The Chinese Traditional Theory Of Fengshui And Landscaping Or Gardens Design

In his celebrating address at the opening ceremony of the Department of Landscaping Science of Tsinghua University, Mr. Laurie D. Olin pointed out that: as an acknowledged profession, in spite of its short history of 150 years, landscaping design has been going abreast with the thousands of years'development of human civilization.Being a significant part of Chinese traditional culture, the Theory of Fengshui, or Geomantic Omen, is, in effect, findings of combining environment quality with happier life by ancient Chinese as well as a science of creating better living surroundings. It is the landscaping design of ancient China and considerably embodied in designing and building of China's classical gardens.At the turn of 21~st Century, with the surging conflict between the development of human beings and environment, people of insight are increasingly concerned of how to keep the development of material civilization of human society and environment in a harmonious and sustainable way while maintaining the fast track of the former. With its distinct outlook of integration and respect of the nature, the Theory of Fengshui has brought about rich inspiration to modern theory of ecology and practice of landscaping design. This thesis aims at proving the tremendous embodiment of the Theory of Fengshui in design and construction of Chinese classical gardens through analysis of a variety of cases while starting with the theoretical framework of the Theory of Fengshui, its origin and system of developing as well as its scientific connotation. The thesis also throws light on the fact that the Theory of Fengshui has infiltrated into the design and constructing practice of gardens and exerted significant influence on the application of various elements in landscaping design. Furthermore, with a comparison of the traditional Theory of Fengshui and Landscaping Ecology, the thesis comes up with not only the ecological connotation of the former, but the fact that it enjoys certain advantages over the latter in pragmatism and far-sightedness. It also comes to the conclusion that the Theory of Fengshui and cultural heritage has brought about visible and invisible influence on China's modern garden design and further points out that, in practice, the Theory of Fengshui should give instruction to the landscaping design from the prospects of geist, rational and visual thinking. Moreover, by casting...