Theory
The Chinese Garden as Cosmology
Explore in the Atlas →The scholar's garden conceived as a bounded microcosm condensing mountains, water and sky into a spiritual landscape that resonates with universal patterns. Its signature technique, jie jing (borrowed scenery), incorporates distant views into the composition — codified in Ji Cheng's 1635 Yuanye as the essence of landscape design.
Fantasy Dwelling Ritual
Details
- Introduced
- 1635
Classifications
- Holder
- Communal intergenerational
- Source of authority
- Revelation cosmology
- Subject
- More than human
- Cosmological orientation
- Axis mundi
- Mode of transmission
- Text drawingApprenticeship
- Knowledge type
- Relational embodied
- Epistemic cluster
- East asian
Connections
- relates to Feng Shui (the spatial-ordering of qi)
Referenced by
- Ji Cheng proposed
Sources
- Ji Cheng. Yuanye (The Craft of Gardens). (Ming dynasty manuscript), 1635.
- Alison Hardie (trans.). The Craft of Gardens (Yuanye by Ji Cheng). Yale University Press, 1988.
Cite this entry
First published May 2026Last revised Jul 2026
CLAD. "The Chinese Garden as Cosmology." Atlas of Architectural Thought. CLAD, 2026. https://www.cl-ad.com.au/research/atlas/theory/chinese-garden-cosmology/. Accessed July 17, 2026.