中国文明史期末考试卷 (2)

Microcosm of Chinese Culture--Classical Garden of China 【Abstract】 Classical garden of China is a microcosm of Chinese broad and profound culture. It recreates natural landscapes in miniature. The style has involved for more than three thousand years, and includes both the vast gardens built by scholars, poets, and former government officials. 【Key Words】 Chinese classical garden Microcosm Chinese culture Landscapes Style Ⅰ The microcosm of long history The history of classical garden of China is a mirror of Chinese history. As the book says, the structure is a concretion of art and art is a reflection of history. Chinese garden and its associated garden culture are expressions of Chinese vernacular landscape architecture aesthetics. Several cultural factors to form Classical Chinese Gardens and make it distinctive include Neolithic shamanism, Geomancy, Confucianism and Taoism. Chinese garden has long history. Since Shang Dynasty,The royal park was designed as a raised platform surrounded by lush vegetation in the palace where feasts were held. Successive dynasties expanded this idea into imperial hunting parks with scenic compositions of rocks and plants. Warring States,Tiger Hill was built The ultimate realization of the power aesthetic was realized by Qin Shihuang who turned the entire Wei Valley into a regional park dotted with 300 palaces connected by raised walkways in a microcosmic model of the universe. When the history turns to Western Han Dynasty Upper-Forest Garden, the park combined the features of relax. Kunming Lake with a recreation of the three fairy islands in the center, a motif that would become a common feature of later designs. Natural elements Eastern Han Dynasty An aesthetic of elegant simplicity was promoted to match an ethic of moderation. The idea of small is beautiful became the new measure of a garden's success. With time going by, the development of Chinese classical garden became faster and faster. In Tang Dynasty, the number of Chinese classical garden multiplied. It shows that the culture, politic and economy developed fast in Tang Dynasty. In Song Dynasty, it was at the top of the art, so is the Chinese classical garden. It was at this time that Suzhou became the center of all intellectual life and garden design in China. Ming Dynasty’ classical garden was at the peak of the history of Chinese classical garden, which means that the Chinese classical garden developed very fast at this period of time. When it comes to Qing Dynasty, people took more concentrate on the design of the garden. The history of Chinese classical garden shows the history of Chinese culture, politic and economy. Ⅱ The microcosm of Chinese elements Chinese has many special cultural elements, such as color red, bamboos, handwriting, Chinese monochromes, and so on. In Chinese classical garden, there are also many Chinese elements. When you walk around the classical garden, you can find much handwriting along the paths. The bridge of the garden can smoothly combine the waters to lands. Chinese garden is a mixture of landscape and buildings. Looking around the Chinese garden, you are able to find the whole scenery looks like a painting, which makes you go into an artistic conception. The design of Chinese gardens was to provide a way to come back to one's inner heart, to come back to ancient idealism. Chinese gardens are a place they could be far away from their real social lives, and close to the ancient way of life, their true selves and nature. This was an escape from the frustration and disappointment of the political problems in China. The garden scenes are all constructed to be best viewed from a pavilion or a path. It is the location of the building; however, that determines the circulation of paths. The path itself can become architectonic by the addition of roof and screen walls. These screen walls often have moon-shaped doorways and small windows in the shapes of vases and apples. The sculptural Taihu rock is especially prized because it represents wisdom and immortality, and is only procurable from Tai Lake. Such rocks, combined with streams and pools, form the basis of a garden's plan. The softness of water offsets the solidity of the rocks, while also acting to reflect the constantly changing sky above. Goldfish, carp, and mandarin ducks are three of the most commonly raised fauna. The goal of the design is to make the scenery beautiful, the surrounding is quiet and cool, also small fountains were a favorite. Plants are symbols of culture in China. Bamboo represents a strong but resilient character. Often pine is used to represent longevity, persistence, tenacity and dignity. Flowering peaches are grown for spring color and sweet olive as well. Peonies symbolize wealth and banana trees are used simply for the sound they make in the breeze. The all above can harmoniously combine the Chinese culture to building. You can truly feel the Chinese culture in the garden. Ⅲ. The microcosm of Chinese spiritual characteristics and phenomena Chinese spiritual characteristics and phenomena are mirrors of Chinese culture. There are many links between the Chinese garden and Chinese spirit and phenomena. By studying the close links between classical Chinese gardens and traditional Chinese cultures, we can see that spiritual characteristics pursued by classical Chinese gardens were inevitable component of their expression forms. They were also closely related to classical Chinese philosophy, social system and other cultural phenomena.