中国园林·刊首语(2023-09) | 王向荣：中国园林为什么是山水园
《中国园林》
Vol. 39 2023-09｜333
本期主题：中国风景园林的独特气质
中国园林为什么是山水园
Why Chinese Gardens Are
Landscape Gardens
当人类结束渔猎或游牧生活，开始了农耕定居并建设家园，园林就产生了。那些可以被认为是园林雏形的一些人工环境最早都是实用性的，或是种植作物、蔬菜和果树以获取基本生活资料的院子，或是为祭祀及宗教仪式而建造的特殊场所。这些都是园林的起源，也是园林最初的样子。
从整体上看，园林发展的历程是实用性不断减弱、观赏性不断加强的过程。到了园林需要更多的欣赏功能以后，园林便有了承载人们在现实中难以实现的对美好生活向往的意义，建造园林的目的就是在大地上建造人们心中的理想世界。然而，人类毕竟难以想象出从未见过的事物，任何乌托邦的理想其实都是基于现实的畅想，由于自然条件和地理环境各不相同，所以不同地区的早期人类对理想世界的期盼也各有差异，他们营建的园林必然也是大相径庭的。
世界上具有悠久园林营建历史并取得辉煌成就的区域都位于欧亚大陆及北非。古埃及干旱少雨，肥沃的土地集中在尼罗河泛滥河谷，周边是茫茫沙漠，几无大片林地，更少秀美山川，理想的世界就是尼罗河两岸丰产富饶的农田。从古埃及的墓室壁画中可以看到，古埃及的园林都是食物生产与游憩活动结合的，具有围墙、方池、水渠和凉亭的平地果蔬园。在地势开阔平坦且气候干旱的两河流域，狩猎曾经是必需的生存方式，后逐渐演变出王室的猎园。古波斯多山但河流稀少，水异常珍贵，人们理想中的天堂自然是有清泉灌溉的农田。波斯的四分园就是对古老的灌溉农业景观的提炼与再现。埃及的果蔬园、美索不达米亚的猎园及波斯的四分园，作为传播广泛的景观类型，在后世持续影响着欧洲园林和伊斯兰园林的产生与发展。
△图1 根据古埃及墓室壁画复原的园林平面图(图片来源：Tom Turner，Garden History-Philosophy and Design 2000 BC-2000 AD)
△图2 法国Villandry花园，由各种植物，包括蔬菜种植而成的花坛园(摄影：王向荣)
△图3 印度西格里城堡园林，四分院影响了伊斯兰园林的发展(摄影：王向荣)
相较于尼罗河流域、美索不达米亚和波斯，中国是一个山明水秀、土地富庶的国度。占国土陆地面积近70%的山地、高原和丘陵孕育了无数河川，山与水构成了中国人对自然的最初认知，也激发起人们对自然的崇拜和神往。对山水的欣赏深深地印刻在中国人的文化基因之中，秀美的湖山就是中国人理想的生活空间。当园林从实用性转向了观赏性之后，园林的本质便是模仿自然山水，于是，就有了皇家园林中的林岗陂湖和私家园林中的山石泉池。
△图4 颐和园，皇家园林中都有林岗陂湖(摄影：王向荣)
△图5 苏州网师园，私家园林中都有山石泉池(摄影：王向荣)
对于古代中国人来说，山水并不仅仅是物质的空间，也是精神的世界。在与山川湖泽相伴共处的悠长历史中，古人早已将大地、山川、树木、花草入诗入画，山水田园哺育了中国的哲学、文化和艺术，也塑造了中国人平和恬静的性格。中国古人不仅钟情自然山水，还将山高水长寓意人的品行、道德、精神和理想，正所谓“高山仰止，景行行止，虽不能至，然心向往之” 。
图6 明·文徵明《兰亭修禊图》(局部，故宫博物院藏)
于是，寄情山水、崇尚自然静寂与逍遥自得便成为历代文人标榜的一种人生态度，山水间是生活的居所，也是唤起和表现这种精神的境地。陶渊明在经历了城市樊笼的困扰之后，总算可以归返自然，尽情享受“采菊东篱下，悠然见南山”的山水田园之乐；谢灵运建山居于峰岭纵横、江湖萦绕、田连阡陌的风景之中，“左湖右汀……面山背阜”，“敞南户以对远岭，辟东窗以瞩近田”；王维在群山叠翠，峰峦秀起的辋川建别业，其中的每一个小园都与山水为伴，华子岗是“飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色”，欹湖是“湖上一回首，青山卷白云”；在庐山草堂，白居易可以“仰观山，俯听泉，傍睨竹树云石，自辰及酉，应接不暇”。山水间的生活，让人体会到的是“醉翁之意不在酒，在乎山水之间也” 的自由、恬静、清高和隐逸的人生。
图7 唐·王维《辋川图》摹本(局部，台北故宫博物院藏)
不过，在城市中生活的人们可没有太多机会尽情享受这种山水田园之乐，就像宋代画家郭熙所说：“尘嚣缰锁，此人情所常厌也。烟霞仙圣，此人情所常愿而不得见也”。如果城市离自然山脉及河湖不远，或能做到“目之所瞩”城外山水，然而却无法“身之所容”于山水之中，这对于热爱山水、欣赏自然的文人来说，必然是一个缺憾。
“林泉之志，烟霞之侣，梦寐在焉”，因而人们就将对山水的眷恋“引入”城中的住宅。如在堂屋中挂上山水画卷，或摆设山水屏风，以求“不下堂筵，坐穷泉壑”，但是这样的画上山水终究只是望梅止渴，可观望，却不能游赏，更无法居住。于是，人们便在合院式住宅的庭院中追求更真实的山水意趣。咫尺小院，可“一卷代山，一勺代水”，让“庭起半丘半壑，听以目达心想”，或是以“一峰则太华千寻，一勺则江湖万里”，令“半亩之地，却有尺幅千里的气势”。而大一点的院子，则以自然山水为摹本，写意地营建气韵生动、如诗如画的丘壑林泉，在“有若自然”的人工山水之间安排起居环境，使“青山在屋上，流水在屋下”，让园中的建筑都融入这片清雅山林，将主人带到可望、可游、可居的山水世界，象征性地再现老庄思想中逍遥游于物外的境界。“虽在城市而有山林深寂之趣……会心山水不必在远，翳然林水，便自有濠濮间想也”，“城市山林”实现了在闹市中隐逸、避世、蛰居、寄情山水的理想，独享心远地偏的山居生活境界，也可标榜园主独立的人格价值。
△图8 五代·王齐翰《勘书图》(画中有绘有青绿山水的三叠屏风，南京大学藏)
△图9 苏州艺圃，水榭茶室外是可望、可游、可居的山水世界(摄影：王向荣)
在持续数千年的农耕社会中，高山流水、武陵桃源就是中国人心中的理想家园，以它们为原型，中国人建造了不计其数的山水园林，留下了丰厚的造园思想和遗产。今天的社会已与农耕社会完全不同，现代城市的尺度、规模、密度也远非前工业化时期的城市可以比拟，建筑形式也有着天壤之别，城市园林已经不再是自我封闭的世外桃源。与历史上的山水园相比，虽然今天的园林仍然具有很强的观赏性，但实用的重要性在不断加强。园林要满足公众健身、运动、休闲、学习、观赏等多方面的需求，同时还要具备过去山水园所没有的气候调节、雨水管理、生物栖息地营建、城市韧性塑造等更综合的价值。今天，产生传统山水园的社会、经济和文化基础已经消失，现代园林的功能也不能通过掇山理水、开池浚壑来实现。中国传统山水园在今天的意义并不在其形式，而在其思想，即通过将人工与自然融合成为一个有机的艺术整体，让身居闹市的人们依然能够享受到自然的情趣，这也是我们今天和未来的人居理想与目标。
Gardens came into being when mankind ended its fishing, hunting or nomadic life and began to settle down to farming and building homes. Some of the man-made environments that can be considered as prototypes of gardens were first utilitarian, either courtyards where crops, vegetables and fruit trees were grown to obtain the basic means of living, or special places built for rituals and religious ceremonies. These are the origins of gardens and what they were originally like.
As a whole, the course of garden development is the process of decreasing utility and increasing ornamental value. After the garden needs more appreciation function, the garden will bear the significance of people's desire for a better life that is difficult to achieve in reality, and the purpose of building gardens is to build people's ideal world on the land. However, after all, human beings can hardly imagine things they have never seen before, and any utopian ideals are in fact best ideas based on the reality. Since the natural conditions and geographic environments are different, the expectations of the ideal world of the early human from different regions are also different, and the gardens they built must also be very different.
The regions of the world that have long history of garden construction and brilliant achievements are located in Eurasia and North Africa. Ancient Egypt was arid and had little rain, fertile land concentrated in the Nile River floodplain valley, surrounded by vast deserts, several large woodlands, less beautiful mountains, and the ideal world there was the rich and fertile farmland on both sides of the Nile River. From the ancient Egyptian tomb murals, it can be seen that ancient Egyptian gardens are fruit and vegetable ones on the flat land, with wall, square pools, aqueducts, and pavilions, combined with food production and recreational activities. In the open and flat terrain and arid climate of Mesopotamia, hunting was once a necessary means of survival, and gradually the royal hunting garden came into being. In ancient Persia, there were many mountains but few rivers, and water was very precious, so people's ideal paradise was naturally farmland irrigated by clear springs. The four-fold garden in Persia is a distillation and reproduction of the ancient irrigated agricultural landscape. The Egyptian fruit and vegetable gardens, the Mesopotamian hunting gardens, and the Persian four-fold gardens, as widely spread types of landscapes, continued to influence the emergence and development of European and Islamic gardens in later times.
Compared to the Nile Valley, Mesopotamia, and Persia, China was a land of clear mountains, beautiful rivers, and rich land. The mountains, plateaus, and hills that make up nearly 70% of the country's land area gave birth to countless rivers and streams, and the mountains and water constituted the Chinese people's first knowledge of nature, and inspired them to worship and yearn for nature. Appreciation of landscape is deeply imprinted in the cultural genes of Chinese people, and the beautiful lakes and mountains are the ideal living space for Chinese people. When the garden evolved from the practical to the ornamental, the nature of the garden is to imitate the natural landscape, so there have been woods, hillocks, ponds, and lakes in royal gardens, and rocks, springs, and ponds in private gardens.
For the ancient Chinese, landscape was not only a material space, but also a spiritual world. In the long history of coexistence with mountains, rivers and lakes, the ancients have long been putting the land, mountains and rivers, trees, flowers, and plants into poetry and paintings, landscapes and gardens fed Chinese philosophy, culture and art, and also shaped the calm and quiet character of Chinese people. Ancient Chinese people not only loved the natural landscape, but also took the high mountains and deep waters to symbolize human character, morality, spirit and ideals, as the saying goes, "noble character is like a lofty mountain for people to admire, and bright words and deeds are like a heavenly road for people to follow. Although I cannot reach such a state, I know in my heart the direction of my endeavor".
Thus, abandoning themselves to mountains and water, and advocating natural silence and free and easy lifestyle has become a kind of attitude towards life boasted by the literati throughout the ages. The mountains and water are the residence of life, and also the environment to evoke and express this spirit. Tao Yuanming, after experiencing the trouble of the city cage, could finally return to nature and indulge in the landscape joy of "picking chrysanthemums under the east fence and leisurely seeing the south mountain"; Xie Lingyun built a mountain residence in the landscape of mountains, peaks, rivers, lakes, fields and paths, "with a lake to the left and an islet to the right…facing the mountains and backing the mound", "opening the south door to the distant ridge, and the east window to see the near field"; Wang Wei built his villa in Wangchuan, a place with green mountains and ridges and peaks, where each small garden was accompanied by the mountains and water, including Huazigang where "birds go endless, and the mountains and autumn colors are in one", and Qi Lake where "looking back on the lake, the green mountains roll white clouds"; in the Cottage on Lushan Mountain, Bai Juyi could "look up to see the mountains, down to listen to the springs, alongside to squint at the bamboos, trees, clouds, and rocks, and the eyes were busy in viewing the sceneries all day long". Life between the mountains and the water enable people to experience the free, quiet, noble and secluded life that "the drinker's heart is not in the cup, but in the mountains and water".
However, people living in city do not have many opportunities to enjoy this kind of landscape idyll, just like the Song Dynasty painter Guo Xi said: "The hustle and bustle locks, and people are often tired of this. Mist and clouds in the twilight are celestial, and they are what people always want to see but seldom see". If the city is not far from the natural mountains and rivers and lakes, the landscape outside the city might be "within the sight", but people could not be in the landscape "in person", which is bound to be a pity for the literati who love the landscape and appreciate the nature.
"Dreaming for forests, streams, mist and clouds", people bring the beloved landscape "into" urban residence, such as hanging the landscape scrolls in the hall, or setting up a landscape screen, in order to "be with springs and gullies without going outside the hall", but such landscape in painting is just to feed on fancies, for viewing, not for touring inside, either for living inside. So, people turn to pursue more real landscape interest in their residential courtyard. In a small courtyard, a reel could be regarded as the mountains, and a small pond as rivers and lakes, to "have the image of hills and gullies in the courtyard, and see and imagine the landscape", or "take a rockery as many mountains and a small pond as vast rivers and lakes", and "have the momentum of thousands of miles of landscape on the half-mu land". For larger courtyards, the natural landscape is the model, the vivid, picturesque hills, valleys, forests, and springs are deliberately built, the living environment is arranged in the "as if natural" artificial landscape, so that "the green hills are above the house, and water runs under the house", integrating the buildings in the garden into the elegant mountainous forest, bringing the owner to the world of mountains and water where he can observe, tour, and live inside, symbolically reproducing the realm of Zhuangzi's thought that one can be freely in the world outside of things. "Though in the city, there is the interest of deep silence in the mountains and forests...the landscape is not far away, and quiet forest and clear water make people have the temperament and interest of living in the real landscape mountains and rivers". The "urban mountain and forest" realizes the ideals of seclusion, refuge, hibernation, and love of landscape in the downtown area, enjoying the realm of living in a mountainous area far away in the heart and boasting the independent personality value of the garden owner.
In the agrarian society that lasted thousands of years, high mountains and long rivers, and Wuling Peach Garden are the ideal home in the hearts of the Chinese people, and with them as the prototype, the Chinese people built countless landscape gardens, leaving behind rich gardening ideas and heritage. Today's society is completely different from the farming society, the scale, size, and density of modern cities are far beyond comparison to the cities of the pre-industrial period, the architectural forms are also vastly different, and urban gardens are no longer self-enclosed paradise. Compared with the historical landscape gardens, although today's gardens are still highly ornamental, the importance of practicality is constantly being strengthened. Gardens must meet the public's needs for fitness, exercise, leisure, learning, and viewing, while also possessing the more comprehensive values of climate regulation, rainwater management, bio-habitat construction, and urban resilience shaping that landscape gardens did not have in the past. Today, the social, economic, and cultural foundations for the emergence of traditional landscape gardens have disappeared, and the functions of modern gardens cannot be realized by arranging rockeries and streams, opening pools, or dredging gullies. The significance of traditional Chinese landscape garden today is not in its form, but in its idea, that is, through the integration of artifice and nature into an organic artistic whole, people living in the downtown area can still enjoy the interest of nature, which is also the ideal and goal of our present and future human habitat.
本刊主编：王向荣 教授
Prof. Dr.-Ing. WANG Xiangrong
Chief Editor
引文格式
王向荣.中国园林为什么是山水园[J].中国园林，2023，39(9)：2-3.
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排版 | 李旻
校对 | 金花
审核 | 金荷仙