Chinese gardens

Classical Chinese garden also can be called traditional Chinese garden. With its long history, rich
cultural significance, special characteristics, and charming artistic enchantment, it has been
regarded the most important and leading gardening system among the three gardening systems
in the world.
The Chinese consider gardens a serious art form and as with painting, sculpture and poetry
aim to attain in their design the balance, harmony, proportion and variety that are considered
essential.
The art of the Chinese garden is closely related to Chinese landscape painting - it is not a literal
imitation of a natural landscape, but the capturing of its essence and spirit. It is a landscape
painting in three dimensions
The garden is created by the human hand, but should appear as if created by heaven.

The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the golden age of garden building. In the middle and
the late Ming Dynasty, the artists summed up their experience in designing gardens by writing
articles about gardens, which laid the foundation, in theory, as well as in practice.
Chinese garden culture matured as a comprehensive school of its own during the this
period of time, after the practice of many preceding dynastic periods, and rose to become one
of three garden construction schools along with Western Asia and Europe.
The creation of classical Chinese gardens depended on mountains, rivers, buildings, plants,
animals and even the weather. In these gardens usually the ground is like that of a mountain
area. This kind of garden layout imitates real terrain. The hills in classical gardens provide
natural surroundings for visitors. Looking at the hills, people feel as if they live in a mountains
area and enjoy the beauty and stillness of nature.