On The Garden Aesthetics Of Yuan Ye

This dissertation analysed theories of making garden in Yuan Ye from aspects of philosophy-esthetics and design within social and culture context. According to the art style and aesthetic taste, Yuan Ye mainly concluded principles of constructing scholar garden. In other words, Ji Cheng mainly illuminated the aesthetic ideal and art characteristics of the Chinese classic scholar garden. These gardening aesthetic viewpoints in Yuan Ye can be generalized into three parts:Natural, picturesque and elegant. They are also the mainly art and aesthetic properties of the scholar garden. Yuan Ye also puted forward an essential principle of making garden:"qiao yu yin jie, jing zai ti yi."(Means:it's clever to build garden according to circumstance, to skillfully use "reason" and "borrow" to make garden comely). It's an effective method for garden makers to fulfil requirments of all kind.Chapter one studied the aesthetic appetite of emphasizing natural beauty embodyed in Yuan Ye, discussed the background of forming the natural mode and these concrete embodiments. Ji Cheng put forward that:"Even though the garden is created by human, it looks as if it were made by nature." It urgented that garden must show natural visual feature and be enriched to the feeling of natural forest.these words fully show the famous natural quality of the Chinese classic garden which learning from the landscape of the nature. The aesthetic appetite of emphasizing natural beauty derive from the Chinese classic philosophy tradition which pursuing the harmonious unity of nature and human. Confuciusim and daoism and zenism are all pay attention to following natural regulation and enjoying the beauty of nature.these deeply affect the aesthetic interest of the literatis, and made them emphasize the organic beaty and natural style in an art object. The theory of making garden has finished the change from the miniation to creation nature by Tang Dynasty. As a result, the nature-making-like garden in Yuan Ye is actually the lyric garden full of emotion and imagination of poetry and painting. The natural feeling of garden mainly embody through their appearances, structure and layout up of the landscapes, buildings, grants and views. The gardeners combine factors according to the characteristics of natural landscape, with organic irregular appearance and natural layout to make artificial constructs be merged into natural environment and integrate a whole, living art object. Chapter Two studied aesthetic attitude of liking picture, forcuses on the relationship between the garden and the picture of mountains and rivers, mainly analysize the reason and performance of the garden looking like a painting. Since Tang Sung, the combination of the garden and paintings gradually become a basic characteristic of Chinese ancient garden. As their representative of Wang Wei and Bai Juyi, the scholar glass participates in garden-building day by day. So it not only brings more and more the feeling and interest of the scholar to the garden, but also helps Chinese garden complete the transformation from the natural landscape to the comfortable landscape. The poetry and painting idea of the scholar seeps through the designing and construction of garden, not only appeared such as Gen Yue which is constructed completely according to painting idea, but also flow out a lot of scholar included Ji-Cheng that are good at making poet and painting. These reflections in Yuan Ye are the creations principle of "the territory imitates Ying pot, as a natural picture", and "put deep ideas in painting, pay more feeling to mountain and hills".During designing the form and shape of mountains and rivers, Ji Cheng benifits a lot from Jing Hao, Guan Tong, Ni Zan, Huang Gong Wang, Li Si Xun and his son Li Zhao Dao. The garden-making viewpoint of "liking painting" is mainly expressed in three aspects, including ideas, reason and image of painting. See from the creations; garden and painting have much conmon in purpose, skill and creative idea etc. Concretely say, the painting emphisize the importance of idea before drawing, garden-building assert firstly that design and conatruction be suitable to the background, painting and garden-building both pay much attion to conceive an outline and programm. The painting use the skill of "simple painting" (Jian Bi), garden-building use the skill of Xiao Zhong Jian Da, both try to express the infinite. Painting and garden-building both think that there is no restricts and limits, and both emphisize freely creat.As the reason of painting, when he design and cnstruct a garden, Ji Cheng make use the prnciple of "Yin-Yang" and the harmony of diversity. So that he can a beautiful garden full of profound idea and conception. As the artistic conception, painting and garden have the same topic that become immortal. However, garden after all is not a picture, they are different from each other. Compared with the painting of mountains and rivers, garden not only express an outstripping of recluse dust state of mind outside, but also filled with materialism breath of pursuiting comfort and physical well-being. Chapter three studied aesthetic quality of the scholar garden:elegant. The scholar's garden differs from the Royal garden's great and sumptuous quality, but takes delicate elegance as its basic style. Under the education of Confuciusim and Taoism, the scholar garden pays much attention to the combination of Virtue and Beauty, pursues the harmony of Truth and Beauty. In other word, the elegant performance is simple and sparse constructures and the deep and natural landscape, so that it can satisfy the scholar's spirit needs, because they wanted to live a recluse and self-satisfied life. But Ji-Cheng did not think the natural and elegant features are opposite with fashion. In fact, he thinks if we make the best use of these aesthetics characteristics, they can benefit each other. He assert that the hall, the key building of a garden has to be delicate, the partial adornment including windows should be in fashion, namely so-called "construture is appropriate, the type is appreciated" and "the style is graceful and fashionable, so it make people pleasant" etc. The elegance of culture mainly includes poem texts and humanities implication in a garden. Through making use of recluse literary allusions and symbolizations can enrich the cultural content of a garden, and then make it be full of poetry and painting ideas and express a scholar chest to contain ten thousand poem books, and his spirit character of unique and free from vulgarity.Chapter four analysed the principle of "qiao yu yin jie, jing zai ti yi." This principle of making garden according to owner, geography and times comes from the life philysophy of former Qin dynasty philosophers. The confuciusim, daoism and legalism all have ideas of emphasizing "following". In the book of Yuan Ye, the principle of "Yin" in garden-building pratice is mainly expreesed in five apects, includes building a garden by the way of make use of water, taking shape by the way of making use of the ground, building a house by the way of making use of the ground, getting material by the way of making use of the ground, and taking action according to the circumstances. Ji Cheng put forward the concept of "borrow a view from"(Jie Jing) for the first time in history. He elaborates five kinds of skill to borrow view, and describe the view and landsacpe by the way of borrowing a view from the circomstance. Ji Cheng asserts that should make the best use of the outside scenery without near or farway, and be good at borrowing secenery from the enviroment. "Borrowing view" can make the outside scenery inside the garden and combine together, thus make the the garden ower produce a detached feeling from outside world and the experience of uniting Nature and Man. As the principle of "Yin Jie" and "Ti Yi", "Yin Jie"is a way to build a garden, "Ti Yi" is the standard of garden-building, "Yin Jie" and "Ti Yi" can not separate from each other. While building a garden, the achitect not only make good use of the principle of "Yin Jie". According to the standard of "Ti Yi", but also synthesize the concrete requirments of function, art and humanities.The conclusion part studied the history position and realistic meaning of Yuan Ye. As far as the history influence, compared with the Zhang Wu Zhi and Xian Qing Ou Ji, Yuan Ye is really the first theories work that systematically elaborated the principles and skills of making garden, and it made important breakthrough and innovation in many respects, such as the theory of "borrowing view". As far as its nowaday's infuluence, these principles and aesthetics attitudes in Yuan Ye throw light to the construction of the contemporary environment aesthetics and the ecology aesthetics. Specifically talking, it includes:the ecological equal viewpoint of following the Way of Nature, the viewpoint of ecological protection through "following and borrowing", the ecological planning viewpoint of making building and the environment harmoniously, the ecological aesthetic interest which taking simple and natural design as highly beauty and the ecological saving view of making good use of the resources to reduce expenses etc.