Research On Elements Of The Chinese Gardening And Its Impact On Beauty Appreciation In The Eighteenth-century British Literature

In the eighteenth century,the English landscape garden emerged and gradually became mature.The typical characteristic of this kind of garden is irregular and asymmetrical,which is similar to that of the Chinese garden.Answering to the prevalence of the English landscape garden and adoring of the Chinese gardening,lots of literature work have been created.This thesis chooses five representative writers from that period to demonstrate elements of the Chinese gardening and its influences on beauty appreciation in the eighteenth-century Britain as reflected in literature.This thesis thinks that Jean Denis Attiret(1702-1768)and British embassy delegated by Gorge Macartney(1737-1806)could be regarded as two milestones of cultural transmission during the eighteenth century.Attiret's letter A Particular Account of the Emperor of China's Gardens near Pekin(1743),which Joseph Spence(1699-1768)under pseudo name of Harry Beaumont gave the first English version,set a fire in Britain.The letter largely describes the grandeur and beauty of Yuanming yuan.In the first British embassy to China,three main members have recorded valuable memories in their journals.John Barrow(1764-1848)published Travels in China(1804)which includes Lord Macartney's journals;Sir George Staunton(1737-1801)published An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China(1797)which is also chiefly taken from the Papers of His Excellency the Earl of Macartney.Their descriptions of Yuanming yuan and Chengde shanzhuang and their attitude towards the similarity and difference between the Chinese gardening and the English landscape gardening weigh a lot.In the assimilation of the Chinese gardening,attention needs to be paid to two phenomena.Superficially,it is the design and layout of gardening practice that is copied by the English landscape garden.William Temple(1628-1699)correctly summarizes the change as “sharawadgi” in the essay “Upon the Gardens of Epicurus”(1685).Then,in the end of the eighteenth century,famous poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge(1772-1834)has composed a masterpiece – Kubla Khan,which could be regarded as a distillation of the aesthetic idea from China.As for the impact on beauty appreciation,Joseph Addison(1672-1719)and Alexander Pope(1688-1744)have written many essays and poems to express their appreciation of natural beauty.Joseph Addison has published a series of essays(Nos 411-421)entitled “Essay on the Pleasures of the Imagination” in 1712 in his Spectator to express his preference for horticultural naturalism.Alexander Pope has firstly published an anonymous article in Guardian in 1713 and then has finished the poem Windsor Forest(1713)to boldly pursue pastoral ideas.This thesis thinks that British literati in the eighteenth century such as Coleridge,Addison,and Pope contribute a lot to the presentation of the Chinese aesthetic ideas in Britain,which helps to bring about the great change that take place in the English gardening.From what they do,it can be seen that literature plays a very effective social role and shoulders enough responsibility in cultural transmission and enrichment.