Aesthetic Appreciation of Chinese Gardens: Between Art and Nature

Abstract

Gardens include not only art but also nature. According to different relationships between art and nature, this article clarifies five types of gardens: the French-style gardens, the English-style gardens, topiary gardens, Japanese gardens, and Chinese gardens. Based on this clarification, this article argues that Chinese gardens follow the lead of the essential qualities of art instead of the essential qualities of nature. With “borrowing” and “following”, the natural elements in Chinese gardens extend to the field of art. The boundaries between art and nature are erased. The aesthetic appreciation of Chinese gardens challenges the “positive aesthetics”, which is prevalent in contemporary environmental aesthetics, and endorses a “negative aesthetics”, which we can find its supports in traditional Chinese philosophy.