Useful terms and phrases

12. Read the following terms and phrases, mind their pronunciation:

artistic recreation	художественное создание, созидание, воссоздание
hunting ground	район охоты, охотничье угодье
large scale	крупномасштабный
against the backdrop	на фоне
retreat	уединение
literati	учёные, образованные люди
treatise	трактат
stilt	свая
covered corridor	крытый коридор
scenic opening	декоративное окно
garland	венок, гирлянда
bay leaf	лавровый лист
to signify	выражать
omen	примета, знак
to portend affluence	предвещать богатство

 

Vocabulary Focus

13. Match the terms and phrases to their translation and make sentences to give a general idea of the Chinese garden:

to attain balance and harmony	пейзажная живопись
artistic recreation of nature	участок природного живописного ландшафта
landscape painting	район охоты, охотничье угодье
the imperial garden	место для уединения
the natural scenic site	достигнуть равновесия и гармонии
hunting ground	достичь апогея
place of retreat	императорский сад
gentleman-scholar	сад для образованных людей
to escape the chaos	художественное воссоздание природы
literati garden	придворный учёный
to reach its height	отстраниться от хаоса

 

14. Match the terms and phrases to their translation and make sentences about characteristic features of the Chinese garden:

a)

harmonious combination of opposites	располагаться по периметру стены
revealing and concealing	над водной поверхностью
waterside pavilion	осматривать сад
to raise on stilts	гармоничное сочетание противоположностей
above a body of water	крытый коридор
to view the garden	расположенная на берегу беседка
to place along the periphery of the wall	декоративное окно
covered corridor	раскрытие и маскировка
to fall into two categories	выполнять функцию рамы для картины
scenic opening	поднимать на сваях
to act as a picture frame	разделяться на две категории

 

b)

to direct the eye to a particular view	лепесток лотоса
imaginative shapes	задумываться как круг
lotus petal	предзнаменование удачи
to design as a circle	направлять взгляд на определённый вид, панораму
exquisite element	означать древнюю веру
to portend affluence	обычный повторяющийся узор
imaginatively patterned	символизировать счастливую судьбу и долголетие
common motif	богато украшенный
to signify the ancient belief	предвещать богатство
good luck omen	богатые формы
to symbolize good fortune and longevity	утончённый элемент

 

Reading

15. Read the text and find answers to the following questions:

1. What is the aim of the Chinese garden?

2. What elements does the Chinese garden comprise?

3. When did the Chinese garden style emerge?

4. What is a common feature of the garden?

5. What are Chinese gardens characterized by?

6. Does this garden have any exquisite elements?

Chinese Garden

The Chinese consider gardens a serious art form and which with painting, sculpture and poetry aims to attain in their design the balance, harmony, proportion and variety that are considered essential to life. In fact there is a saying which goes, 'the garden is an artistic recreation of nature; a landscape painting in three dimensions». The Chinese garden is a combination of such natural elements as rock, water, trees and flowers and such artificial elements as architecture, painting and poetry.

The Chinese garden is divided into three categories: the imperial garden, the private garden and the natural scenic site. The earliest imperial garden dates back to the late Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1027 BC) with the construction of an imperial hunting ground, followed by the Shanglin garden[8] built by the Emperor Qin Shi Huang [9]in his capital at Xianyang[10]. Of the three types of Chinese gardens is the private garden which is of most interest when visiting the 'Garden City' of Suzhou[11]. They were created as a place of retreat for the gentleman-scholar to escape the chaos of the city. It was during the Tang dynasty (618-907) that the literati garden reached its height. A treatise on garden design was written in 634 by the painter-gardener Ji Cheng. One of the key elements of this treatise was the necessity for the garden to "look natural, though man-made". The harmonious combination of opposites that is of the small and large, of the revealing and concealing, of the real and unreal, and of the vertical and horizontal was stressed in this work.

A common feature of the Chinese garden architecture is the waterside pavilion. It later became the fashion to build waterside pavilions upon the lake or pond of a garden so that half the structure was built on land, while the other half was raised on stilts above a body of water. So as to allow viewing of the garden from all sides of the building, decorative windows were placed along the periphery of the wall. Such a waterside pavilion can be seen in the Humble Administrator's Garden [12].

Another key element of the Chinese gardens is their covered corridors, built to allow the owners to enjoy the garden in the rain and snow. These covered walkways fall into two categories, those which connect buildings and those which are built by the shore of a small pond or lake. As with waterside pavilions, corridors often have windows or "scenic openings", which act as picture frames directing the eye to particular views of the garden. Such scenic openings were designed simply as circles, squares or ovals or in more imaginative shapes like those of a lotus petal, garland or bay leaf.

The most exquisite elements of a Chinese garden can often be found in its details. Such is the case with the footpaths, imaginatively patterned with coloured pebbles into a variety of designs along the ground. A common motif is that of the square within a circle, signifying the ancient belief that the "heaven is round and the earth is square". Good luck omens may also often be found. The bat and crane symbolize good fortune and longevity, the fishing net portends affluence. There are, in addition, often depictions of scenes from well-known traditional paintings and legends.