Chinese Garden

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chinese garden

Liu Fang Yuan (The Chinese Garden)

Liu Fang Yuan is based on the mid-late Ming dynasty (1368–1644) style of a scholars’ garden, especially the gardens from the city of Suzhou, China. The mid-late Ming dynasty, 16-17th centuries, was a time of increased garden-making activity in China because of a variety of economic and social factors.

The garden’s name, Liu Fang Yuan, means The Garden of Flowing Fragrance and is a reference to an ancient Chinese poem, Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess by Cao Zhi. A verse of the poem, translated into English, reads, “She treads in the pungency of pepper-plant paths / walks through wild ginger, making its fragrance flow” (translation provided by Phillip E. Bloom, Curator of the Chinese Garden).

What does this verse call to mind for you? What does it make you think of? What does it make you feel? Can you imagine the sounds in the garden as the goddess walks through the plants? Can you imagine the smells?

Chinese scholars’ gardens are designed to promote scholarship, relaxation, and human connection. In the mid-late Ming, Chinese scholars’ gardens functioned in the same ways that some people today use backyards. Owners sometimes spent time in their gardens alone to relax or to think. Owners also invited people to visit in the gardens. Parties with games and conversation were common in Chinese scholars’ gardens. In addition to throwing parties, owners of gardens often brought people together in the garden to create art. They performed music and brought friends together to compose poetry or make paintings.

Today, Liu Fang Yuan functions in a similar way to the mid-late Ming scholars’ gardens. Some visitors to the garden walk through the garden alone, peacefully reflecting on the poetry, architecture, plants, and other elements of the garden. Other visitors enjoy the garden with friends and family, playing games and interacting with each other. The Huntington also puts on events and art shows in the garden to promote creativity and human connection.

How would you spend time in this garden? If you were to choose a place in this garden to think deep thoughts, where would you choose? Why? Would you choose to sit in one place or move around? If you could throw a party in this garden, who would you invite? What would you do?

The Garden as Art

Large oak tree with a white wall in the background

Old oak tree in the Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

White freestanding wall with a cutout window and door. Three square stone artworks hang on the wall. In front of the wall is a penjing.

Penjing court in Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Garden with standing water in the foreground, a large rock next to the water ,and a one-room structure with a curved roof on a hill above the water.

Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Tree-lined courtyard with a large wooden building at the end of the courtyard.

The Flowery Brush Library and the Courtyard of Assembled Worthies in Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

View from a covered outdoor pavilion onto a lake surrounded by trees with mountains in the distance.

Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

One room structure with a curved roof on a rocky hill surrounded by plants.

Stargazing Tower (Wang Xing Lou) in Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

White wall with a symmetrical curved cutout.

A window in Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

one-room structure with a curved roof. the structure is next to a body of still water and surrounded by green plants.

Love for the Lotus Pavilion in Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Garden with a standing body of water. Buildings and trees surround the water. Two bridges stretch over the water. One bridge has a low railing and sharp angles. The other bridge has a symmetrical arch formation.

Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Questions & Prompts

Choose one photograph.

  • Describe the photographed garden using the elements of art.

  • Describe the photographed garden using the principles of design.

  • Curator of the Chinese Garden, Phillip Bloom, shares the following adjectives that are often used to describe Chinese gardens. Write a sentence using one (or more) of these adjectives to describe the garden:

    • Strange/marvelous/unusual/exceptional (qi 奇)

    • Marvelous/refined (miao 妙)

    • Divine/spirit-filled (shen 神)

    • Mysterious (you 幽)

    • Superb (sheng 勝)

    • Elegant (ya 雅)

    • Fine (jia 佳）

    • Heavenly/heaven-like (天然) (used to mean either paradise-like or natural)

    • Walkable, gaze-able, roam-able, livable (kexing, kewang, keyou, keju 可行、可望、可遊、可居) (These are terms that were first used to describe painting, but they seem to have been principles that garden designers had in mind too.)

Elements of the Garden

A Ming dynasty scholars’ garden has five elements: Rocks, water, plants, architecture, and connections to Chinese literature and culture.

Elements of Chinese Garden

target icon target icon target icon target icon target icon Garden with plants and rocks surrounding a body of still water. A one-room structure with a curved roof is on a hill behind the body of water.

Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

  • Rocks. Rocks are an essential feature of Suzhou gardens. The stones found throughout Liu Fang Yuan are a type of limestone traditionally harvested from the bed of a lake near Suzhou; today, they are harvested in many locations across China. For more than 1,200 years, these rocks have been renowned for their strange shapes and many holes. These rocks can be intergenerational projects. People will submerge large limestone rocks in a lake and, decades later, their descendants will harvest the rock. Some of these rocks are given names. Particularly prized individual specimens like this one, Patching Up the Sky (Bu Tian 補天), can be seen as embodying energy, such as ethers or qi.

  • Water. The lake in Liu Fang Yuan is more than one acre. In Chinese garden-building philosophy, it is important to follow the natural layout of the land. This lake was built in a natural depression for water runoff. One of the purposes of water in a Chinese garden is to reflect the scene on the land, expressing the colors of the sky, plants, rocks, and structures. In addition to the lake, water flows down waterfalls and in streams across the garden.

  • Plants. The Huntington has a tradition of featuring native plants suitable for each of its gardens. Liu Fang Yuan does this within a Chinese cultural context. While the garden does include some California native plants, such as the coastal live oak (Quercus agrifolia), most of the plants are native to China. In this photo, we can see a Black Pine (Pinus thunbergii) growing near the water and Lotuses (Nelumbo nucifera) growing in the water.

  • Architecture. The Stargazing Tower 望星樓 is situated on the highest point in the garden at the southern end of the lake. This 527-square-foot pavilion provides stunning views of the landscape, the distant mountains, and (with a bit of imagination) the universe beyond.

  • Links to Chinese literature. Garden owners used calligraphy (artfully written characters) to write name placards and couplets (two-line poems) that contained references to earlier works of literature. By making those references, they could give visitors a sense of their taste and values. They also could challenge visitors to identify the source of the name or couplet.

The Labor in the Landscape

To create Liu Fang Yuan, The Huntington hired Chinese design and construction companies to work with an American architect and general contractor. The design company, Suzhou Institute of Landscape Architecture Design, was primarily responsible for the basic construction drawings for all the architecture and pathways. The Suzhou construction firm advised on the best construction methods, purchased materials in China, and fabricated bridges, pavilions, decorative panels, paving bricks, and roof tiles in Suzhou workshops. The Huntington decided to work with Chinese artisans because these companies and individuals had the expertise to help create an authentic Chinese garden.

Person sitting on the ground surrounded by rectangular construction materials. The person uses hand tools to work on one of the materials.

Artisan at work in the Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Person working at a table with hand tools. The tools appear to be made of wood, as does the object the person is working on.

Artisan at work in the Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Six people in orange vests stand around an in-progress bridge. A green construction crane is on the bridge.

Artisans at work in the Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Two people in orange vests and red hard hats work on a partially-finished roof. The roof has stone tiles.

Artisans at work in the Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Two people in orange vests and red hard hats work on a partially-finished roof. The roof has wooden slabs.

Artisans at work in the Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Two people examine a wooden rectangle connected to a rectangular stone carving

Artisans at work in the Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Two people in orange vests and hard hats kneel on the partially-finished stone tile floor.

Artisans at work in the Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Six people, five of whom wear orange vests and hard hats, stand in a circle around a pile of rocks.

Artisans at work in the Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance), The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Questions & Prompts

Choose one photograph.

  • Describe the people in the photograph. What are they doing?

  • Is there evidence of collaboration among the multiple people in your photograph? If so, where?

  • Is there evidence of interactions among people and nature in your photograph? If so, where?

  • What knowledge and expertise do you think the people in your photograph need to be able to do their work?

  • What challenges do you think the people in your photograph faced when working on their project? What would you find most challenging about doing this job?

  • If you could ask the people in your photograph questions about their work, what would you ask? Why?

Mindful Moment

Experience a mindful moment in the Pavilion for Washing Away Thoughts (Di Lü Ting 滌慮亭).

The pavilion is adorned with a simple poetic couplet engraved into bamboo boards. Read from top to bottom, right to left, it can be directly translated to read:

Flowing water can purify the mind;

fragrant mountains suit quiet contemplation.

流水可清心，芳山宜靜觀。

Create a Postcard from the Garden

People send postcards while on trips to interesting places. By mailing these postcards, people can share their experiences with other people. Postcards have two sides. On one side, artwork visually represents a place. On the other side, a short letter can be written to describe experiences. Now that you have (virtually) visited Liu Fang Yuan, create a postcard to share the experience with a loved one.

  1. Choose the person you want to make your postcard for. Do you want to make a postcard for a parent? A sibling? A grandparent? A friend? A cousin? A classmate or a teacher? Maybe your class can all make postcards for each other!

  1. Create artwork of the garden on the front of your postcard. What will you include? Why? How can your art help the person receiving your postcard understand the garden?

  1. Write a message on the back of your postcard (if you’re planning to mail your postcard, remember to leave space on the back for the person’s address). What will you write about? Did you have a favorite part of the garden? What do you wish your loved one knew about the garden?

References and Resources

Bloom, Phillip. 2018. “Reading the Chinese Garden.” The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. December 28, 2018. https://www.huntington.org/frontiers/2018-fall-winter/reading-chinese-garden.

Li, T. June. 2009. “Decorations and Themes in Liu Fang Yang.” In Another World Lies Beyond: Creating Liu Fang Yuan, the Huntington’s Chinese Garden, edited by T. June Li. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library Press.

---. 2009. “Liu Fang Yuan, the Chinese Garden at The Huntington.” In Another World Lies Beyond: Creating Liu Fang Yuan, the Huntington’s Chinese Garden, edited by T. June Li. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library Press.

Sowd, Laurie. 2009. “The Making of Liu Fang Yuan: A Brief History.” In Another World Lies Beyond: Creating Liu Fang Yuan, the Huntington’s Chinese Garden, edited by T. June Li. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library Press.