Expect To The Unison Of All Things, Ponder Upon The Harmony Of The Universe

Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty was the founder and the developer of the last heights of the history of ancient Chinese gardens. He was the designer of the Summer Mountain Resort which has been keeping the largest extant ancient Chinese garden. By looking up the historical documents and drawings of Qing Dynasty, I have found out the activities of Kangxi designing gardens. On the background of the ancient Chinese history and gardens system, I have analyzed the arts of Kangxi's gardens, and have detected his thinking from the view of contemporary theories of landscape. The thinking is different from that of the tradition of recluse ones, and also is different from any of the other emperors in ancient China. Kangxi started from the Neo-Confucianism which he had been enjoying, and even emphasized the theory of being to the unison and harmony, and finally reached the sense of in harmony with the universe, thereby Kangxi expressed the thinking of administering country and the placing his moral quality on. Kangxi left a valuable cultural heritage for his successors. Kangxi's new thinking about gardens and very elegant interests in gardens has exerted a tremendous and wide influence till now days. To study the thinking of gardening ideologies of Kangxi, one should break through the personal study of imperia gardens to understand the importance of gardening ideologies. Therefore, this thesis will give an idea to urban planers in this new century.