Chinese Characters and the Design Philosophy of Chinese Gardens

Student Name: Shen Weizhen

Course Name: Research on Architectural Philosophy

Abstract: This paper compares the commonalities between Chinese characters,

calligraphy and garden design ideals. It first analyses the shape-based Chinese
characters and the concept of existence under the influence of Sinitic mode.
Then it analyses the similarities between calligraphic structure and the space
design of gardens. Finally, it points out that traditional architecture is an essential
part of thought and culture, and calls for establishing an equal dialogue between
Chinese aesthetic ethic and the Western thought system
Keywords: Chinese character; calligraphy; Chinese gardens; Chinese thought;
landscape

In his three lectures, Professor Li Shiqiao pointed out that there are gaps
between Indo-European language and Sinitic language, and that these
differences are also reflected in thought and architecture. When studying
architecture issues, we should not only confine ourselves to the architecture
itself, but also make use of the linguistic and cultural gaps for deeper analysis.
Since the Industrial Revolution, capital, industrialization and military
development have been integrated under the idea of "modernity" originated
from the West, and a center-edge world system has been gradually formed.
In the process of accepting the profound influence of Western thought,
Asian and Chinese thought suffered most prominently from being
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traditionalized : they were transformed from the central ideas that used to guide
practice to "ancient traditional thought" and were thus marginalized. This was
followed by a wave of "western modern architecture" that swept through
China's construction of cities and villages. In recent years, although China
is gradually paying attention to the preservation and regeneration of
traditional architecture and settlements, it is mostly limited to the imitation of
ancient styles, without realizing that traditional architecture is essentially a
part of traditional thought and culture, and that this ideological and cultural
tradition is still alive in contemporary times and deserves to be constantly
studied and carried forward.

The garden is an important type of architecture in traditional Chinese

architecture and an appropriate case for the study of Chinese architectural
thought. On the one hand, several ancient writings record the design ideas and
cultural connotations of gardens, such as "Yuan ye（园冶）", "Yi jia yan（一家
言）", "Zhang wu zhi（长物志）", "Fusheng Liuji（浮生六记）", etc. On the other
hand, the stone carvings, plaques and couplets in gardens profoundly reflect the
role of language and calligraphy on architecture, which helps us to correlate
architecture with language and calligraphy and explore the subtle influence of
culture on architecture. A comprehensive study of language and gardens is
intended to try to rediscover the lost Chinese aesthetic and ethical order and to
establish an equal dialogue with the Western discourse system.

1. The Shape-based Sinitic characters

Professor Li Shiqiao points out the gap between the Indo-European Language
and the Sinitic Language that the former regards thought-language as sounds,
while the latter regards it as shapes. The referent in the Indo-European
language is ‘abstracted’ from a thing to a sign (sounds and sound notations),
and the system of signs operates with a structure of word order(syntax) and form
change(morphology). In contrast, the Sinitic has shape-based characters. Word
maintains a shape, and words for the shapeless imitate words for the shapely.
Once formed, words do not change form (so no morphology here), only use
word order to convey things.

He also argues that the Indo-European and the Sinitic think of different modes
of existence and different relations with the extant world. The Indo-European
speakers think about being, and they prefer to look at landscape rather than stay
in it. They also regard tectonics as architecture under the structural-specific logic.
The Sinitic speakers and writers think of living, so they enjoy staying, living or
wandering in landscape with the un-fixing of the eye. Chinese sought poetic co-
existence among things, and their pure logical ideas regard garden-landscape-
literature as architecture.

Take the character 園 （garden）as an example. It is composed of four parts:

土 represents the rockery and stacked stones, the central 口 refers to the main
lake, the 衣 symbolizes flowers and trees, and the 囗 is like a circle of peripheral
walls（Fig.1）. Language as a parallel world of shapes where both thought and
art are manifested, and the process of transforming the ‘natural’ to the parallel
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world of shapes is figuration. Kang Youwei said in GuangYiZhouShuangJi that,

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康有为在《广艺舟双辑》中说: “中国自有文字以来, 皆以形为主……故中国所重在
形。外国文字皆以声为主……中国之字无意不备, 故极繁而条理不可及。”
since China has written characters, they are mainly based on shape…… Foreign
characters are mainly sound-based…… Chinese characters conveys abundant
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meanings, thus extremely numerous.

Fig. 1 Yipu in Suzhou

This photo shows elements of garden design, including walls, rockery, water and plants.
(Photographed by Zhu Yuhui)

2. The character’s structure composed of strokes

Chinese culture is known as the "art of line". Firstly, in terms of external shape,
various kinds of lines are used as the main method of figuration, represented by
calligraphy and painting; secondly, in terms of internal structure, a “linear”
structure that continues in time and unfolds in space can be found in architecture
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and gardens.

The external structure of Chinese characters appears to be the interplay and

supplement between the real and the imaginary, the exposed and the hidden
（虚实相生，藏露有致）. The "real" is the entity of the strokes, which also make
up the muscle and bone of the characters, while the "imaginary" is the blank
space between the strokes. Even if two strokes are not connected, the meaning
can still be understood by the viewer. According to Deng Shi Ru, a calligrapher
of the Qing dynasty, “a horse can run in the sparse parts of a character, while
the dense parts do not allow the wind to penetrate, and the void is often
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considered as entity, then the curiosity will emerge.” Calligraphy also cares

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清代书法家邓石如称，“字画疏处可以走马，密处不使透风，常计白以当黑，奇趣
乃出”。
about the strength and speed of the lines and the expression of emotion. In
some conditions the tips of brush strokes（笔锋） in calligraphy are hidden,
appearing to be round and coherent, and at other times they are unmistakably
sharp. “Chinese calligraphy, rhythmizing nature, expresses a deeper conception
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of the image of life and becomes an art that reflects it.”

These relationships are also evident in the garden. The "real lines" include linear
elements such as bridges, winding paths and corridors. The "imaginary lines"
include axes, lines of sight and movement. The axis has a strong controlling
power and can be used to organize the landscape elements in order, achieving
a sense of balance and equilibrium; the lines of visitor’s sight and movement
offer fresh and dynamic experience during their excursion in the landscape.
Whether enjoying the garden or appreciating the calligraphy, people may gain
a sense of both tension and relaxation with the unique and specialized
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movement of the lines (Fig.2).

Fig.2. The Gull’s Bath（浴鸥）court in Yipu

The wall and bridge are the real lines in space design, while the door openings and paths
enable visitors to experience different scenery as they move.
3. The Combination of Object and Subject
Chinese characters are so figurative that remind people of objects and sceneries;
meanwhile, the art of line is such an abstract form that contains rich and subtle
emotions. The cursive calligraphy of Zhang Xu in the Tang Dynasty was
described as " his work expresses the emotion of happy, angry and embarrassed
so well without mastering any other skills". As for gardens, the scenery is also
arranged or appreciated by heart. On the one hand, in the process of designing
a garden, the owner’s sentiment arises from the landscape and also promotes
the creation of the scenery in turn, so the garden corresponds with is designer;
on the other hand, visitors will get very different feelings in the same garden as
their mood change. Both calligraphy and garden show a combination and
interplay of object and subject.

Since the establishment of "architecture" subject in China in the 20th century, the
theory and practice of Chinese architecture has been largely integrated into the
world system dominant by Western thought, and is at semi-fringe situation. The
creation of garden under the thought of mountain and water was transformed
into modern subjects of architecture, planning, and landscape architecture. In
the process of modernization, China faces not only a disconnect between
tradition and contemporaneity, but also a clash between national and Western
culture, with the consequent disorder of ethical and moral norms and a
disconnect in culture and thought. If one only reads and interprets gardens in
today's plan, section and facade, one cannot understand the traditional
ideological connotations contained in gardens, where nature, life, religion, and
literature are all accommodated into a limited place. Today we try to understand
the gardens, not for establishing an unbreakable paradigm of classical garden,
but because many ideas that have been blurred or disappeared are solidified
and preserved in the gardens, allowing us to awaken our knowledge of
traditional Chinese thought through the interpretation of concrete objects and
bring it into modern practice. In his book The Chinese, Lin Yutang says: "The full
meaning of Chinese calligraphy as the foundation of Chinese aesthetics will be
further seen in the study of Chinese painting and architecture. In the line and
conception of Chinese painting, in the form and structure of Chinese architecture,
we shall be able to discern those principles which have developed from Chinese
calligraphy. It is these basic concepts of rhythm, form, and range that give the
various disciplines of Chinese art, such as poetry, painting, architecture, porcelain,
and house decoration, their basic spiritual systems." Hopefully we may establish
a Chinese aesthetic ethic and dialogue on an equal footing with the Western
discourse system through studying Chinese gardens.

However, we should notice that gardens do not represent the entire ideal of
Chinese architecture. The garden is a spiritual space, mostly built by officials and
literati, reflecting the owner's spiritual aspirations. They temporarily get rid of the
tedious work while wandering in the garden, and the name reflects their wishes,
for example, the "Humble Administrator's Garden". But most of the time, people
have to live in reality in the dwellings, and the layout of compact, hierarchical
dwellings also reflect another aspect of Chinese thought, which is practicality,
adaptability, family ethics and so on. It is as if in the Dream of the Red Mansion,
there was the Grand View Garden, but its construction needs the political and
financial supports of Ning Guo Fu and Rong Guo Fu. At the same time, in the
blocks behind the Ning Rong Street lived the declined relatives of Jia,
housekeepers, domestic slaves and ordinary people. When we praise the beauty
of the garden, we should not forget that a large number of residential houses
are the base of traditional Chinese architecture. They witnessed the truth of
Chinese society and reflect the thought and culture worth of studying, inheriting
and sublation.

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