According to historical records, private gardens in China made their appearance early in the Han Dynasty. For example, the wealthy merchant Yuan Guanghan 袁 廣 漢 and the aristocrat Liang Ji 梁 冀owned grand gardens, where rare and precious birds and beasts were kept. During the Wei-Jin and Northern-Southern dynasties
, the beauty of natural landscapes became the highlight of private gardens.
Private gardens in this style had certain spiritual functions. In the Tang Dynasty, private gardens were a means of expressing feelings and emotions. This was especially the case with the gardens owned by the literati and scholar-bureaucrats. For them, private gardens were the symbol of their leisurely and detached way of life. There were more than a thousand private gardens in the City of Luoyang at that time, and even more in the City of Chang’an. It was a fashion in the Tang Dynasty at that time for the bureaucrats and literati to have villas built in the suburbs and scenic spots. The most famous ones were Li Deyu’s 李 德 裕 Pingquan Manor 平 泉 莊, Wang Wei’s 王 維 Wangchuan Villa 輞 川 別 業 and Bai Juyi’s 白 居 易 Thatched Cottage 廬 山 草 堂 in the Lushan Mountain 廬山. Bai Juyi’s Thatched Cottage was situated so he could enjoy the quiet and the natural views all year round. In spring, there was the vivid sea of rice; in summer, there were splendid clouds at the Stone-Gate Gully; in autumn, there was the golden moon shining over the Tiger Stream; and in winter, there was white snow on the peak of the Lushan Mountain. Either sunny or cloudy, bright or dim, at dusk or at dawn, implicit or explicit, whenever or wherever, the natural scenery was always there.
In the Song Dynasty, Luoyang became a center of famous gardens. These gardens were generally large in size, with manmade pools and hills and a variety of flowers, trees and bamboo. At that time, garden designers had already learned to apply such techniques as borrowing scenes and contrasting scenes. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, stone appreciation had become fashionable, and many gardens had carved out the Taihu Lake Rocks 太 湖 石 to compose scenic spots. Scholar-bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty all attached great importance to the cultural connotation of the gardens in their possession.
Taihu Lake Rocks |
Chinese private gardens came into their prime in the Ming and Qing dynasties. They were mainly found in the cities of Beijing 北 京, Nanjing 南 京, Suzhou 蘇 州, Yangzhou 揚 州, Hangzhou 杭 州, Wuxi 無 錫 and Songjiang 松 江. According to historical records, there were more than fifty private gardens in Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, and more than 270 in Suzhou City. From the bank of the Slender West Lake to the Pingshan Pavilion 平 山 堂 in Yangzhou 揚 州, private gardens could be seen, one after another.
Slender West Lake |
The most famous private gardens in Beijing were Li Wei’s 李 偉 Qinghua Garden 清 華 園 and Mi Wanzhong’s 米 萬 鍾 Shaoyuan Garden 勺 園, both of which designed to enjoy water views. The former was characterized by its splendid magnificence while the latter mainly emphasized simple delicacy. Later, Emperor Kangxi had the Changchun Garden 暢 春 園 built on the site of the previous Qinghua Garden. Famous private gardens in South China included the Humble Administrator’s Garden 拙 政 園, the Lingering Garden 留 園, the Yipu Garden 藝 圃, the Lion Grove 獅 子 林 and the Surging Waves Pavilion 滄 浪 亭 in Suzhou 
, the Yuyuan Garden 豫 園 in Shanghai , the Jichang Garden 寄 暢 園 in Wuxi , the Zhanyuan Garden 瞻 園 in Nanjing , the Qiuxia Garden 秋 霞 園 in Jiaqing 嘉 慶, and the Gaoyuan Garden 皋 園 in Hangzhou . In designing these gardens, owners and designers tried hard to bring forth the natural beauty of mountains and rivers into the limited space, so as to feel close to nature while living in noisy cities.
Humble Administrator's Garden, Lingering Garden, Yipu Garden
Lion Grove, Surging Waves Pavilion
Yuyuan Garden and Zhanyuan Garden (2)
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Private gardens in the Qing Dynasty tended to include regional features in their artistic design. They could be generally divided into three systems—the northern, southeastern, and southern systems. The northern private gardens were concentrated in Beijing. According to statistics, the number of private gardens inside Beijing City amounted to a hundred and fifty at that time, among which the most famous were the Cuijin Garden 萃 錦 園 in the Prince Gong Palace 恭 王 府, and the Half-Mu Garden 半 畝 園. Outside Beijing City, private gardens centered around the Haidian District 海 淀 in the western part. The best known were the One-Mu 一 畝 園, Weixiu 蔚 秀 園, Shuchun 淑 春 園, Xichun 熙 春 園 and Hanlin Gardens 翰 林 花 園, most of which focused on water views. To the south of the Yangtze River , Yangzhou was where private gardens were found in the early Qing Dynasty, but soon afterwards in the Qianlong Period, private gardens began to blossom in Suzhou. The most famous included the Twenty-four Scenes (one garden for each scene) along the bank of the Slender West Lake in Yangzhou; the Xiaopan Gully 小 盤 谷, the Pianshi Mountain Lodge 片 石 山 房, the Heyuan Garden 何 園 and the Geyuan Garden 
園 inside Yangzhou City; the Humble Administrator’s Garden 拙 政 園, the Lingering Garden 留 園 and the Fisherman’s Garden 綱 師 園 in Suzhou; and the Jichang Garden 寄 暢 園 in Wuxi. Architectural constructions in these private gardens were generally small and exquisite or statuesque and elegant, with a circuitous design and a great variety in spatial arrangements. Plants in the garden were mainly deciduous and evergreen trees, supplemented with bines, bamboo, bananas and grapevines, so as to provide an evergreen and diversified view all year round. Stone views were mainly constructed with Taihu Lake Rocks and Yellow Stones.
Pianshi Mountain Lodge (2), Heyuan Garden
Heyuan Garden, Geyuan Garden (2)
Geyuan Garden, Jichang Garden (2)
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The southern private gardens were represented by the Qinghui Garden 清 暉 園 in Shunde 順 德 , the Keyuan Garden 可 園 in Dongguan 東 莞 , the Yuyin Mountain Lodge 餘 蔭 山 房 in Panyu 番 禺 and the Liangyuan Garden 梁 園 in Foshan 佛 山 . Some villa gardens in Taiwan also belonged to the southern system. The architectural features were tidiness and orderliness, as well as light and open conditions. Wall sculptures and delicate woodcarvings were widely used in these gardens, giving a pleasing ornamental effect.
Keyuan Garden, Liangyuan Garden, Qinghui Garden and Yuyin Mountain Lodge
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One more feature shared by the private gardens in the Qing Dynasty was the combination of dwellings and gardens. Increasingly, more of the requirements of daily life were incorporated in the gardens to make them suitable for residence. Since most of the private gardens were located in the downtown areas where space was largely restricted, many new ideas were adopted for the effective use and extension of the limited space. Meanwhile, corresponding artistic techniques were introduced to make the garden a complex of various arts and crafts such as artificial hills, ponds, flowers, trees, architectural structures, sculpture, calligraphy, paintings and handicrafts.
The Temple Gardens, in addition to the Royal Gardens and the Private Gardens, formed the third category of the gardening art in the Qing Dynasty. As the ideal spiritual state of Taoism and Buddhism was closely related to nature, most of the Buddhist and Taoist temples and monasteries had gardens attached. Some had small gardens that naturally fitted the existing landscape inside the temples. The Spring Garden 水 泉 園 in the Temple of Azure Clouds 碧 雲 寺 and the Dagoba Garden 舍 利 塔 院 in the Temple of Enlightenment 大 覺 寺 were typical of this type. Some had gardens as adjuncts to the temples, such as the scattered gardens around the main buildings of the White Cloud Temple, the West Yard in the Temple of the Sleeping Buddha in Beijing, and the Jietan Garden 戒 檀 院 in the Tanzhe Temple 潭 柘 寺 in Beijing. However, some temple gardens emphasized the surrounding environment. In such cases, the temple would be inside a huge park. The Ancient Changdao Temple 常 道 觀 in the Qingcheng Mountain 青 城 山 and the Crouching Tiger Temple in the Ermei Mountain 峨 嵋 山 were of this type.
