The Relationship between China Gardens and Painting?

From the above description of the formation of the three major garden systems, we can see that there is a homologous relationship between European and Islamic systems, that is, they all started from imitating the gardening methods of ancient West Asia. However, the Islamic system was developed in the native land of Babylon, Cuba, and had the same climate and geographical environment as the prototype it imitated. The main problem it faces is the utilization of precious water sources and plants in the desert, so the method of Guxiya School is relatively complete, and its biggest feature is the water treatment that regards water as gold. Of course, when this system entered the South Asian subcontinent with the expansion of Islam, due to the rich water resources here and the profound local cultural heritage of ancient Indian civilization, the traditional water law of the West Asian School was greatly changed, and a special Islamic system tribe was born. The gardens here no longer use carefully protected channels and banks, no longer only narrow streams and low fountains, but begin to show the scene of rivers flooding and falling vertically. There is still water in front of the Taj Mahal, and the utilization of plants is also developing in a lush direction, but the basic law of cross-planning waterways is still preserved. Interestingly, Europe's transformation of ancient Asian law is very similar to India's transformation of traditional Islamic techniques. Europe is also rich in water resources and lush vegetation, so gardening here also abandons the water-saving method and only imitates the four waterway division rules of the Garden of Eden. Relying on the richness of plants, Europe later used a lot of geometric planting to strengthen this division, and based on this rectangular division, a set of geometric gardening theory was derived, and the application of water method became more and more grand, which was quite different from the Islamic system. However, despite the huge differences, there are many similarities in origin and specific methods. In contrast, the Oriental system is another complete theory of self-growth, which is different from its aesthetic foundation and cultural soil to concrete water control, mountain piling, tree use and garden architecture. Therefore, the biggest and most fundamental difference between Italian garden style and China and Japanese gardens is the difference between the two cultural systems in the East and the West, and the comparison should also focus on the comparison between the two landscape treatment modes in the East and the West.

1, oriental style

Oriental gardens are characterized by introspection, implication, implication, inner beauty, tranquility, indifference, obedience and modesty, emphasizing emotional feelings and spiritual understanding. Philosophy pursues a kind of chaos, purity, inaction, harmony between man and nature, harmony between yin and yang, and maintains a harmonious and interdependent relationship with nature. Various objective formal attributes of natural objects, such as lines, shapes, proportions and combinations, do not occupy a major position in aesthetic consciousness, but mainly focus on the subjective grasp of nature. Space goes round and round, peaks and turns, endless, with the faint realm as the top. It is a closed garden that imitates and pursues nature, and it is a "unique paradise". Some of these schools, such as Japanese gardens, permeate the understanding of Zen into every plant, tree, flower and stone, so as to reach the realm of enlightenment pursued by Buddhism and create an inner world in a tiny courtyard, that is, the so-called "one flower, one world, one tree and one bodhi". Its strong abstract meaning has reached the tacit understanding that transcends the five senses and is directly compatible with nature, leading people to the mysterious realm of introspection. Oriental classical gardens are full of poetry and painting. The overlapping mountains should create a majestic momentum like Mount Tai, and the water should reach the charm of the vast soup like rivers and lakes. This is to show the hermit's living environment of being close to nature and returning to nature, and also to entrust the traditional concept of "benevolent Leshan, wise men enjoy water". Imitate nature, but don't be too artificial. In this kind of garden, we can reach the realm of "body and mind are far away from dust, and when we sit down, we forget the years", and pursue the life of "holding the piano and watching the crane, waiting for the pillow to return" and the interest of "sitting in the wild and growing moss, sleeping high and hanging bamboo clothes". The stones in the oriental gardens are affectionate, the water is affectionate, and the flowers and trees are also affectionate and interesting. Outside the window is a corner of a tree, a broken branch, and the pruning of several ancient trees and a bunch of bamboo in a mountain stream is a simulation of dead wood and bamboo stones. Oriental gardens are implicit and obscure, so there is "how deep is the courtyard"; The essence of oriental gardens lies in the deep twists and turns, so there is a saying that "looking at the willow from a distance is like a lotus without a road."

2. Western style

Western gardens are cheerful, lively, regular, neat, luxurious, warm and passionate, and sometimes even pay attention to ostentation and extravagance regardless of luxury. Ancient Greek philosophers praised "order is beautiful". They think that the wild nature is not domesticated, and the plant form that fully reflects the artificial modeling is beautiful, so they trim the plant form into a regular geometric form, and the roads in the park are neat and straight. /kloc-Before the 0/8th century, the western classical garden landscape was displayed symmetrically along the central axis. From manor houses in ancient Greece and Rome, to terrace gardens in Renaissance Italy, and then to Versailles in France, there is a complete central axis system in planning and design. Gorgeous sculpture fountains such as Poseidon, Saturnalia, Dionysus, Flower God, Apollo, Cupid, Venus and Mount Shui Ze are placed in the square with intersecting axes, and the theme of garden art is theistic "human beauty". Broad central avenue, including sculpture fountains and pools, hedges trimmed into geometric shapes, large open and flat lawns, and trees planted in rows. Terrain, pool, waterfall and fountain are all artificial geometric shapes, and the whole garden landscape is an "artificial decorative painting". The dominant idea in the creation of western classical gardens is to take man as the center of nature, and nature must be transformed according to the order, rules, organization and pattern in people's minds. The conquest of man's transcendence over nature is reflected in the form of symmetry rules of the central axis, and man-made geometric landscape transcends all nature. The buildings, lawns and trees in the garden pay attention to integrity and logic, and the harmony and perfection of numbers are achieved by the combination of geometric shapes. As the ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras said, "The whole celestial body and the universe are a kind of harmony, a kind of number." Western gardens are open gardens and a "paradise" enjoyed by most people. They emphasize the unobstructed view and pursue the beauty of pattern, artificiality, transformation and conquest.

To sum up, we can see that oriental gardens are basically freehand and intuitive, emphasizing nature, emotion, imagination and association, and emphasizing the charm of "endless words, endless meanings" and "the implication here"; On the other hand, western gardens are basically realistic, rational and objective, emphasizing graphics, labor, order and law, and bringing gardens into a rigorous, serious and meticulous scientific category with a natural respect for rational thinking.

Let's look at some examples in detail

Of course, the most representative western classical garden is the Grand Garden of Versailles in France. Gorgeous and magnificent beauty comes from the romance and boldness of the French nation, as the writer Liu described: "The layout of the garden is characterized by simplicity and boldness. There are three plane drops perpendicular to the central axis of the palace, and each broad and vigorous plane is mainly composed of two kinds of landscapes. One is an extremely large and regular pool surrounded by countless bronze sculptures and fountains; One is the evergreen shrub that has been planted and trimmed into unusually neat geometric figures. This landscape is fascinating with endless central axis and strictly symmetrical hedges on both sides ... ".

Oriental Gardens can take the gardening theory and French style of China Jiangnan Scholars Garden as an example. All kinds of scenery conducive to the beauty of life, nature and art in garden creation are the material elements of gardening, including not only flowers, trees, birds, animals, insects and fish, but also various buildings such as peaks, cliffs, streams, waterfalls, lakes, seas, pavilions, waterside pavilions and mountain halls. It also includes various climatic and meteorological factors such as bright moon, morning sun, sunset glow and rain dew, as well as works of art such as calligraphy, painting and sculpture that are in harmony with the content and form of the garden. Among many gardening elements, the most basic ones are landscape, flowers and trees, garden roads and buildings.

Mountain is a symbol of energy utilization and stability in oriental gardens, and is often called "mountain bone". In the garden, water symbolizes wisdom and honesty.

Flowers and trees are the most vibrant in the garden, symbolizing prosperity. Some flowers and trees have also been given special meanings. The cultivation of flowers and trees should be natural and exquisite, while paying attention to the maintenance of ancient trees and vegetation.

Oriental gardens require "winding paths leading to secluded places", so buildings need to be scattered among natural elements and integrated with natural scenery. The main buildings in the park are often opposite to the main mountain pond, and the excellent scenery is often a little scenery and scenic buildings. Buildings and garden roads also play the role of dividing space and organizing tour routes in gardens, and beautiful buildings should be the crowning touch of gardens.

In landscape design, besides the above three points, we should also consider the participation of scenery and borrowing scenery, couplets, wind, water, bells and drums, flowers, grass and soil. As long as you put your heart into it, the beautiful Wan Li, steep cliffs, bright moon and stars, and fishing fires by the riverside can all be pleasing to the eye.

Generally speaking, the difference between Italian style and China and Japanese style can be seen clearly in the above comparison. However, as a branch of the European system, Italian style still has its own characteristics, especially the characteristics that are obviously different from Lenotel Garden in France, which has always been regarded as a model and representative of European classical gardens.

Italy is located in the Apennine Peninsula in southern Europe, with mountains and hills accounting for 80% of its land area. The Mediterranean climate in Italy is obviously different from the temperate maritime climate in western Europe. Summer here is stuffy and hot on the plains, but on the hills, even if it is only a few tens of meters high, it makes people feel very different. There is a cool sea breeze during the day and cold air blowing from the mountains at night. It is this terrain and climate that has created a unique terraced garden in Italy.

Italy is the homeland of the Roman Empire. At the end of the Middle Ages, Italians still remember the glory of the empire, and all kinds of ancient Rome and Italy can be seen everywhere. Ancient classicism became the source of garden art in the Renaissance ... During the Renaissance, people yearned for a Romanesque lifestyle, so rich and powerful people set up their own villas and manors in scenic spots. Because these manors are generally built on hills or slopes, in order to facilitate activities, a continuous table layout has been adopted, which has become the embryonic form of the table garden. In the later development, Italian gardeners created very touching landscape effects on the undulating terrain. The composition of these gardens cannot be arbitrary because of the limitation of topography, which determines the distribution of some important axes in the garden, and stipulates the setting of terraces, the position and size of flower beds and the shape of ramps. The location of the building should also consider the relationship with the platform. Therefore, the design of terrace garden is a combination of plane and interior from the beginning. Generally, the planes of terraced gardens are paired, and buildings are often located on the central axis, sometimes on the horizontal axis of the courtyard or on both sides of the central axis. Because the general manor area is not very large, and most of them are located in the suburbs with beautiful scenery, it is a common practice to borrow the scenery outside the park to broaden your horizons and expand your space. Both east and west attach great importance to this point. There are countless examples of this ion in China's gardens. For example, the Summer Palace forms a scene with Yuquan Mountain Pagoda and Buddha Pavilion, which is even more common in private small gardens in the south of the Yangtze River. However, when China borrows scenery, he often uses window frames and door frames to make a frame scene for painting. In the overall layout, Italian terrace gardens are often from bottom to top, gradually attracting people's attention, spreading out various scenic spots and finally reaching the top, so that not only can we see the scenery of the whole garden, but also the surrounding fields, mountains and rivers and cities can be displayed in front of us, giving people a sense of intimacy close to nature. Getting better is the traditional way of oriental gardens, but different from Italy, the development of oriental style is based on the scroll-like scene change of scattered perspective, while Italy is also developing, but it is a granular presentation, still pursuing fixed-point appreciation at a specific location, and the peak of its appreciation lies in the bird's eye view of the peak, which is rare in oriental gardens, which may be related to the introverted personality of oriental culture.

In dealing with the relationship between gardens and buildings, Italy started the European system, and regarded gardens as the outdoor extension of mansions. This theory also became the growth basis of European garden geometry. In addition, the setting of the central axis is also a great contribution of Italian gardens to the European system. Although the central axis began to appear as early as Greek and Roman times, which can be traced back to the central waterway of West Asia at the earliest, the central axis in Italian terraced gardens stands on the mountain and runs through several countertops, experiencing several height differences, forming a water drop, completely getting rid of the dull trickle of West Asia and beginning to show the grand momentum of coconut oil in the European system. Moreover, some manors have more than one or two axes, but several axes intersect vertically, parallel or even radially, which are new technologies that have not been available before. Of course, oriental gardens do not need axes, but there are some exceptions, such as the palace area in the summer resort and the garden front area near the palace area. The entrance of Yuanmingyuan Grand Palace also imitates Kyushu, forming a general axis, and the architectural layout of Wanshou Mountain in the Summer Palace is more obvious because of its strong image. As for the composition of the Royal Gardens of the Forbidden City, it is almost arranged along the axis of the whole imperial city. These gardens are all northern royal gardens without exception, and this will never happen in the small scale of Jiangnan gardens. This is not only due to the scale factor, but also mainly determined by China's traditional ethics and the majestic requirements of feudal imperial power. The typical water law in the European system also started from the platform garden. Water plays an important role in Italian gardens because it can moisten the air. Because of the terrace, the waterscape of Italian gardens can often form a distant sense of space and a rich sense of hierarchy in the constant gap. At the top of terraced gardens, permanent water storage tanks are sometimes used as water sources in the form of caves. There are statues in the cave or they are arranged as rock streams and springs, which is realistic and adds some Shan Ye flavor. Water steps can be formed along the slope, and swift waterfalls can be formed in places with steep terrain and large drop. There can be overflow, wall spring and other forms at the joints of different platforms. On the lower platform, fountains can be formed by water level difference, or sculptures can be combined, or various beautiful water spraying patterns and patterns can be formed. Later, a lot of work was done in water spraying technology, creating impressive water features such as water theater and water organ, as well as various magical fountains to please tourists. The lower platform can also collect water to form a calm pool or a wide canal. Designers will pay great attention to the relationship between the pool and the surrounding environment, so that it has a good proportion and appropriate scale. As for the contrast between the fountain and the background in color and light and shade, it has also been carefully considered. The Oriental Department also attaches great importance to the relationship between the subject scenery and the surrounding environment, but the Oriental approach is to do the best without leaving traces, rather than using the background to set off the subject's still life sketch composition.

On the whole, as a branch of the European system and its birthplace, Italian terrace gardens are undoubtedly dominated by regular layout, which is quite different from the imitation of the Eastern system. However, it should be noted that Italian terrace gardens do not completely reject nature: first of all, their design ideas combined with topography have obvious meaning of fitting nature. Of course, the natural terrain treatment of oriental gardens will never cut the hillside into several terraces like Italy. However, using the terrain to create a suitable landscape is still their way of thinking. Moreover, most of the eastern gardens deal with hills, and even the mountains are piled with lakes and stones, which completely violates the laws of nature. Compared with Italy's platform cutting mountain, who is more natural has not yet been determined; Secondly, although the Italian terrace garden has a central axis, it adopts the method of blooming on both sides of the axis, which makes the landscape gradually transition from artificial to natural, making people think that the Summer Palace has the same practice; In addition, in the use of plants, Italian terrace gardens rarely use geometric pruning, and the background of the whole manor often presents natural vegetation, which truly returns to nature, while the nature of the oriental system is more symbolic. As for Japan's dry scenery, it directly abandoned the real nature and completely pursued an abstract concept in religious philosophy.

Compared with Italian terraced gardens, China gardens and Japanese gardens belong to the oriental system, and the difference between them is naturally smaller. However, due to the totally different geographical environment between China and Japan, the two nations have different personalities. Although they belong to the same species and use the same language, they have different cultures and different interests and meanings. China culture was introduced into Japan from the Han Dynasty and reached its climax in the Tang Dynasty. The climate was also imported between Song and Ming Dynasties, so it can be said that Japan gradually formed its own culture by absorbing the advanced elements of China culture. At the same time, however, Japan absorbed and improved foreign cultures in time, making them suitable for its own living environment, from writing, religion and ethics to literature, painting, calligraphy, tea ceremony, kendo and flower path. So today's Japanese culture is full of China's shadow, but it embodies Japan's unique national personality everywhere, and garden art is no exception. This paper probes into the similarities and differences of Chinese and Japanese garden styles from the aspects of environment, types, ideas and techniques.

1, different environments

The essential difference between China and Japan on land environment lies in the difference between mainland and island. Both become land culture and marine culture. Recently, some Japanese scholars put forward the concept of forest culture, which is reflected in the comparison of landscape culture with water island culture, road culture and ship culture in gardens.

China has the sea in the southeast and mountains in the northwest, with many mountains and few plains. The landscape with mountains and water as the skeleton most directly reflects the geographical environment of China. Secondly, in terms of landscape balance, China gardens are characterized by more mountains and less water, and more flat land and less water. In essence, the waterscape of China Gardens is the flowing water of Xianghe Waterfall and the still water of marshes, lakes and seas. In terms of mountain scenery, the mountain outside the garden pool is based on the local mountain in China, the interior of the garden pool is based on the overseas Sanshen Mountain, and the northwest of the garden is the layout of Shandong South as water, which is essentially an imitation of Chinese topography. In addition, in addition to the nature of mountains and rivers, there is also the nature of roads in gardens, which is the so-called principle of taking pleasure as beauty and giving priority to quietness.

Japan, an island country floating in the ocean, has a small land area, many mountains and few plains, and hills account for 4/5 of the land area. The similar land environment with China and the influence of China culture make Japanese gardens choose landscape as their main task. However, due to the maritime nature of Japan's territory surrounded by the sea, Japanese gardens will develop into islands, oceans and waterways in the future. The mountains in Japanese gardens are taken from Mount Fuji, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Hokkaido and more than 4,000 surrounding islands. Generally speaking, the essence of Japanese gardens is pool-spring style, pool is compared to ocean, stone to stone island, spring is water source, pool is water image, pool is foundation, stone island is ornament, and pontoon is communication.

If the different geographical environment determines the different nature of landscape, then the different climate determines the difference between landscape architecture and plants. The north of our country is cold, and the garden buildings are mainly cold-proof, forming a dignified and heavy style. Jiangnan has a pleasant climate and needs more ventilation and lighting measures, so the garden buildings are small and exquisite. In terms of trees, China's land development is early, serious damage and slow recovery. Coupled with the continental monsoon climate, there are not many dense forests, so there are not many garden trees in China.

Japan is located in the north temperate zone, with a warm maritime climate, high temperature and abundant rainfall. Natural and complete plants have become the main scenery of the garden, and even mosses and ferns have become equally important main scenery. The diversity of plant morphology is far better than that of China gardens, which is obviously different from that of China gardens with architecture as the main scenery. Japanese own garden architecture is called summer architecture: it is not a solid wall, but separated by sliding doors and windows, which can be fully opened in summer, and indoor and outdoor are connected into a large space. Garden enclosures are mostly made of plant materials, and bridges are mostly wooden bridges, instead of solid walls made of China masonry, and garden bridges are mostly stone arch bridges.

2. Type comparison

Classical gardens in China and Japan can be divided into three categories: royal gardens, private gardens and religious gardens. The guiding ideology of China Royal Gardens has always been to show the majesty of the emperor and strict registration when providing places for the royal family to feast, swim and hunt. Therefore, it shows the characteristics of solemnity, elegance, style, generosity and luxury, which are embodied in the large area, towering mountains, open water, certain axis and symmetry, the building presents the northern style, the overall grandeur, small upturned angle, many glazed tiles on the roof and many wooden colorful paintings. Private gardens in China are represented by many gardens in the south of the Yangtze River, with small area, strong sense of literati, short mountains and narrow water surface. The personality of religious gardens in China is the least obvious. In the form of expression, it does not reflect religious significance, but rather combines with Confucianism to form the characteristics of the integration of the three religions. Technically, gardens become an extension and subsidiary of the axis of building groups. Japanese imperial gardens originated in Asuka period, and the works of Nara Shang and Heian period were mainly centered on the central axis and reached the peak in the era of Taoshanhe protection. Their works include four famous gardens in Kyoto: Guili Palace, Xiandong Palace, Xiu Yuan Palace and Kyoto Palace. Even the imperial gardens in Japan are characterized by small mountains and small waters, thatched huts, no makeup, many trees and few houses, lying stones, flat bridges with earth bridges and small scale. As Japan has been in power for nearly a thousand years from Kamakura to Jianghu, the private gardens in Japan are dominated by the Wu family gardens, which are different from the literati gardens in China. They are characterized by large garden area, large building volume, many colored paintings, large scale of standing stones, and the overall openness of Shu Lang gardens, which are superior to royal gardens and religious gardens in scale and decoration. Japanese religious gardens have obvious styles, paying attention to meditation and dryness, and creating religious atmosphere and images by gardens themselves. In terms of techniques, there is a very unique dry landscape courtyard, while the shrine garden is dominated by architecture, and the white sand in front of the courtyard reflects extraordinary sacredness and mystery.

3. Differences in horticultural techniques

Oriental gardens have always attached importance to the concept of harmony between man and nature, but it is in various gardening techniques that express the relationship between man and nature that many differences in ideological pursuit between Chinese and Japanese gardens are reflected. There are many garden buildings in China, which shows the great manpower, while there are few garden buildings in Japan, which shows the weak manpower. China gardens are luxuriously decorated, grouped in buildings, and pay attention to connection and compact layout, which reflects the exquisite craftsmanship, while Japanese gardens strongly advocate natural ingenuity. Generally, gardens in China are separated from the outside world by relatively solid, thick and thick walls, indicating the equality and independence between man and nature. Japanese gardens rarely use fences, which are characterized by being empty and sparse, indicating the closeness between man and nature. In terms of landscape, the rockery in China gardens is tall and tough, with open waters and strong artificial flavor, while the landscape in Japanese gardens is small, and the rockery is generally replaced by mounds covered with turf, and the waters are closer to natural streams and swamps, with weak artificial flavor. Gardens in China belong to mountains, which are firm, strong and eternal, while Japanese gardens belong to water, which is plastic, soft and fleeting. In terms of plants, China has less landscaping, and mostly uses tall and shady trees and shrubs, which shows the pride and confidence of China people, while Japan's large-scale greening and the use of low-grade plants and grasslands show the modesty and caution of the Japanese. Freehand brushwork landscape garden is a poetic form with landscape as the skeleton, while literati architecture landscape garden highlights architectural elements on the basis of the former. On the whole, China classical gardens lay particular stress on human factors in the relationship between heaven and man, and with the development of history, the artificial flavor became more and more heavy in the later period, and the poems, songs, literary circles and pavilions were exaggerated, and the gardens in the south of the Yangtze River were slightly crowded. As for Ganlong Garden, many elaborate details and dazzling paintings have been added, which makes it even more congested. In addition, the thin, wrinkled and dazzling Taihu stone is unilaterally emphasized in the heaped mountains. Japanese gardens, on the other hand, focus on natural elements, such as dead rocks, low water, grassy slopes and mosses. Later, the garden landscape can even be treated with only one stone and one tree, such as tea pavilions and peace pavilions, which fully embodies the nature of nature. Their sightseeing focuses on the external appearance of things from a distance and thinks about things from the inside, and it is not a direct communication, but a dialogue between man and nature, unlike the dialogue between man and nature in China gardens.

4. Comparison of ideological and cultural background

Exploring the root of this phenomenon should be the result of the mutual growth and decline of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism as the pillars of Chinese and Japanese philosophy. Gardens in both countries are based on Taoist natural thought, and it is precisely because of Taoist thought that the unique way of thinking and operation of oriental garden system has risen from pure imitation and natural learning to symbolic and abstract nature, which is higher than nature, but the latter two have developed in two directions: Confucianism and Buddhism. China is partial to Confucianism, showing the characteristics of ruling the world by joining the WTO and the ideal view of benevolence, while Japanese is partial to Buddhism, and the image of a wise man is free. The layout thinking of China gardens is between figurative thinking and image thinking, while Japanese gardens are between image and abstraction. China's gardens are expressed in a literary way, while the Japanese prefer to use the obscure language of imitation and god. China gardens are vivid, showing the scene of a happy lover, while Japanese gardens reflect lonely Zen and lonely thinking about a short life in a desolate and lonely mountain forest.

Based on the above description, we can sort out the similarities and differences of China, Japanese and Italian garden styles. However, comparison is not the ultimate goal of the study. In today's landscape architecture field, it is of little significance to talk about any genre or style alone and in isolation. Diversified and comprehensive development is one of the keys to innovative landscape design, and we should start from a comparative perspective, pay attention to practice and creation, and start from.