from stones, often stylized to resemble phenomena of different seasons. It was believed that the stones gave off their heat to plants, so they were installed among flowers. They also had a beneficial influence on people, setting an example of firmness for the spirit. The Chinese, who likened stones to people, believed that the stone could be man's best teacher. In the gardens of the Ming era there were stones that had their own names, covered in legends and traditions, for example, in one of the gardens of Suzhou, the Lion Grove Garden, there are stones resembling lions.

One of the world's greatest masterpieces, the Yiheyuan park ensemble, is located in the northwestern part of modern Beijing, on an area of ​​270 hectares. The garden embodied all the main traditions of Chinese gardening - GARDEN AS A METAMORPHOSIS OF BEING
The main rule here was the “communication” (tun) of buildings and the natural environment. Galleries and verandas softened the transition from the interior of the house to the open space: slides were poured in the corners of the houses or shrubs were planted; gazebos and terraces were open to the surrounding space. Ultimately, the unity of the house and garden, internal and external, is achieved in the play of crushing contrasts of forms, polyphony of rhythms of space, which transform images into symbolic types. Here, as if half asleep, chance, omission, inconsistency, imperfection are allowed: disproportionately sweeping curves of roofs are piled onto the strict parallelepipeds of the walls, even slabs of graceful bridges rest on unprocessed, as if carelessly loaded blocks, paths carefully laid out with stone, covered with a geometric pattern, wind like forest paths. paths, etc. In such an exciting stream of self-delimitation of everything, the entire border between the house and the garden, the garden and the external world turns out to be only a sign of the omnipresent Metamorphosis of being.
The classical Chinese garden grew out of the understanding that no sum of finite images by itself will produce the effect of infinity. This garden makes you feel the limitations of any perspective, bump into the limit of any vision. It reveals a stream of never-repeating species. He can be anything. Only in this inexhaustible variety of life can every moment be Everything.

park art and spiritual culture of this great country, it reflected ancient images of myths and legends, natural philosophy, illustrations to classical philosophical texts and the foundations of the three “great teachings”: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. The garden was a model for the largest designers in Europe, who created the so-called Anglo-Chinese, i.e., a natural, irregular garden.
Yiheyuan began to be built back in 1153, when the Jin emperor Wan Yanliang, who was building a new capital, the future Beijing, ordered a country palace to be built on the Golden Mountain, now called Wanshoushan. The nearby lake was connected by mountain rivers, and it turned into a large reservoir that supplied the city with water. Subsequent rulers more than once renamed the mountain and the lake, as well as the entire area, built palaces and temples on it, planted trees, brought stones, and set up gardens. In I860, Anglo-French troops invaded China, and the park was significantly damaged. In 1888, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the restoration of the ensemble, which after renovation was named Yiheyuan - Garden that creates harmony. But they didn’t admire it for long: in 1900, the united troops of eight powers caused enormous damage to the garden. Only after the liberation of China, in 1949, Yiheyuan regained its former appearance.

Embodying both an ideal world and an ideal consciousness, Yiheyuan Park represents “gardens within a garden,” just as Chinese ivory carvers make “balls within a ball.” The first garden, Deheyuan - Garden of Beneficence and Peace, is entered through the main, Eastern Gate - Donggongmen, going around the Palace of Humanity and Longevity. This garden was once the center of theatrical performances. Moving west, the visitor can enter the Magnolia Hall or the Hall of Fun and Longevity, approach the Porcelain Pagoda, enjoy the sound of bells ringing in the wind, admire the sparkling whiteness of the Marble Boat, see the Fun Garden with a lotus pond, and leisurely stroll along the winding path listening to the murmur stream. The patina of antiquity felt in the park makes it possible to plunge into the depths of one’s own consciousness and feel a connection with long-gone eras.
Shaded rooms contrast with brightly lit courtyards, and white walls contrast with dark wooden doors, reminiscent of the eternal confrontation between the forces of yin and yang. A third of the area of ​​Yiheyuan is occupied by Mount Wanshoushan - the Mountain of Longevity, embodying the forces of Heaven, the masculine principle of Yang.
Throughout most of the park lies Kunmihu Lake - a lake like a radiance, personifying the forces of the Earth, the feminine principle of yin.

The number 4, the symbol of the Earth, and the number 9, the symbol of the Sky, as a result of multiplication give 36: it is from so many man-made elements that the architectural complex of Yiheyuan Park consists. The ensemble located on the slope of Mount Vanynoushan, facing the lake, is considered the best in the entire park. On the Western Dam there is the Yudaiqiao-Jade Belt Bridge, modeled after one of the most beautiful bridges in China. Like everything in the park, the bridges are associated with Buddhist symbolism: crossing them, like crossing to the other side, reminds of spiritual transformation, finding a new life, or even leaving for another world.
The park is decorated with various sculptures. Made of marble, stone and bronze, it is most often located in small courtyards and gardens and is maintained in the traditions of classical antiquity. The most important artistic element of the park are hieroglyphic inscriptions. Pavilions and gazebos, panels in the gallery, and stone steles are decorated with sophisticated calligraphy.
The sophistication of the ensembles, combining colorful structures with the smooth surface of waters and flowering plants, the whimsicality of the architectural decoration - all this should cause visitors not only joy, but also surprise, which is also the most important aesthetic category.
One of the masterpieces of the so-called intellectual gardens in Suzhou is the Garden of the Master of Intricacies, which occupies an area of ​​​​about a hectare, but contains so much that you will not see in ten large gardens: buildings, passages, garden courtyards. The garden project was developed in 1140 by Shi Zhengzhi. One enters the garden from the back side of the estate through a passage with a decorative covering, where stylized patterns and paintings are laid out from pebbles and fragments of ceramics. Views of small landscaped gardens from windows and doors create the illusion of an expansive garden. Among the rocks and skillful inlays of pebbles and tiles, plants are quite rare, but their selection is symbolic, for example, bamboo, bending in the wind but not breaking, was chosen as the personification of eternal purity and all-encompassing emptiness. The pond in the center of the garden is surrounded by garden buildings. Among them is a gazebo called “The moon sets and the wind rises” - you can sit in it at night and admire the moon and its reflection in the water. Having survived periods of neglect, restoration and reconstruction, the garden reflected the spirit of the times and the fate of its owners. In 1982, the Chinese government declared the Master of the Intricate Garden a national cultural property.

The Chinese style garden is an art that is distinguished by the uniqueness of the Eastern culture and originality. Here you will not find neat contours of the French style, or ideal English lawns, since Buddhism, which actively influences the spiritual life and culture of the Chinese, has introduced its own characteristics into the design of the landscape.

The Chinese people have always taken nature seriously. It was believed that everything in this life depended on her. Therefore, people sought to live in harmony with the earthly elements and professed worship of the forces of nature.

As for local philosophers, in an attempt to deduce the laws by which the universe operates, they created the well-known direction of Feng Shui. A garden made in accordance with his principles allowed the flow of qi energy to flow harmoniously and fill the human being with peace and tranquility. Thus, gardeners of the East began to recreate the unique landscape in miniature with all its energy, trees, lakes and mountains, combining all this with human living space.

Types and styles of garden design

Chinese garden design is a multifaceted style that can hardly be called simple.

There are several types of such gardens:

• domestic ones, which are surrounded by a bamboo or stone wall and look like vegetable gardens;
• gardens intended for philosophers who, walking through them, are in search of truth;
• natural - created for simple contemplation of nature.

Chinese gardens can also be divided according to their mood:

• laughing garden (has a horizontal flat landscape);
• threatening garden (has broken trees and high rocks);
• an idealistic garden (it has a large pond with an island in the middle, on which there is a gazebo or house).

Principles of creating gardens in China

1. Since such gardens have a small area, a feeling of completeness is achieved by using special techniques:

• the difference of elements that reveal a huge variety of images;
• multifaceted perspective, which creates the illusion of infinite space.

2. A garden is a self-sufficient world in miniature. In it you can find all the components and symbolic images of the universe of yang and yin, which are intertwined and combined into a drawing.

The key point is to create a complete composition, where each element will be subordinated to a single goal - the use of energy flows in the right direction. At the same time, they should be directed to the center of the composition - the entrance to the home.

3. The garden landscape should look as natural and asymmetrical as possible, as if it was created by nature itself. At the same time, spontaneity and arbitrary images, as well as unpredictability, should prevail in its design.

Feng Shui balance

When organizing the space of the garden, it is necessary to take into account the fact that all its objects are in close and constant interaction, so we bring to your attention recommendations for dividing the landscape into zones:

• in the south of the garden, which is associated among the people of the east with the color red and the flame of fire, lamps with a similar shade of shades should be placed (this side is responsible for love relationships);
• in the northern part, which is associated with water, as well as blue and black, a pond or stream should be placed. They should not have a strict, but a smooth geometric shape (this side is responsible for the work);
• the west of the garden, responsible for friendship, whose symbols are metal and white, must be equipped with a traditional metal gazebo;
• in the eastern part - the zone of knowledge accumulation, be guided by the preferences of your own soul. This side should be filled with greenery and trees;
• The center of the garden is spiritual health, so medicinal herbs, conifers and juniper should not be used here.

Knowing these simple rules, you can independently influence a certain zone, thereby weakening or strengthening its effect.

Basic elements of a traditional Chinese garden

1. Trees.

In the gardens of China, large old trees that have been growing here for decades are held in extraordinary esteem. Almost everywhere you can find pine - a symbol of nobility, plum and peach - a symbol of happiness, as well as bamboo - the personification of strength and perseverance. Other favorite trees among the Chinese are cherry blossoms, willows and magnolias.

Water in the landscape style of the garden organizes the common space and also divides it into zones. It is a kind of balance that balances the elements. For example, a waterfall, stream or fountain symbolizes constant change and movement, and a pond symbolizes peace and tranquility. Each body of water must be made devoid of high banks and artificial lining, while gazebos of various designs located on islands must occupy almost the entire surface protruding from under the water.

3. Plants.

There are quite a few flowering plants in Chinese gardens, but each of them carries a certain symbolic meaning. Residents of the East prefer the tree type of peony, which is considered the king of all flowers. You can also find lotuses, daffodils, roses and chrysanthemums here. Each flower, distinguished by its special nobility, is necessarily set off by the simplest plants. For example, rose hips and roses are considered the best companions for peonies, chrysanthemums are complemented by begonias, and plums are planted next to camellia and magnolia.

A traditional Chinese garden is always distinguished by its diversity and richness, and the further south it is located, the richer its floristic composition.

Stones located in Chinese gardens balance the elements of water, wood and symbols of human presence, that is, architectural structures. Residents treat their unique species with extraordinary trepidation - they listen, put their hands on them and admire the gifts of nature. The Chinese make slides out of stones without planting any plants nearby. When creating garden sculptures, they give preference to time-eaten and strangely shaped blocks. The stones owe their uniqueness to the limestone rock and the active influence of water.

In addition to limestone, granite is often found in such gardens. It is used for paving paths, patios, in the construction of bridges, and also as pedestals.

5. Buildings.

It is impossible to imagine gardens in China without buildings in the traditional oriental style - various tea houses, terraces, gazebos, etc. They are located in such a way that while there, a person can enjoy harmony and contemplate the surrounding space.

The Chinese garden is not only a kingdom of plants with several structures, but the main ones are unique architectural elements that are surrounded by water, greenery and stones. Without such fancy pavilions and gazebos, the landscape of the east simply will not be itself. The multifaceted buildings are an extraordinary decoration of the garden, representing wonderful viewing platforms from which you can admire an excellent scenic view.

The Chinese-style garden “penetrates” the home through patterned latticework and windows, the walls of which serve as a backdrop for a carefully selected collection of plants.

The architecture of the eastern garden includes the following types of elements:

• xuan (studio located in the courtyard, designed for drawing and calligraphy);
• ting (a gazebo intended for relaxation);
• tang (main structure);
• Shui-xi (pavilion located on the water);
• kiao (bridges);
• low (a house used for housing unmarried young girls);
• lang (covered bridge or path);
• fang (a pavilion that is shaped like a boat).

To define boundaries in a Chinese garden, walls are built that are made of stone. They must be combined with the surrounding vegetation without creating a heavy impression. The outer walls are made of light-colored stones and are quite high, thanks to this a beautiful background is created and they become weightless. The main task of the interior walls is to focus on a specific viewpoint, which fully reveals the uniqueness of the landscape.

In addition to stone fences, paving is actively used in the oriental style, which is characterized by a huge variety. The Chinese also use various objects for the garden - not very large lanterns, carved bridges, unusual stones, etc.

Chinese style garden video:

When it comes to decorating our garden or home, we always choose our options carefully. There are a lot of them to create the perfect garden, but first you need to think about what style you want to work in. In this article we would like to talk about the Chinese style in landscape design, show the main advantages and highlight its distinctive features.

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Chinese style is one of the most ancient. The culture of Ancient China from the very beginning was committed to the lush design of gardens and courtyards. They elegantly planted plants and arranged decorations, but at the same time, every detail in this style has its own place and purpose. The main idea of ​​this style is harmony and interaction with nature, which explains the choice of plants and the method of caring for them.

In the Chinese style of landscape design, it is customary to distinguish five main elements:

• metal,
• Earth,
• water,
• fire,
• tree.

Elements made from these materials must be present in your yard.

It is believed that there are two energies in the world, “yin” and “yang,” which are embodied in this style.

Chinese landscape design is suitable for calm people who do not like a large accumulation of details. In a traditional Chinese garden, two types of reservoirs are used: with standing water and with “moving” water (waterfall). But if, due to certain circumstances, you cannot do this, then you can limit yourself to only a standing body of water.

A Chinese garden can be decorated at home. This is expressed in dwarf trees and miniature decorative elements. (as in the photo).

Types of Chinese style in landscape design

If in landscape design the Chinese style is a type, then it has formed several main subtypes:

• Home gardens. These gardens are not very similar to the traditional Chinese ones that we are used to seeing in the photo. Most often they look like exquisite vegetable gardens. Plants in such a garden are arranged along horizontal and vertical lines. But such a garden is uncharacteristic of a traditional one, where there are practically no regular geometric shapes.
• Classic garden. A classic Chinese garden contains details from all 5 main elements, it is decorated only in bright colors, using bridges and ponds, the plants are mostly low and green, they all have their own meaning and fit harmoniously. They are located in a more chaotic order to maintain harmony (as in the photo below)
• Philosophical gardens. In such gardens, there is less use of fruit-bearing plants that need to be cared for. Compositions are created from broad-leaved and spreading plants that create shade and comfort.
• Calm gardens or aggressive ones. In calm gardens, the plants are predominantly low-growing, as are the decorations, while in aggressive gardens, on the contrary, stone structures, tall and cornerstone, dominate. Trees in an aggressive style are not characterized by exquisite form and beauty; on the contrary, the more broken the line, the better.

Features of Chinese style

Chinese design style has its own distinctive features. Since this style is considered one of the most popular after English and French, it has acquired some changes and has become less traditional. It is worth noting that it is arranged using the Feng Shui technique, but many people forget about this.

• Use of stone. Stone is one of the obligatory elements of a Chinese garden, but the mood of the style will determine exactly what it will be and how it will be located.
• A mandatory feature in a garden of this style should be bridges or stairs. Most often they are made exclusively of wood, sometimes additional elements can be added. But all materials should be only natural; others will disrupt the harmony of the garden. Bridges are usually painted in bright colors, most often red, yellow or green.
• For landscape design in this style, you need to have a large plot. A traditional Chinese garden has hills and valleys, and in some places even small mountains. The ideal traditional version requires a small lake or other body of water.

• Plants for the Chinese style are selected from a wide variety, but none of them should be random. Each plant carries energy and medicinal properties. That is why the cultivation of medicinal herbs and legumes is very common. In a Chinese garden you can find pine, weeping willow, plum, peach, bamboo, daffodils, chrysanthemums, roses and peonies.
• Animals. If there is a pond in your garden, then you need to place fish there. This is not necessary, but it is the fish, as the embodiment of living energy, that symbolize harmony, peace and tranquility.

• The chaotic nature of a Chinese garden does not imply scattering objects throughout the entire area, but to compensate for negative energy, not all elements are located evenly; corners of “disorder” are created from stones or trees.
• Completeness of the composition. A Chinese garden is a complete, formed composition in which all elements exist in close dependence on each other.

As you can see, a Chinese garden is not so much a selection of plants and decorative elements, but rather the creation of atmosphere and energy. It sets the tone for your mood and is designed to help the owner stay healthy, which is why trees are planted that can help clean the air. Before starting a Chinese garden, we recommend that you read a little about Feng Shui techniques and try to understand them. Remember that you can do everything yourself, without the help of designers.