CHIN 402 Essay #2 25
August, 2006
Ray Brownrigg
The Appreciation of a
Introduction
There
is much more to a Chinese garden than meets the eye. Applying this age-old
expression to a much older artistic medium may sound somewhat anachronous, but
nevertheless it remains rather apt. The
Chinese garden exists at a number of diverse levels, each incorporating a
number of different elements. Many of
these elements are somewhat intangible and hence only accessible to someone who
knows what to look for. Further, the
Chinese garden may be appreciated at an even larger number of different levels,
each incorporating a variety of elements of appreciation. Many of these elements of appreciation in
turn are only able to be appreciated by someone who is in tune with the
concepts; someone who recognises the artistry, the beauty, the craftsmanship or
the spirituality of what is in view.
Physical
Existence
The
physical existence of a Chinese garden is underpinned by the geology and
geography of the physical area in which the garden is situated. This encompasses the elements of slope and
contours of the land, the presence or not of natural watercourses and the soil
type, which in turn can have some effect on the vegetation. The geographic location also predetermines
the presence or otherwise of nearby hills and mountains which can be an
important element of the Chinese garden.
In addition to the basic geology, the overall climate, which also is
determined by geographic location, can have a major influence on the appearance
of a Chinese garden.
On
top of these fixed natural physical attributes there may be overlain a variety
of cosmetic ‘natural’ additions and alterations, such as ponds, hills, rocky
outcrops, terraces and serpentine streams. Some of these may be natural occurrences, but
in many cases, they are man-made. To a
large extent, this distinction is not important. All this natural structure then provides a
platform for the more obviously man-made additions in the form of buildings,
walls, corridors and paths. The final
element of this physical existence is the quasi-natural layer of flowers,
plants and trees, each occupying its own special position in order to
contribute to the overall effect of the garden.
These three additive layers incorporate the elements of artistry,
craftsmanship, geomancy and literacy.
The artistry and geomancy elements are incorporated into the design,
which is important within each of the three additive layers. The craftsmanship is most evident within the
man-made structures but can also affect the other layers. Finally, the literacy element is evident in
the somewhat mandatory naming and labelling of the components of the garden.
Temporal
Existence
A
Chinese garden is a living thing and as such it is born, it grows, it reaches
maturity, it decays, then it dies, as any living thing does. Further, as generally encompassed by Eastern
religions, a living thing can be reborn.
This cycle of birth, death and rebirth is one aspect of the temporal
existence of a Chinese garden. Somewhat
independently of the garden as a whole, individual components can have their
own cycles of birth and death, different components exhibiting this on
different time scales. For example on a
seasonal or annual time scale, grasses, perennial flowers and bulbs will
flourish, flower, wither and seem to die, only to flourish again as the season
dictates. On a different time scale the
garden as a whole may be created, flourish, die and then be created again as
the fortunes of the owner and his family, on a human generation time scale, or
as the wider area is affected by politics or economy, on the dynastic time
scale. Thus the physical existence of
any particular Chinese garden at a particular time in history does not
presuppose its existence in the same state at any other time.
Descriptive
Existence
This
ephemeral nature of the physical existence of a Chinese garden is somewhat
alleviated by the descriptive existence, which attempts to preserve a temporal
snapshot of the physical existence. This
snapshot can be achieved in one or more of a variety of different ways,
including poetry, prose, drawings, painting and photography. For all but a few lucky individuals, who
happened to have been at the right place at the right time, the description is
the only possible way of ‘viewing’ any particular Chinese garden. This places the descriptive ‘viewer’ at a distinct
disadvantage compared with the ‘on-site’ viewer, mainly because the written
word and the 2-dimensional pictorial representation, even when viewed together,
are rarely adequately able to substitute for a physical presence. Another drawback of the descriptive existence
is the size of its potential audience.
This audience size is limited to those who are able to interpret the
description in its original form, which in general is the Classical Chinese
language. Of course drawings and
paintings may be viewed by anybody who can see, but in general a pictorial
representation of a Chinese garden in isolation is insufficient to provide a good
description except for in the most rudimentary manner because there are so many
elements that make up a Chinese garden.
Nevertheless a pictorial representation is invaluable when viewed in
conjunction with a textual description since it can easily confirm many
elements which may otherwise remain ambiguous in the textual description.
Interpretive
Existence
The
final, and perhaps most important, level of existence of a Chinese garden is
the interpretive existence. This
encompasses the intangible elements of the perceptions, emotions and
spirituality of the beholder of the Chinese garden, in whichever form it is
present. In many cases, this existence
can be several iterations of interpretation removed from the original physical
existence, each interpretation imposing the author’s state of existence upon
the viewed existence. When the owner of
a garden describes his garden in prose or poetry, that owner’s perceptions,
motives, discriminations, idiosyncrasies, philosophy, religious beliefs and
literacy all flavour the resultant description.
When a translator then renders this description into another language,
the translation is flavoured by the translator’s motives, literacy,
preconceptions and historical knowledge.
Finally, when a translation, or even a description, is read by somebody
else, then that person’s motives, literacy, preconceptions and historical
knowledge are imposed upon the reading. Thus
the descriptive existence described earlier, except in the extremely dull case
of an objective inventory, will always be flavoured by one or more subjective
elements.
The
iterative nature of this interpretation then comes about by the process of
reproduction, which includes paintings and drawings, commentaries and
translations, each of these imposing a further layer of interpretation
flavoured by subjective elements unique to the particular individual generating
the particular ‘reproduction’. In whichever
case, these unique subjective elements are not necessarily the same as those
influencing the original author, or predecessor translators or commenters, but
they nevertheless can impart significant influence upon the product. The interpretations are not restricted to
commentary or translation, since it is quite possible for a garden description,
rather than the garden itself, to be used as the basis for a drawing or
painting.
Levels
of Appreciation
Each
of the above levels of existence of a Chinese garden may have different
elements of appreciation associated with it.
These elements of appreciation are partly dictated by the particular
level of existence and partly by circumstances relating to the beholder, the
person appreciating the garden.
Appreciating
the physical
For
the physical existence of a Chinese garden the elements of appreciation can be
categorised into what might be termed active appreciation and passive
appreciation. Active appreciation
includes such elements as recognising the artistry of the design or the craftsmanship
of the construction of the garden, taking pleasure in listening to the sounds
of the birds or the wind in the leaves and taking delight in the visual scenery
provided by being there. Passive
appreciation is more spiritual such as a general feel of well-being, a sense of
escape and relaxation, or a heightening of creativity provided by the garden
environment. Both active and passive
appreciation can very much depend on the person appreciating, as well as other
external influences. Some items which
can influence the appreciation are the motives of the beholder in being at the
garden, the receptiveness of this person to physical stimuli, the background knowledge
of this person and even the time of year and time of day.
Appreciating
the Temporal
The
temporal existence of a Chinese garden as described above provides the unique appreciative
element of appreciating change, as flowers bloom, as trees grow or as winter
turns to spring and new life bursts forth.
This then leads to the appreciation of the power of nature as displayed
by these changes in the garden with time.
The appreciation of this temporal existence presupposes in general that
the beholder has been able to visit the physical garden frequently enough and
at the right times to notice such changes. In rare cases, such as with Yuan
Mei’s account of his
Appreciating
the Descriptive
The
descriptive existence of a Chinese garden engenders a variety of elements of
appreciation depending on the form of the description. While all descriptions of a garden can arouse
active appreciation in the form of admiration of the artistry, craftsmanship
and literacy, they in general cannot arouse the more passive elements of
appreciation mentioned earlier, such as general well-being or heightened
creativity. A possible exception to this
generalisation is the case of a painting, which can engender feelings of
well-being or inner calm when viewed in the right circumstances. Descriptions can however engender their own
unique elements of appreciation, these generally being related to the
descriptive process itself. Thus poetry
and prose give rise to the appreciation of the language employed in the
descriptive process, which can exhibit its own artistry and craftsmanship, such
as in the use of imagery and metaphor.
Similarly, drawings and paintings can be appreciated for their own sake,
in addition to the engendered elements of appreciation for the garden that they
describe. A rare element of appreciating
the description of a Chinese garden is that of the appreciation of how well the
description, in whatever form, ‘captures the essence’ of the physical
garden. This is rare because it is only
available to someone who has visited the garden in the same physical state as
that which is described. The
availability of this element of appreciation linking the physical existence of
a Chinese garden to its descriptive existence allows for the reinforcement of
the descriptive existence as something worthy of preservation. It is to be hoped that those descriptions
still available today are more likely to have been preserved for this reason.
Interpretive
Appreciation
The
appreciation of an interpretive existence of a Chinese garden encompasses all
the elements of appreciation associated with the descriptive existence. In addition further elements are admitted
which arise from the interpretive process.
These additional elements tend to be active elements of appreciation,
although as mentioned earlier, an interpretive painting may still engender some
passive feelings. The additional
elements are related more to the interpretation than to the description itself,
the most obvious example being the appreciation of the interpretive process,
such as the admiration of the quality of a translation. However, since the interpretive description
can be so far removed from the physical garden, the garden itself can take
little credit in providing the appreciation that such descriptions engender.
The
Virtual Garden
Given
that most Chinese gardens today exist in either the descriptive or interpretive
form, and are appreciated in those forms, there is no reason to dismiss virtual
existence as a valid form of existence of a Chinese garden. The virtual Chinese
garden exists at all levels previously described except the most rare physical
existence, and thus is able to be appreciated at all those levels by the
largest audience. Perhaps the most well
known example of what may well be a virtual Chinese garden is the
Conclusions
We
have seen that there are many different forms of existence of a Chinese garden,
some more common than others. Each of
these forms gives rise to different ways of being able to appreciate or enjoy
the garden. This variety of different
ways of being able to appreciate a Chinese garden can only help to widen the
audience of such appreciation. This in
turn augers well for the preservation and expansion of the available
translations of the remarkable artistry that is the Chinese garden.
Bibliography
Fung,
Stanislaus, "Longing and Belonging in
Minford,
John, "The Chinese garden: death of a symbol", Studies in the
History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes (Autumn 1998), 18, 3: 257-268
Siren,
Oswald, Gardens of
Yuan, Mei,
“My