Garden Ninja recently visited one of the finest examples of Chinese gardens, the Nan Lian Garden in Hong Kong. Set in the busy and sprawling Kowloon district, it is a welcome relief from the excitement and exhaustion of the city. The gardens spread over 3.4 hectares and opened in 2006, though walking around them you would think they had been there for much longer.
I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to provide my fellow garden geeks and readers with a Chinese garden design crash course!
The gardens at Nan Lian are based on the Tang dynasty Chinese garden design style and feature large water features, rock formations, manicured trees and waterfalls. It is a delight to visit, and once inside, you can almost forget you're in one of the busiest cities in the world. Well, apart from the skyline, high rises peaking through every now and then. It demonstrates the core tenets of Chinese garden design and is an excellent example to help you in your search for a Chinese-themed garden.
Chinese gardens should balance a strong sense of nature and discovery, so it's not just a case of putting some bamboo in a pot and adding a dragon statue. Chinese garden design is far more refined. This guide will help explain some of the foundations to ensure you avoid a mismatched design. By sticking to a more traditional set of design principles, you will end up with a far more cohesive and authentic Chinese garden.
A good place to start is with the traditional Chinese garden design principles, these have been established over centuries of practice at the art of garden design. The Chinese have always treated garden design as an art, similar to other mediums such as painting, poetry and scripture. These principles are summarised below.
Chinese gardens are trying to imitate nature. Whether this is using rocks to symbolise mountains or carefully pruning trees in scale with the garden. The principle is that nature is the driving influence of the art of garden design.
Taking the lead from mother nature, starting with the plants and topography of the Chinese countryside and then applying those features to your garden design. So you're looking for nature to be the prominent and obvious inspiration, such as curvilinear design or using plants for the structure, as they would look in the wild. The hard landscaping and buildings should be designed to sit sympathetically within this version of 'nature'.
The scale is key with this imitation of nature. A good example of this would be when you see a garden that has plants that are either too big or too small for the plot. They either look lost or overpowering. If you get this sense in a garden, the scale is wrong.
Chinese garden design relies on imitating nature by using a scale that is sympathetic to the space you're working with, not too small or too big. In garden design, elements such as specimen trees, plants, and rocks must be to scale in your garden.
Whilst it is a good rule to have a few larger items in a garden rather than lots of small ones, there is a limit to the size of these. The scale can be established by the size of any buildings, structures or existing trees in the garden. By applying this to any garden design you can avoid that twee or overwhelming reaction from the garden.
You may have heard me discussing borrowed views in other articles, and Chinese garden design also relies heavily on this well-established principle. It wants to take in surrounding vistas and views and incorporate them into the garden design. Why do this? Surely you want to hide from other views and neighbours? The Chinese don't fight against other views. They utilise them, and it's a key skill in any design.
Whilst fencing away other views may be your first port of call, working with them or softening them can actually make your garden feel bigger. The Nan Lian Garden does this excellently with the high-rise apartments that could overshadow the garden. However, the design and layout make it look like these have been incorporated and thus soften them.
Given that you will be recreating nature in miniature, the third design principle is all about discovery and journey in the garden. The principle is to encourage people to wonder, 'What's around that corner?' or 'What is over there?'. It is about leading your guest around the garden with paths, focal points or curious journeys. Rather than the path just leading for A to B Chinese gardens will feature either trees or rocks along the way to slow down the journey.
Also by carefully placing features such as rocks or buildings in the distance, you can develop this extension to guide your visitors around the garden design.
This final design point is tricky to explain and would probably be more reserved for the die-hard Chinese design followers. It's a real head-scratcher, so bear with me! It's about resonance, as in bringing an image or memory to mind whilst in the garden.
Confused, yes, it's quite abstract, which can be a struggle to articulate. The aesthetics of resonance requires carefully placing items to invoke a feeling of maybe a landscape, artwork or memory in the visitor.
In a Chinese garden design, it may be the arrangement of rocks to symbolise a significant mountainscape in nature or planting to enrich the imagination, maybe to lead to a daydream of a painting or poem. It's quite an abstract concept to articulate. So I think I will leave it there. I'm told the Nan Lian garden has the aesthetics of resonance, though, in my limited experience, I can't say it was obvious!
Chinese gardens embody the Taoist principle of yin-yang by harmonizing opposites to create balance and a sense of dynamic equilibrium. Light and shadow are carefully balanced, with shaded areas symbolizing tranquility (yin) and sunlit spaces representing energy and brightness (yang). This interplay creates depth and an ever-changing atmosphere as the day progresses.
The contrast between solid and void is another key feature. Solid elements like rocks and pavilions are paired with open spaces such as ponds and courtyards, reflecting the idea that fullness is only meaningful when balanced with emptiness. Similarly, water and stone are used together to symbolize softness and strength, fluidity and permanence, enhancing the garden's natural harmony.
Curved and straight lines also reflect yin-yang. Winding paths and zigzag bridges soften the structured forms of walls and pavilions, ensuring the garden feels alive and organic rather than rigid. Quiet, secluded spots encourage introspection, while open, lively spaces provide opportunities for social interaction, blending stillness and activity.
Seasonal changes in the garden further represent yin-yang. Winter's subdued landscapes highlight yin, while the vibrant growth of spring and summer bring yang energy. This balance is not about symmetry or perfection but about creating a natural, flowing equilibrium that reflects the unpredictability of life and the harmony of opposites.
Now, this is a very contested argument, so I must caveat it, as both styles are actually very different, and I don't want the Chinese garden mafia or Japanese zen ninjas coming for me. At first glance, you may think they both look similar but there are some clear differences.
Many may argue with my definitions, but I think it's a good starting point for debate! Why not comment below?
In the Nan Lian garden, the main focal point is the octagonal pavilion, which stands in the middle of the octagonal lotus-shaped pond. It is described as a symbol of absolute perfection and fulfilment in all aspects of life, and blessings to all visitors and painted gold; you can't miss it. It actually takes your breath away when you see it, which really supports its success as a focal point.
It provides an absolute focus point to the garden and uses traditional wooden joining, where the beams all self-support themselves. Incredible craftsmanship and worthy of a visit for this alone! A focus point is always a valuable addition to any garden design, and there is no point in having a path that leads nowhere. You can even use multiple focus points to navigate people around the garden.
Pruning is fundamental in this style of garden to help replicate nature on a miniature scale. Shrubs and trees are pruned to show their true perfection. Branches are trained, fading flowers snipped out, unruly lateral shoots are removed, bark cleaned and scrubbed. It's all about putting your best foot forward and displaying nature to its finest.
It's high maintenance and high impact. To show the lengths that the curators of the Nan Lian garden go to have a look at the pictures below. In the highlighted circles, you may be able to see the training wires used on young shrubs and trees to train them into specific shapes. These wires are used to ensure that laterals, or side shoots, grow out perfectly horizontally, ensuring even spacing in the tree's ultimate shape. This is man controlling nature to the extreme!
Other areas of the garden I saw were being pruned meticulously by hand by the curators and keeping the shrubs in a state of perfection. By nipping out new growth, they are controlling the ultimate height of the plants and making sure that all the energy and hormones are sent from the top new growth back down to the rest of the plant, ensuring it keeps a fuller, bushier appearance, without ever getting leggy of straggly. It's a sight to behold and makes me feel incredibly lazy with my 'as and when' pruning regime of my own shrubs.
If you thought the pruning regime was intense you should watch the curators as they delicately wash and clean the rocks in the garden. They do this to keep them looking pristine and to ensure they stand out. Moss or pollution are not allowed to set up home on these carefully placed rocks. When you look at them the veins and mineral strands are so clear to see. Which again draws your attention to the detail and nature of the garden.
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So there we have it, a quick guide to Chinese garden design. My trip to Hong Kong was eye-opening to see some of the styles and practices demonstrated in true Chinese Garden Design. Nam Lian was one of the calmest places in hectic Hong Kong and one of the best-preserved gardens I've seen. It's probably not the kind of detail that most gardeners in the UK can follow without giving up work and becoming neurotic over their garden. However, the interesting principles can be applied to turn your garden into a much more authentic Chinese garden.
Fancy your very own Chinese-style garden? Why not check out my social media, where you can Tweet, Facebook, or Instagram me? Why not visit my YouTube channel for garden design hints and tips? I'd love to hear from you!
Happy Gardening!
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