Chinese landscape design

The features, traditions and character of Chinese garden design are generally unfamiliar to most Westerners – and that’s a shame, says watergarden designer Rick Anderson, because they are an art form all their own. He recently traveled to China to learn more about these unusual spaces and to explore the natural beauty of the Yangtze River’s valley and here shares his observations and inspirations.

Finding China

Many years have passed since I first saw pictures of China, but my desire to travel to the Giant of the Orient has never waned. In recent years, in fact, that interest grew ever stronger as I watched all the new information emerging from China as it has slowly opened itself to the Western world. I’ve been particularly fascinated by documentaries on the Yangtze River and The Great Dam that China is building to manage its floodwaters. This past spring, I visited China to see its amazing gardens with my own eyes and travel down the Yangtze through the fabled Three Gorges and the Lesser Three Gorges. I went seeking inspiration and came back with more than my quota of thoughts on the mysteriousness and tantalizing vagueness with which