Book Description

This thesis offers a comparative study between eighteenth century English and ancient Chinese garden design, by examining the materials employed in landscape gardens, gardening techniques and principles, and aesthetic and philosophical beliefs operating in each country. It first examines the social-political background and geological conditions of each country. The landscapes of the countryside were models for gardens, in both England and China, and were created to serve a certain class of the society looking for freedom and solitary mediation. The following section comparatively analyzes the ways of thinking and aesthetics of each country at that time, which naturally affected people's tastes in art. These were the root of each national school of gardening, and give it a continuing character. The third section traces the evolution of the English and the Chinese landscape gardening movements. Typical garden designs of each school reveal the determinant role of the nation's cultural traditions and the impact from other countries, and illustrate how general principles and theories were applied in specific cases. These are then compared in the forth part, indicating how plans and chosen materials mirrored philosophical and aesthetic trends of each society. The thesis concludes that landscape gardens in these two nations reflect people's aesthetic standards, which were bound to their cultural traditions, their historical contexts, and the physical-geological conditions of the country. The affinities of the styles illustrate mutual cultural influences, and make it clear that people of common traits tend to embrace similar art forms; while the differences between them suggest that people with similar taste build their gardens according to their own natural environment and traditions and thus achieve different artistic effects.