BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Solo Travel I would like to introduce the Best of China to you

Is there anyone feel interested in travelling in China? I used to be an editor of a guide book about China. I am willing to help you with any questions about travelling in China.

China has plenty of scenic points, from north to south, from east to west, there are so many interesting and beautiful places to visit. From North Frozen Harbin, snowy Changbaishan Mountain, to the capital Beijing's custom Hutongs, the capital of Qin dynasty Xi'an's Terra-cotta Warriors, to Dunhuang's Buddhist grottos and the wild Xinjiang, mysterious Tibet to the beautiful south Jiuzhaiguo, Guilin and Hainan. Whatever you are interested in, no matter the history or custom, art or practical information, even hotels or airtickets, I am willing to answer your any questions. I have eight-year work experiences on one of China's international travel agencies and a four star hotel, and four-year experiences on guide book editor and English language magazines. So you can trust my knowledge. I would like to introduce Chinese culture to the people who love it. <img src="/images/graemlins/easter.gif" alt="" />

If I ever get to Asia, it will probably be to China, Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, that's a shopping paradise. Are you crazy on shopping?

From today, I will introduce you some knowledge about China. Since China is full of beautiful gardens, let's start at Chinese garden landscaping.

Chinese Garden Landscaping
As early as in the 6th century, Japan had already known of Chinese garden landscaping with Europeans learning of the Chinese style through Marco Polo who visited many Song dynasty gardens in southern China during the Yuan dynasty. In the 17th century, Chinese garden landscaping was introduced to England where it then spread to France and the rest of Europe. In the late 18th century, Chinese garden landscaping had a huge influence on the European Romantic Movement, European landscaping moved away from a stiff aristocratic style to a more natural style found in Chinese gardens.

Western and Eastern garden landscaping bear different forms and styles because of different philosophies and sense of aesthetic beauty. In form, Western landscaping embodies artificial beauty with symmetrical, regular and well-knit layouts. Geometry is ever-present as flowers and plants are pruned upright and square. Chinese garden landscaping doesn't require symmetry or fixed regulations as plants, trees and buildings are built to a natural form. Whereas Western landscaping theory aims to remedy the defects of nature, Chinese garden landscaping blends plants and buildings into an organic whole and imitates nature by building mountains (rocky outcroppings) with flowing water to present a quality suggestive of poetry or painting. To fully enjoy the beauty of Chinese gardens, it's important to understand the philosophy implied through the sceneries.

THE ORIGIN & DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE GARDEN LANDSCAPING
Chinese garden landscaping has a history of more than 4,000 years with the earliest gardens appearing in 2000 BC during the Shang dynasty. Shang kings used forests and mountains for hunting and as sightseeing destinations. Chinese garden landscaping would develop from this embryonic form of garden.

The first gardens in early Chinese history were imperial status symbols of the kings and aristocrats. Their most distinguishing features were that they covered large areas and had dual purpose, for hunting and for holding sacrificial rites to the god.

Gradually the appeal of gardens spread beyond the aristocracy to officials, poets, painters and traders who hoped to recreate the scenic spots they saw in the convenience of their hometowns. Early private gardens were small and featured stones piled into mountains, water channels were usually planted with pine and cypress trees and bamboo. These gardens recreated natural scenes and are named "gardens with mountains and waters sceneries."

The wealth of the Tang dynasty spurred the building of gardens. The imperial gardens were in Chang'an, present day Xi'an and the largest was called the Forbidden Garden. This garden was 14kmwide and 12kmlong and held 24 gardens and building complexes. It was the main imperial getaway with scenic spots and different activities like hunting, singing and dancing.

Landscaping painting became an independent branch of Chinese painting during the Tang dynasty. Mountains, water, trees and villages were popular subjects and painters sought to embody the harmony between man and nature with their paintings. Painters not just painted sceneries, but expressed their thoughts and emotions with the images. Gardens were built in a similar vein, the garden designer attempts to harmonize architectural beauty with natural beauty so the visitor sees a complete picture.

During the Song dynasty, garden landscaping became even more popular and spread further down the social hierarchy. Owners of teahouses began to build gardens to solicit customers and everyday commoners could enjoy the beauty of gardens. Landscape painting now had greater influence on garden landscaping than before. For example, the emperor would hire a commercial painter to paint a design and the garden would be built according to the painting. Great detail was given to the lines, structures and decoration of courtyards, with particular attention paid to the placement of small ornaments.

Chinese garden landscaping reached a golden age in the Ming and Qing dynasties and became an art that blended music, painting, poetry and architecture. Gardens began to influence each other and designers referred to other gardens for inspiration. The number of gardens greatly increased, with many of them private gardens such classics like the Humble Administrator's Garden&#65292;the Master of Nets Garden and the Ge Garden. Imperial gardens like the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace began imitating and copying ideas from private gardens.

CLASSIFICATION OF CHINESE GARDEN LANDSCAPING

Classification by Geographical Location
Northern gardens are large and have grand structures. Because the northern climate, there isn't a large variety of water areas or evergreen trees and they're not as delicate as their counterparts in southern China. Northern gardens are found mainly in Beijing, Xi'an, Luoyang and Kaifeng, with the gardens in Beijing as most representative of the northern style.

Jiangnan (south of the Yangtze River) gardens cover smaller areas than the ones in the north, but have a variety of waterscapes and evergreen trees. The scenery is delicate and cozy. Southern gardens are found in Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuxi, Suzho u, Hangzhou and Yangzhou, with the gardens in Suzhou considered the best examples. Southern gardens are artistic designs consisting of buildings, mountains, water and plant life. These gardens blend nature, architecture and painting into a unified whole.

Guangdong is in a subtropical zone so Cantonese gardens feature more waterscapes, vegetation and they feature subtropical scenery tall and spacious buildings.

Classification by Owner
Imperial gardens are large and grandiose, and were built using natural mountains and waterways. The most famous ones include the Imperial Forest Garden built during the Han dynasty, and in the Tang dynasty the Forbidden Garden in Xi'an. The current imperial gardens are Qing dynasty creations with Beihai Park, the Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, and the Imperial Summer Villa in Chengde as the finest examples. These gardens highlight scenic spots of China's different regions blend themes of gods and legends with anecdotes of well-known historical personalities. Particular attention was given to the connection of independent sceneries within the garden.

Private gardens were relatively small with small mountains and waterways. Most only measured one hectare and very few were four or five hectares. Within such a confined space, particular attention was given to incorporating small buildings, manmade mountains and waterways, and to the placement of vegetation and decorations. The theme of the garden varied according to the taste of the owner, some showed the owner's upright and outspoken character and others presented the owner's pursuit of a plain and simple life. The private gardens of Suzhou, Yangzhou and Nanjing are considered some of China's most distinguished, with Suzhou being home to the majority of them.

Temple gardens are attached to temples and were built in approximately the same manner as private gardens, but with a greater emphasis on tranquility. Temple gardens are an integral part of temple complex and influence the design of the overall temple, thus temples have a gardenlike atmosphere.

FEATURES OF CHINESE GARDENS
Although there's a great variety in Chinese gardens, and each garden has its own particular features, there are some common features.

The pursuit of poetic beauty and an artistic ideal as Chinese gardens are closely connected with poetry and painting. The artistic creation of gardens and paintings are interlinked, with both "in pursuit of poetic meaning," an attempt to recreate a poem or painting in a garden setting. Such characteristics find their expression in the design of the mountains and water. The architectural design of gardens are very detailed and each garden has their own thematic content, most of which are taken from well-known poems and have layouts based on landscape paintings. In general, gardens aim for the harmonization of space and natural scenes according artistic principles.

Gardens take advantage of scenes to express the designer's emotion and arouse the visitor's associations and imagination. An artistic expression of emotion is a basic theme in art and Chinese gardens are no exception. Because gardens are a recreation of nature in an artificial setting, the process of creating a garden requires imagination and innovation. Firstly, water and mountains are created using stones and ditches and their mutually dependent pairing brings out a striking effect. Secondly, choosing an auspicious name is an important part of creating associations with the garden and nature. Names are inscribed on stone tablets, gatepost couplets and door boards. These two measures help create a picture for the visitor and set the mood for the garden.

Creating a sense of space within a limited area is important, especially in small private gardens. In order to create more scenes, designers construct mountains, waterways, plant tress and flowers and breed fish. Fixed scenes are given varied views and perspectives by using contrast, offsetting the point of view and by using winding paths. These measures give a new view at every point throughout the small garden, thus creating a larger sense of spatial freedom. Some methods include making the river banks curved with irregular stones, planting flowers and trees according to different seasons, varying the length of corridors, and using decorative windows and gates. A careful observer will notice in Suzhou garden that if there's a window facing a white wall, there will also be rockery or vegetation within the frame. The design is meant to create a sense of exploration, the scenes aren't in the open and offer different impressions from different angles.

Gardens borrow and use the scenery of the nearby surroundings. Chinese garden emphasizes the arrangement of different scenes inside and outside the garden in proper proportions. For example, in the Ge Garden in Yangzhou, there's the Summer Mountain, which is topped with a pavilion. From this pavilion the scenery of the Slender West Lake can be seen in the distance. In Wuxi, the Jichang Garden borrows the pagoda in Xi Shan as a backdrop to set off the scenes in the garden.

The design and landscaping of Chinese gardens has evolved into an independent technique in its own right and it always includes four essential features.

Mountain Scenery
Mountains are the foremost feature in forming garden scenery. During the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han dynasty when laborers shaped a small island from soil they dug out while repairing a pond. This island was an early example of artificial mountains. Later garden designers, instead of merely duplicating the size of mountains, stressed the importance details so artificial mountains closely resembled their real counterparts. From the Tang and Song dynasties, and with the development of landscape painting, landscape gardeners began paying greater attention to construction techniques.

Water Scenery
Waterways are one of the most important scenic features of a garden. Waterscapes in a garden can be static lakes or dynamic waterfalls. There are three ways to construct artificial water scenery.

Coverings
Covering the water bank with thick growth of grass and constructing buildings on the shore. Architectural constructions are usually erected above the water in order to create a sense of flowing water from the base of the structure. Plants and grass along the water will give it an appearance of tranquility and stillness.

Partitions
Stone bridge, corridors or large stones placed in the water allow visitors to cross the waterway and give the space above the flat water a compartmentalized layered effect.

Decorations
If the area that water occupies is very small, a winding path along the shore made with irregularly shaped stones or planted vegetation help to create a spatially open feeling. Fish and water plants in the water also add to the scenic beauty.

Animals and Plants
In order to make the water and mountains look natural, it's necessary to plant vegetation. Plants and flowers are chosen according to their aesthetic shapes, colors, and fragrance. Landscape gardeners often prefer red maples, green bamboo, colorful roses, and white magnolias, all of which serve as a visual and olfactory ornament in all seasons. The symbolic meaning of each plant is also carefully considered. For example, bamboo is the symbol of uprightness, pine is a symbol of strength and longevity, the lotus is associated with purity and the peony with wealth and rank. Designers use these plants as another method to get across their artistic intention.

Classical Chinese gardens attach considerable importance to animals within the garden. Animals such as goldfishes, mandarin ducks, white cranes, and parrots provide amusement as well as serving as symbols of longevity. Animals allow visitors to feel as if they're in the midst of a truly natural environment.

ARCHITECTURALCONSTRUCTIONS
Architectural constructions in gardens differ from common buildings since they must embellish the garden as part of the natural scenery while maintaining their practical uses. Halls, pavilions, pleasure boats, corridors, bridges and walls are the various types of a buildings found in gardens.

Halls
Halls are where visitors are served and meetings are held and are the central structure of a garden. The location of the hall influences the disposition of the overall scenery. The hall must be allocated sufficient space as it's usually fairly large, and according to Chinese custom, its entrance should face south. Outside the hall lies the main scenery of the garden.

Buildings
The highest structure in the garden should provide the visitor a panoramic view from all four window walls. The building can also be used as a storage books and paintings.

Pavilions
The four sides of a pavilion are open with single roof. Pavilions are used as a rest stop or a scenic point. Pavilions vary in shape from three, six and eight sided structures to square or circular. They're usually built next to a scene, next to a pathway, corridor, adjacent to a wall or edge of a cliff. Famous pavilions include the Surging Waves Pavilion and the Songfeng Pavilion in the Humble Administrator's Garden.

Pleasure Boats
These artificial boats are placed along the shore. A good example is the marble boat in the Summer Palace.

Corridors
Corridors are more than passageways; they're also vantage points for sightseeing. Corridors are some of the most creative structures in Chinese gardens; they link the different structures allowing easy movement within the garden and provide shelter from the elements. The Long Corridor in the Summer Place is 728mlong and has more than 14,000 colorful paintings. If a visitor spends only 2 seconds to view each painting, it would take about 8 hours to see the mall.

Bridges
Bridges provide vantage points on both sides of the bridge and in the waterscape itself. Garden bridges are straight or twisty, arched or flat and made from stone, bamboo or
wood.

THE CONNOTATION OF CHINESE
GARDENS
Traditional Chinese thought places humans as a small part of the infinite universe. Each living creature is a part of nature and the intrinsic link between humans and nature can't be broken. Chinese gardens are an effort to imitate nature in their homes, to conform to nature without breaking this fundamental connection. Each part of the garden is meant to highlight and remind visitors of the harmony between humans and nature, with the goal of breeding harmony between character and emotion.

Imperial gardens symbolized the supreme power of emperors, but were also places of recreation. Private gardens were places of relaxation and contemplation, a sanctuary to satisfy people's longing for nature. Regardless of geographic location or scale, Chinese gardens represent a Chinese tradition of finding harmony within the world by turning to nature.

Chinese Arts

CHINESE PAINTING
Chinese painting originated over 5,000years ago. Steeped in Chinese history, literature and philosophy, Chinese painting is different from that of the West in its motifs, form and technique.

One basic distinctive feature of Chinese painting is that ideas and motifs are mainly presented in inked lines and dots, rather than color, proportion and perspective.

Chinese paintings are created using brush pens made of a penholder and a pen head. The penholder is usually made of bamboo or wood, while the pen head is made of animal hair � typically wolf or sheep. The brush heads are soft and flexible, and match well with the style of Chinese paintings.Generally, only black ink is used in Chinese paintings and delicate silk and paper are used as the "canvas" in Chinese paintings.

Chinese paintings fall into three main categories: characters, landscapes and flowers and birds. Of the three traditions, character painting is the oldest, dominating the scene until the end of the Tang dynasty. Landscape paintings were generally of mountains and water, which comes from the Taoist tradition of seeking solitude within nature. Landscape became a favorite subject of artists and would become a dominant subject by the 11th century. Even today, when Chinese say a place is the ideal of natural beauty, they'll say the place has "mountains and water." During the 9th century, a separate genre of flower and bird paintings evolved with included detailed paintings of birds, fruits, insects and flowers. Some of these works are incredibly detailed and lively.

Ancient Chinese painters used paintings as an expression of their sentiments rather than merely reproducing the world on paper. From the 10th century onwards, many painters were also multi-talented poets and calligraphers, who etched poems or descriptive words onto their work. It would be natural that many of the great painters also excelled at calligraphy as it shared many of the brushstroke techniques with Chinese painting. Chinese calligraphy in itself is considered an art that requires years to master.

Chinese paintings are usually presented in scrolls and do not abide by the so-called "Golden Law" � the Western notion of the Law of Proportionality. This law states that two unequal parts of a whole must be in relationship to each other to create a balanced image to the eye. Instead of the "focus perspective" used in Western paintings, Chinese paintings use "spread-point perspective," which offers a delicate sense of proportion. A good example of this can be found in the famous "the Riverside Scene in the Pure Brightness" (Qingming Shanghe Tu) which measures 24.8cm by 528.7cm. This large scroll painting portrays various aspects of Kaifeng during the Song dynasty. Minutely detailed, the characters and scenes are proportional from any angle.

Another feature of Chinese paintings is that blank spaces are commonly used. The unmarked space is used to evoke the sky. Sometimes they represent water or fog and at other times the blank space is simply nothing � just a sensation of emptiness.

In 1714, an Italian painter Giuseppe Castiglione introduced the Western painting methods to China. He taught the artists in the imperial court Western styles and methods, and in turn studied Chinese art. This marked the first fusion of Chinese and Western paintings.

CHINESE SCULPTURE
In ancient China, sculptors were a lowly class who were very rarely mentioned in history books. Chinese sculptures were mainly associated with religion and were commonly found in temples and mausoleums.

Undoubtedly the most famous Chinese sculptures are the Qin dynasty Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an. A total of 8,000 terracotta warriors and horses were unearthed in the 2,200-year-old mausoleum of Qin Shihuang � the first Emperor of a united China. These terracotta figures of soldiers and horses are set to life-size dimensions. Standing tall, lifelike and mobilized for action, these warriors continue to faithfully guard their monarch, as they have done for over two millennia.

Chinese Buddha sculptures, reflecting Indian and Tibetan influences, initially looked imperious, my sterious and aloof. Gradually, the form evolved to reflect amore nativist Chinese style. Early examples from the 5th to 6th centuries are lean and elegant, and from the 7th to 8th centuries took a form that was plump, round and soft.

Compared with the West, there's a greater emphasis on clothing for Chinese character sculptures. Well-preserved samples of Buddhist-inspired sculptures remain in many temples, especially in the cave carvings of Yungang, Dunhuang, Longmen and Dazu.

TRADITIONAL CHINESE MUSIC
Chinese music goes as far back as Chinese civilization and is highly distinctive from their western counterparts.

Chinese musical instruments can be divided into four basic categories based on the method by which they are played. The first category comprises of stringed instruments such as the Huqin. These are made of wood with a piece of snakeskin stretched over the sound box. They have two strings and the bow is permanently lodged between the strings. The second category is plucked instruments, of which there are three types: dulcimers, lutes and harps. The harp is made of either wood or bamboo with steel strings. In the past, the strings were made of silk. The third category is the woodwind section. These are flutes, pipes and Chinese trumpets, which use double reeds like the oboe but sound like a trumpet. The final category is the percussion section. The main instruments include drums, timpani, gongs and cymbals. For certain melodies, bells, xylophones, tuned gongs
and the triangle are used. In traditional Chinese opera, the percussion section is called Wuchang, or the martial scene.

TRADITIONAL CHINESE OPERA
Chinese opera has a history dating some 2,000 years. There are 317 types of opera, of which Peking opera is the most important and well-known.

The practitioner of Peking opera is a master athlete � he must be in top physical shape to accommodate the rigors of this performance art. Most performers begin their training from childhood. A well-known example is kung fu star Jacky Chan, who started training in Peking opera as a child.

Performers wear extensive makeup; their whole faces are painted in bright colors. Colorful masks, inspired from ancient ceremonies and religious symbols, are done by the actors. The color of each character's face is significant as it represents the character's personality and fate. Understanding the colors will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the opera as it is an intricate part of the story. Red faces represent righteousness; black denotes gallantry and heroism; blue and green signify brawn(not necessarily with brains!) or those held in high regard by commoners; yellow and white are negative colors, often meaning cunning or a tendency to be suspicious; gold denotes deities and silver is reserved for demons or bad spirits. The make-up style indicates if a character is good or evil.

CHINESE POTTERY & PORCELAIN
Pottery and porcelain have over 8,000 years of development in China. Both colored and black pottery were common in ancient times. Terracotta was at its best in the Qing dynasty, and tri-coloured pottery reached its zenith at the time of the Tang dynasty. During this period, the glazed porcelains came alive with yellow, green, blue, brown, black and white.

Chinese porcelain began flourishing some 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty and is one of China's greatest cultural treasures. During the Han dynasty, black and celadon porcelain were mainly produced. Celadon, a type of glaze that resembles the color of jade, saw continued development throughout the dynasties. By the Tang dynasty, celadon porcelain had developed to a high technical standard.

The porcelain wares of the Song dynasty are considered classics. By the Song era, artisans had reached a high level of sophistication in design, firing and glazing. As a result, pieces from this time strike a perfect balance of shape, glaze and artistry.

The capital of porcelain is undoubtedly Jingdezhen, which is located in Jiangxi Province. With over 1,700 years of porcelain production, it continues its seminal role in Chinese porcelain arts and industry.

BRONZE VESSELS
About 5,000 years ago the Chinese began casting bronze ware. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, aristocrats used bronze vessels for ancestral rituals and for the more mundane tasks of daily life. Ancestral worship was a central belief of this era and bronze vessels played an important role in the ritual offerings. As befitting their important role in society of the time, they were kept in places of honor, such as in ancestral halls and were used during banquets and celebrations.

Common bronze vessels were used for utilitarian purposes such as cooking or to heat millet wine, but large ornate vessels would become symbols of power and status. A Ding, which is a cauldron with three or four legs, was originally used both for cooking and ceremony � but came to symbolize power. Ding also had their surfaces etched with details of important political events and memorials to the
deceased. These items of intricate and beautiful detail are now important historic markers detailing political alliances and tributes and the lives of those who lived thousands of years ago. Eventually came to symbol power and prestige as they required considerable wealth to commission.

Bronze work in China developed much faster than in other parts of the world because of extensive use. Technically, Chinese bronzes were unmatched during this period. Early bronzes vessels such as Jue and Zhi wine goblets, Zhun wine beakers and Hu wine goblet beakers were highly sophisticated.

In 1976, archaeologists uncovered a Shang tomb in Anyang in north Henan Province, the former capital of the Shang dynasty. The tomb was the burial chamber of Fuhao, who was Emperor Wuding's consort as well as a top general. The tomb, located at the Yin Palace Ruins Ancestral Worship Temple, remains the only Shang imperial tomb found intact and revealed a rich find of artifacts. Many bronze vessels were found within; some were probably used by Fuhao, while others were funerary objects.

Several famous Shang bronze vessels currently displayed around the world belong to the legacy of Fuhao's tomb. Most Shang ritual vessels take the form of animals and are decorated with highly stylized animal designs and motifs. One example is the ancient Chinese totem known as the Taotie monster mask � a mythical beast with piercing eyes that is used to express fierceness and strength. This mythical beast is commonly seen in Shang bronzes, as it played a central role in Shang spiritual beliefs. Offerings put into this animal shaped vessel was symbolically consumed by the Taotie and transported to the spirit realm. Later, this motif became an artistic motif in itself, signifying the mysticism and artistry of China's Bronze Age.

I am managing a blog about travelling in Beijing, would you like to see http://beijingexpert.com/

Hi HellenHellen,

I am currently positioned in Wuxi as an ESL teacher at the Wuxi International Child Care. I am on a 12 month contract with the school but before leaving Australia I had already decided that I was going to stay in China for at least 2 year to give it a go. However, since arriving here, I have found that there is so much to see and so little time to see it in, that I may be looking at a 6-8 year project, not necessarily with the same school. So far I have seen Shanghai and just return from a week in Hong Kong and Macau. I am anxious to see Hainan Island where I was originally headed but got a better offer in Wuxi which I could not refuse. I would like to see more of the southern part of China while I am here, and although I don't like the pollution and dirt in Wuxi, because Shanghai is only a couple of hours away and a good base to travel from to also see more of Europe while I am on this side of the world and have access to cheap travel. My next stop is Suzhou, also just down the road (about 40mins away) which I have been told is larger, prettier and a better source of shopping than Wuxi. My current problem is that I am trying to find a salon which does Permanent makeup but have not been successful in my endeavour, either in Wuxi or Suzhou. I have only searched on the internet at this stage. I will be following your forum with interest and will no doubt have a long list of questions before I venture off again. Thanks for your very informative forum.

Moneyspinner
dgls_drthy@yahoo.com.au