1.  An Introduction to Classical Gardens  The Development of Classical Gardens The Development of Classical Gardens  The Art of Chinese Gardening The Art of Chinese Gardening Classical Chinese Gardens

2.  “The Mother of World Gardens”  “A Wonder of World Art”  A fantastic integration of exquisite building crafts and natural scenery  The pursuit of natural beauty is the ultimate goal Introduction

3. Features  An essential part of traditional Chinese culture  A symbol of one’s status (royal families/the wealthy/the literati)  Artistic design (landscape painting/poetry)  A reflection of people’ outlook towards life  Influenced by Chinese philosophical/religious thoughts  The gardens are man-made, but they look like a divine creation

4. Imperial Summer Resort Summer Palace

6. The Humble Administrator’s Garden 拙政园 王献臣 文徵明

7. The Lion Grove Garden (Buddhist) 天如 倪云林

8. The Essential Elements of the Garden  Rockeries  Water  Plants  Architecture The Art of Chinese Gardening

9. Cloud-capped Peak 冠云峰 （ 6.5 meters King of Taihu rock)

10. The Nine Lions Peak 九狮峰 Taihu rocks are slender and elegant in shape, marked with clear veins, rich in curves and lines on the surface, riddled with holes, and porous in substance so that water may be passed up and down foran even distribution of moisture.

11. Water plays an essential role It gives pulsating life to the garden

12.  In spring, peach trees blossom;  In summer, lotuses blossom & willows;  In autumn, maple leaves change color;  In winter, the evergreen provide greenery (plum blossom)

13. The Long corridor in Summer Palace The Zigzag Corridor The Corridor on Water

14. The footpathsof colored pebbles arranged in patterns It is the feature of Chinese landscape gardening Patterned Footpaths

15. The Marble Boat The largest marble boat in Summer Palace

16. The Scenic Opening The fancy gates and windows, the artistic feature of Chinese architecture Any form (round, square, oval, leaf-shaped) Plants or rockeries

17. Scenic windows Latticed windows ( 漏窗 )

18. The Development of Classical Gardens  The Shang and Zhou dynasties (3000 years)  Imperial parks: the earliest form of Chinese gardens (Yuan or You) The hunting parks: high terraces were built; birds and beasts were raised for emperors tohunt for pleasure.

19. The Qin & Han dynasties  Hunting parks were further developed into palatial gardens  royal palaces for recreation and banquet (the architecture were the major form) Shanglin Park: the first royal garden Celestial Lake (where stand three mounts of immortals) Penglai, Yingzhou and Fangzhang “One lake with three mounts”

20. Hua Qing Palace  A model of imperial gardens

21. Northern Song Dynasty The Literati Gardens  Canglang Pavilion 苏舜钦

22. Southern Song  Notion: gardens should imitate nature and go beyond the beauty of nature.  Natural landscape gardens

23. The Yuan Dynasty The Lion Grove Garden A pearl of private gardens in Suzhou

24. The Ming Dynasty  The largest private garden

25. The Qing Dynasty

26. The Lingering Garden 留园