Five thousand years ago, Chinese began using hills, streams, springs, plants, birds and other animals to build recreational areas and natural gardens. Later there was an evolution from this simple use of nature to more developed gardens created and managed by man. Three to four thousand years ago, Chinese emperors start to build great places and gardens.
Books
The Chinese Garden : History, Art and Architecture, Third Edition Maggie Keswick EDITION: Harvard Univ Pr; 3rd edition (May 2003) About the Author
Maggie Keswick was educated in Shanghai and Hong Kong and at Oxford University; she was married to the architectural critic and historian Charles Jencks, who contributed to this book.
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Garden Plants of China Peter Valder EDITION: Timber Pr; (August 1999) Gardens have long been an integral part of Chinese culture, written about by scholars and prized by emperors and priests; think of Chinese scrolls traced with plum blossoms and wood-block prints etched with pine branches or bamboo.
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The Garden As Architecture: Form and Spirit in the Gardens of Japan, China, and Korea Toshiro Inaji, Pamela Virgilio (Translator) EDITION: Kodansha International; (September 1998) Gardens and their related architecture have always been designed in Japan, China, and Korea as a single, cohesive environment. The particular forms that these environments took over the centuries naturally reflect each country´s differing aesthetic principles, but were also governed by other concerns--from religious beliefs and social structure to simple spatial or climatic constraints. In his exploration of the history of garden design in the Far East, Toshiro Inaji offers a fascinating study of changing cultural and aesthetic values.
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The Chinese Garden (Images of Asia) Joseph Cho Wang EDITION: Oxford University Press; (July 1998) Whether built for imperial use or for the enjoyment of a private scholar and his family, the garden is a centerpiece of classical Chinese culture. This book draws on a wide range of literary and artistic sources to present the fundamentals of Chinese garden design. Illustrated with photographs showing detailed views of sites in Suzhou and Yangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, it explains the aesthetic principles and practical concerns of the designer. The ´´reading´´ of a Chinese garden that it offers is enriched by a greater understanding of the literary and artistic conventions involved in the gardens construction.
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Gardens in China Peter Valder EDITION: Timber Pr; (July 2002) As travel to China increases, garden lovers look to specialty tours as a way of experiencing firsthand the unique aesthetic beauty and cultural traditions of Chinese garden design. Now Valder´s illuminating compilation of more than 200 gardens promises to provide the ultimate resource for future travelers, who, before embarking on a trip, can study and savor images and information on diverse horticultural realms located throughout China.
The Ming and Qing dynasties between the 14th and 20th century were its prime periods of garden building, in Suzhou, when at one time there were more than 200 private family gardens. http://www.china.org.cn/english/kuaixun/74964.htm
Articles
Maggie Keswick 
