The Urbane Imagination: Ideas of Civilization in the Chinese Garden

A rich, fascinating, and voluminous garden literature exists detailing the botanical, historical, literary, architectural, and design aspects of world gardens. In this essay, I approach the Chinese garden from another view, one that enjoins the intellectual and aesthetic aspects of the garden. The ensuing pages, I hope, will convey this interest in seeing the relationships of thought and culture, and along with it an appreciation of the sensibilities suggested in the Chinese garden which have led me to call the total effect urbane imagination. I am not a practitioner or aficionado of any of the numerous and exacting arts and crafts of the garden. Although, as an amateur, I have on occasions delighted in getting hands muddied or even bloodied moving rocks, earth, bushes and trees. For this essay, however, I attempt an examination of the intellectual and aesthetic dimensions of Chinese civilization and relate them to elements and aspects of the Chinese garden. Here the reader will find no precise and formulaic descriptions or analyses of Chinese gardens but will instead have the opportunity to view these gardens as arrangements in material form of the Chinese humanities–history, thoughts, arts, and letters. (excerpt)