Let’s now turn to Ji Cheng’s The Craft of Gardens . Here travelling through landscapes is directly associated with another issue, namely, the borrowing of views (借景 jie jing). In his chapter ‘On the Borrowing of Views’, Ji wrote the following: ‘The borrowing of views is the most important skill in garden making; such as the borrowing from afar, borrowing from nearby, borrowing from above, borrowing from below, and borrowing in response to the seasons.’ 5 It has to be emphasised that emotions are crucial to the discovery of beautiful scenery in landscapes. Ji began ‘On the Borrowing of Views’ by saying, ‘there are no fixed rules of gardening yet there are some reasons behind the borrowing of views’, and concludes ‘there are no definite priciples for borrowing views, you know it is right when it touches your emotions.’ 6 As one wanders in landscapes, emotions help shape the perceived world and enable magical ways of seeing. They give rise to potential visual structures that are immanent and pregnant but not yet actually there . Travelling sets dynamic sentiments in motion, and the world starts to change its qualities and presence to human beings. Hence, we read in Ji’s text, ‘Yet, the allure of things stirs emotions, as the eyes convey what one anticipates from the heart, it seems that ideas are taking shape before the brush actually goes on to paper, and then with only a few strokes one can capture the full essence of things.’ 7 In Chinese cultural traditions, Garden-making, like the art of painting, are the aesthetic practices that attune oneself to the rhythms of nature and the cosmos. As one walks in the gardens, creative perceptions are mobilised by emotion; extraordinary scenery can be un-concealed from the prosaic world. In gradual communion with nature, the everyday self elevates or transcends itself. In his text Ji presented an array of examples of borrowing views, ending with ‘Suddenly, your mind will break through the mundane world, and you will feel as if you are wandering in paintings.’ 8
If one follows this thread and goes one step further, the art of gardening in Ji’s writing should be called the configuration of nature. Views are borrowed rather than created from scratch — they are mostly already there, and human beings only grant them with figures; views rely primarily on the affective understanding of given conditions rather than principles set by designers. Designers are but the specific type of observers who travel through landscapes with the emotional sensibility that guides the opening of visions. Garden-making should maximise the potential of what is given and minimise additional intervention —any trace of artificial treatment is regarded as obtrusion. To put it in Ji Cheng’s own words, ‘Even though all gardens are human creations, they should look as if created by Heaven.’ 9
5 “ 夫借景，林园之最要者也。如远借，邻借，仰借，俯借，应时而借。 ” Cheng Ji 计成 , Yuan Ye Zhu Sh i 园冶注释 The Crafts of Gardens , eds., Zhi Chen 陈植 Beijin g北京: Zhongguo Jianzhu Chubanshe 中国建筑出版社, 1981. p 247 6 “ 构园无格，因借有因。” Ibid., 243; “ 因借无由，触情俱是。 ”Ibid., p 244 7 “ 顿开尘外想，拟人画中行。 ”Ibid., p 243 8 “ 然物情所逗，目寄心期，似意在笔先，庶几描写之尽哉。” Ibid., p 247
9 “ 虽由人作，宛自天开。 ”Ibid., p 51
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