Nature in the Culture of China

Article by China Guru

Due to the superiority of geographic location, China has been discovered with a lot of natural wonders. These breathtaking natural wonders have a great impact on the development of Chinese civilization.

The rich of natural lands had became popular spots for sight-seeing since the first century from the East. The stunning sceneries shock the travellers, which lead to the consequence of worshipping. Poets, scholars, musicians, artists, calligraphers, even for leaders of religions, had been inspired to create impressive works which made themselves famous in the record of history. By that time nature has been subjects of the art of ancient China, there are countless poems, Chinese paintings, melodies retained from the hundreds of years ago.

From then on ancient Chinese people began to incorporate nature into their daily lives, which was then evolved into the necessity of the existence of natural elements. Nature and human became an indivisible union in the culture of ancient China. This spirit, in some way, is still kept among the modern Chinese.

Their obsession of nature could be seen from their culture. As early as the first BC, people were good at recreating natural miniature in their home garden so that they got the opportunity to appreciated them everyday. The Classical Gardens in Suzhou are very good examples of Chinese gardening demonstrated by local people. The technique of gardening has also been adopted by other countries all over the world. For example USA, Canada, Singapore, Australia, and even Switzerland, are some of the countries where Chinese gardens were built. Beside the pastime of common people, the imperial families also recognised the beauty of gardening. From Emperor Qianlong to late Qing Dynasty Dowager Cixi, the Summer Palace in Beijing had been a frequent destination of the imperial members.

So, what are the natural wonders in China which cause such a big influence to the civilization? They exist in different forms, mountains, pinnacles, lakes and ri! vers: th e variety of mountains, from the extraordinary rocks in Huangshan(Yellow Mountain) to red landforms of China Danxia; picturesque scenery of Jiuzhaigou and colorful ponds in Huanglong; the romantic Hangzhou West Lake and the wonder of Three Parallel Rivers in Yunnan; and the formation of different types of Karst in southern China of Stone Forest and Wulingyuan.

After taking a look at the natural wonders of China one will be convinced the significance role of nature plays in the culture of the ancient empire.

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