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Jim decided the first thing he needed to do was organize all the information he had. He didn’t think many people would be interested in wading through his textbooks with him! He knew that he had to make a Chinese garden both make sense and sound exciting in a very short presentation. He decided the best way to do that was to explain the common elements of a Chinese garden to show how different Chinese gardens are from Western gardens. Jim reviewed ten years’ worth of notes and files to decide what information he would use. Every Chinese garden attempts to create a “microcosm” symbolizing the whole universe within the garden. Each garden is actually many gardens, separated by walls or tunnels or buildings. Chinese gardens are designed to inspire thought and spirituality, to let a viewer’s mind “travel” to the scenes represented within the garden. To do this, every Chinese garden — large or small — contains several common elements: Rocks. Rocks and rockeries are critical to the Chinese garden. Rocks symbolize mountains, the body and vitality of the earth. Many Chinese gardens feature distinctive rocks that were carefully collected and then positioned as if they were sculpture. Eroded rocks, etched into shape by water or wind are particularly prized as they show the forces of the elements of the earth working with and against each other. Water. Water, too, is crucial in a Chinese garden, symbolizing the earth’s spirit and life breath. Ponds in Chinese gardens are often lush with greenery to show the living vitality of the water. Water also serves a “mirror” function in Chinese gardens, the clear reflections in the water showing the viewer’s inward reflection and cultivation of spirit. Click to continue previewing the student version on screen. |
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