A Study On The Theories And Methods Of Garden Within A Garden In Chinese Imperial Garden

The Traditional Garden of China can be seen as an art that has a long history, with a wide variety of categories. Among these different categories, Garden within a garden is the one with the most special and distinctive characteristics, so that is worth the most attention. Garden within a garden can be seen both as the name of this style of garden and the technique to build this style. When tracing back to the origin of Garden within a garden, Imperial garden serves as a rather primary prototype. Imperial garden plays an important role in the history of traditional Chinese garden, as it, representing the supremacy of the ruling class, is the source of traditional Chinese garden. The existence and development of Garden within a garden as the style of garden and as the technique in building garden are highly related to the development of Imperial garden. The most distinctive and typical characteristics of Garden within a garden can be seen thoroughly in Imperial garden. The purpose of studying traditional Chinese garden is to further promote this kind of art in modern environment. Hence, the methods that have been used in Garden within a garden can be greatly useful when planning and designing the gardens in modern life.This paper analyzes the theories and methods used in Garden within a garden by studying the Garden within a garden consisting in Imperial gardens in ancient China, through strategies including literature review, induction and deduction, field investigation, case analyzing and comparing. We believe that these theories and methods will give out contributions when planning and designing modern gardens.This paper can be developed into three parts:The first part is the basis and foundation of the whole study. The development and evolution of Garden within a garden are shown along with the development and evolution of Imperial garden. The concept of Garden within a garden is clarified, and is further divided into two concepts, one as the style of garden and one as the technique in building garden. The causes of Garden within a garden are also explored. The second part of this paper is the center part. The compositions of Garden within a garden in Imperial garden are analyzed, as well as the methods and ways of designing specific gardens and the features in building gardens. When talking about the compositions of Garden within a garden, we see this concept as the techniques used in building gardens, including the layout designing analysis, the landscape arranging analysis, the scale measuring analysis, the boarder managing analysis, and the relation determining analysis. When talking about methods and ways of designing used in specific Garden within a garden, we see it as the style of garden, including the analysis of designing, elements of mountains, waters, constructions and plants, the technique of borrowing and handling details, based on some specific samples. The features in building Garden within a garden are mainly about one prominent feature, creating after copying, including copying the mountains and waters, copying the mood and feeling, copying part of famous sites, and copying the whole garden. For the type of copying the whole garden, several specific cases are further discussed.The third part is extension research. After summarizing the theories and methods used in Garden within a garden in Imperial gardens, inspirations can be used in the designing of modern garden. As a specific kind of modern garden, the horticultural exposition garden is discussed in this chapter, including its developing prospect and potential problems, to see the improvements that can be brought from Garden within a garden to the horticultural exposition garden, including composition and garden designing.