Source: People's Daily - People's Daily
Core reading
For contemporary architects, through the inheritance and transformation of classical garden culture, a new landscape of contemporary gardens can be created, giving classical gardens a modern atmosphere
The formal elements of classical gardens, the unique spatial narrative, and the comprehensive artistry provide innovative ideas for today's people
Classical Chinese gardens are a treasure trove of culture and art. The Summer Resort, the Summer Palace and nine classical gardens of Suzhou have been inscribed on the World Heritage List and are regarded as valuable cultural treasures of mankind. In recent years, classical gardens have become increasingly integrated into contemporary life as a popular tourist attraction. Some of the "net red punch cards" loved by young people have absorbed and borrowed elements of classical garden culture. Some game designers have even developed classical garden-themed games that allow people to design and build a garden themselves online.
However, to stimulate the vitality of classical garden culture, it is also necessary to deeply understand where the beauty of classical Chinese gardens lies and understand what their unique charm is. Only by going deep into the inner mechanism of garden culture can we create a new landscape that is integrated with contemporary life, rather than being satisfied with a simple borrowing of classical garden symbolization.
Recognize the unique beauty of classical Chinese gardens
In order to realize the modern inheritance and transformation of classical garden culture, it is necessary to deeply understand its social function, artistic value and aesthetic ideas.
Public participation in classical Chinese gardens is high. The Song dynasty poet Ye Mengde recorded in the "Stone Forest Yan Language" that the royal Qionglin Garden and Jin Mingchi began to open to everyone every February. In addition, historically, not only the whole people visited the garden, but also the garden. For Chinese, the garden is not only an art, but more importantly, it is closely related to people's daily lives and condenses the wisdom and creation of thousands of people.
Classical Chinese gardens have comprehensive artistry and outstanding functions as cultural venues. Whether it is poetry, painting, calligraphy, or tea ceremony, piano music, and drama, in ancient China, most of the gardens were used as a stage. In the pavilions and pavilions, you can play the piano and compose poems, you can play and sing, you can write and ink, and the classical garden and classical art can coexist in harmony. In suzhou master of nets garden, there is a song reading painting xuan, Yi garden has a Po Xian Qin Hall, Jiangnan talent Yu Huai in Wuxi Jichang Garden after enjoying Kunqu opera, wrote the famous article "Ji Chang Garden Wen Song Record" ... Most of the classical gardens we see today carry the afterglow of piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and song.
The aesthetic ideas of classical Chinese gardens are unique, which not only reflects the harmonious relationship between man and nature, but also pins on the spiritual exchanges between modern people and ancients. The World Heritage Committee evaluates the essence of Chinese gardens in that it takes nature and transcends nature. The summer resorts and summer palaces in the north, the Huanxiu Mountain Villa and the Canglang Pavilion in the south of the river are nothing less. In addition, the names of gardens and scenery in ancient China have many allusions, and gardeners often pay tribute to the ancients in this way to convey personal spiritual pursuits. For example, the name of the Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden is taken from the Jin Dynasty Pan Yue's "Idle Residence Endowment", the building of rooms to plant trees, the irrigation of the garden and vegetables, "this is also the humble of the government", the Wuxi Jichang Garden is taken from Wang Xizhi's "Take Joy ren zhile, send Chang Shan Shui Yin", Changzhou ZhiYuan is taken from Tao Yuanming's "the beginning of the consciousness is good, the present dynasty is really stopped", and so on.
Innovative garden design in modern life
The modern inheritance and transformation of classical garden culture is inseparable from the active participation and in-depth exploration of the public. In recent years, many young people like to wear traditional costumes and wander in the garden. Interestingly, the ancients also had this elegance. Sima Guang of the Song Dynasty customized a set of ancient clothes and crowns, "If you enter the paradise of independence, then you will wear it." "Today's people wear ancient costumes to visit the garden, and inadvertently respond to the ancient garden fashion."
However, Sima Guang communicated with the ancients through landscaping in the garden. There are seven scenery in the Duyuan Park, which express Sima Guang's admiration for the seven sages such as Dong Zhongshu, Tao Yuanming, Wang Ziyou, and Bai Juyi. It can be seen that in order to interpret the cultural code of classical gardens, it is also necessary for today's people to go deep into the history and culture behind the garden scenery and understand the cultural meaning of flowers and stones in the garden. Today, if you stop at the punch-card style "visit here", the classical garden is no different from the ordinary park, and it may be a regret for tourists.
For contemporary architects, through the inheritance and transformation of classical garden culture, a new landscape of contemporary gardens can be created, giving classical gardens a modern atmosphere.
Drawing on the elements of classical garden forms, it is possible to create a new garden that is "ancient and new". The formal elements of classical gardens are rich in cultural implications. For example, the stone steps next to the Quxi Building in Suzhou Lingering Garden are engraved with the words "a ladder cloud", with stone metaphors for clouds, people seem to step on the clouds when they climb the building; the eastern part of the coupling garden adopts a swirling sunflower with a sun pattern, and the western part is equipped with a moon flower window with a concentric double ring water pattern, which means "the sun and the moon shine together, and the husband and wife are harmonious". Today's people stepping into the new Suzhou Museum designed by I.M. Pei are often moved by the simple form it originates from the tradition: the architectural color adopts the traditional black and white gray color of Suzhou, fresh and elegant; the main scenery of the garden is a stone rockery on the north side of the pool, with the white wall of the Humble Administrator's Garden as the background, paying tribute to the ancient tradition of "using the wall as paper and painting with stone as the painting", as if a Song Dynasty landscape painting, conveying the unique artistic conception of the Jiangnan landscape, and is known as a contemporary design model of "ancient and new, Su and new".
Giving full play to the unique spatial narrative of classical gardens, modern design has great potential. Gardening is like an essay, attaching importance to the layout of the plot, starting from the beginning to the end. For example, the round cave gate is a common element in classical gardens, representing the full moon or mirror. Visitors see through the cave gate is the middle of the moon, the mirror of the scene, the cave gate inside and outside the scenery is very different, representing different worlds. Suzhou Tiger Hill's "Don't Have a Cave Heaven" round cave door, outside the door is an open and flat thousand people stone, inside the door is a steep sword pool, a door gives people a sense of separation. This "crossing" nature of the cave gate in the classical garden is related to the theme of "Peach Blossom Garden" repeatedly borrowed by the ancient artificial garden, "the beginning is extremely narrow, and it is only when it is through." Repeat dozens of steps, suddenly enlightened. ”
Zhu Yufan's design of the Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden Mine Garden is a transformation of an abandoned industrial mine, which borrows the narrative of classical gardens. The entrance to the pit garden is a long strip of steel cylinder that slopes downwards, visitors can descend to the bottom of the pit along the stainless steel boardwalk, and then enter the dark and deep cave, after passing out of the cave, they suddenly see the restored garden, deep pool of clear water, layers of green mountains - the traditional imagery of Taohuayuan is juxtaposed with modern materials such as steel plates and glass, realizing the narrative of the garden space in the convergence of ancient and modern times, giving people multiple excursion experiences.
The comprehensive artistry of classical gardens also provides innovative ideas for today's people. The garden not only has a pleasing landscape, a space for change, but also a place for the activities and lives of the ancients. The Pavilion of the Qianlong Garden of the Forbidden City in Beijing can be used for the flow of winding water, the Huangshi Qiushan mountain in Yangzhou Garden can be used for Chongyang to ascend, and the Thousand People Stone of Suzhou Tiger Hill was once the place where the ancients held the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the crowd sang and sang and sang all night, which was an annual elegant event at that time. Combined with today's scientific and technological means and contemporary aesthetic tastes, Suzhou resumed the "Tiger Hill Quhui" and launched night tour cultural activities such as "The Joke of the Master of the Net" and "Humble Administrator's Greetings". Among them, the night tour of the Master of Nets Garden skillfully combines the characteristics of the garden with traditional stage art, and visitors can listen to the silk bamboo harp and watch the Kunqu opera commentary in the Wanjuan Hall in the garden; the Humble Administrator's Garden focuses on the image of the "moon" in traditional culture, combining the scenery in the garden with sound, light, electricity and other media technologies, so as to build a journey through the ancient and modern, ancient and modern.
Classical Chinese gardens respond to human beings' demand for "poetic inhabitation", and the creative techniques and cultural ideas they contain have yet to be explored and excavated by professionals and the public. It is believed that in the process of creative transformation and innovative development, classical gardens will continue to stimulate inner vitality and better meet people's yearning for a better life.
(Author Affilications:College of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University)
Draft: Zhao Kairu
People's Daily ( 2021-09-17 20th edition)