Landscape Morphology a Comparative Study of Landscape Aesthetics
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LANDSCAPE MORPHOLOGY A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LANDSCAPE AESTHETICS Jiahua Wu A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY VOLUME II DEPARTMENT OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND October, 1992 PART 3 TAO IN LANDSCAPE [157] HEAVEN CHINESE COSMOS MAP [158] 8 HEAVEN, EARTH AND MAN The art of traditional Chinese landscape design is one of the richest landscape design heritage in the world. It is not only a synthesis of the many forms of art such as Shan Shui painting, calligraphy, architecture, sculpture, botany, horticulture, but also a representation of Chinese thoughts. Although landscape painting, Shan Shui theory have achieved a high level of recognition and Chinese landscape design skills are widely known, the theory of Chinese landscape design and its aesthetic base have still not been fully discovered and discussed. The aim of this section is to try to explain the whole activity of Chinese landscape design: its aesthetic and philosophical roots and its methodology. 8.1 THE LAND, THE NATION AND THE CULTURE China is a vast country with 54 nations, almost 1.2 billion population and 9,600,000 square kilometers of land. The huge territory, the varied geomorphologic features and the rich vegetation have created a wide diversity of characteristics in the Chinese landscape. For thousands of years, the country was almost shut off from other parts of the world because of its specific geographical location and social structure. To the north, there is the Mongolian Great Prairie and Siberian Frigid Zone. To [159] the south-east, there is the Pacific Ocean. To the west, a highland and the deserts which, as a screen and boundary, divide the country from the other side of the world. It was very difficult to reach this early civilization. Fortunately, the country is big enough to support itself in providing the different resources needed for the nation to survive and develop their own civilization. Particularly in the areas along the Yellow and Yangzi rivers which flow from the west to the east, there is much fertile land from which the culture grew and the heart of this civilization was established. From the south to the north, the climate of China varies from a tropical zone to a temperate and sub-zero one. Warm and moist winds from the south-east coast offset the average temperature which is advantageous for growing a wide range of vegetation. Except for highland areas and some deserts in the north-west, agricultural activities have taken place in most parts of China. The natural conditions of the land along the south-east sea have raised living standards and promoted development and refinement of the culture. From the third century onwards (the period of the Three Kingdoms), the areas along the Yangzi river became the richest parts of China and formed a cultural and economic centre. From time to time, the iron door of China has been knocked upon by intruders. Despite great suffering, the Chinese cultural tradition still thrives and is beginning to be gradually understood throughout the world. At the same time, foreign cultures have inevitably begun to influence the old traditions of China. [160] 8.2 THE DUAL NATURE OF CHINESE CULTURE Chinese culture is the only surviving ancient but developed civilization in the world with an obviously dual nature: original but conservative. For thousands of years, the culture has continued and developed, with little communication with the outside world. By searching, exploring, summarizing from one generation to another, it has developed and improved in a relatively independent way. On the one hand, because of its specific geographical situation and life style, it became possible for this culture to accumulate and develop, while retaining its individuality and originality. On the other hand, its conservative nature now causes great difficulties in the reforming of traditions necessary to meet new needs coming with new ways of living and the incredible size of the population. The dual nature of Chinese culture is reflected in different fields of art such as music, literature, painting, architecture and landscape design. Facing challenges from the outside world, in particular, those from modern Western cultures, Chinese traditional culture has experienced a reformation in coping with the strong impact from an increasing numbers of foreign influences. The conflicts between old and new ideas have raised many questions in Chinese minds. What aspects should the Chinese reject; what essence of our heritage should carry on? These are some the issues facing people in searching for the way to develop and reform the old tradition and design the future of the nation. The landscape, as the most beautiful part of the Chinese living environment, which relates to both the cultural and natural quality of this country, has been changing day by day. The danger is that people make changes in a simple way without knowing why and how, and without any idea about their own cultural identity. This really should not be the case [161] for the modern Chinese, since the tradition is still there, the way of traditional thinking is still working. 8.3 WAYS OF CHINESE THINKING Ideas in any design activity are derived basically from human needs. However, with an activity like landscape, human attitudes towards nature have an especially strong influence. So, when studying the aesthetics of Chinese landscape design, we need to understand the way Chinese think about nature and some basic aspects of Chinese philosophies. No matter where people live and how different their cultural roots are, human beings have from primitive times onwards been searching for the answers to such basic questions as Who am I? Where am I from? How can I survive? In which way can I improve my life? To answer those questions, to establish an acceptable understanding of the relationship between man and the .objective world is a never ending fundamental task. For the Chinese, their specific process of social evolution and geographical differences in living conditions have influenced their behaviour and led the people to accept different patterns of living and different attitudes towards the problems of coping with the natural environment. The Chinese are known as an agricultural nation with the longest feudal history in the world, replacing slave-based society around the 8th BC. [ 1 ] We may reason that the gathering activity as the basic survival behaviour and the primitive form of agriculture was well developed by our i At the time of Western Zhou (c. 11th BC- 771 BC), the Slave Society began to collapse. [162] ancestors. [2] The primitive agriculture led people to cultivation practices, such as classifying categories of plants, selecting seeds, dividing the land and arranging different kinds of work in different seasons. Methodologically, classification and storing of information came to be the most important characteristic of the society which followed early Gathering Man. In the process of classification, people gradually cultivated their own ways of perceiving the outside world and managing it. Both hunting and gathering were essential to human survival. The difference between them is that the former may be outward-orientated, the latter inward-orientated, i.e. psychologically, one is characterised by the act of looking for, exploring, conquering; the other by collecting, selecting, accumulating and adapting. The classifying and storing which belong especially to settled agriculture will reinforce the second tendency. Thus, we can suggest that where behaviors such as gathering, selecting, collecting, accumulating, classifying and storing are the basic activities of a nation for thousands of years, it must psychologically influence the people in very particular ways. The people gradually adapt to natural truths without a sense of conquering nature. Common knowledge tells those people that without flowers, there will be no bees and honey; without trees, no fruits; without fertile land, no crops. Therefore in the minds of the early Chinese things on Earth relied on each other, depended on each other, and were dominated by natural forces which are beyond understanding. If 'HEAVEN' smiles upon people, then the climate may be kind to all creatures, their life easier. Naturally, the worship of natural forces founded a theological base in the minds of early people. The logical attitude might be: we are not 2 Gathering and hunting were of course the general activities of primitive man anywhere in the world. Since the Chinese started their feudal agricultural economy in I I th century BC. here we may reason that the Gathering activity which promoted the start of agriculture was the most important surviving behaviour of the early Chinese man. [163] conquerors of nature; we cannot loot from the earth too much; our survival depends on 'HEAVEN' and 'EARTH' together. Therefore, doctrines about the suitable manner of living were formed and passed down from one generation to next, a tradition that has continued down through the ages. As a result, the most reliable knowledge is that learned from the older generations, which is seen as the knowledge tasted by time. To learn from tradition, therefore, became a necessary and effective approach in achieving a balanced life and maintaining a certain quality and rhythm of living. Thus, for the people, the opportunities of exploration were missing from time to time. The tradition of emphasizing relations and inheritance had developed a common sense of coherence; more value came to be attached to integration than to growth and further analysis. Since it was thought that to adapt was the best way to achieve a balance between contradictory forces, the management of different activities within a greater system of productive processes needed an authorized order which decided the organic relationship of different social groups: from family to clan, from a nation to the whole kingdom.