On the Necessity of Taking People as An Element for Landscape and Designing

WU Shuoxian

In modern days guidebooks to landscape designing, there is a clear tendency that natural environment per se is all designers concern about. People and their activities are absent in their designs at large, underplayed if not totally ignored. For example, in Basic Elements of Landscape Architecture Design, Prof. Norman. K. Booth, Dean of Department of Landscape Architecture of Ohio University and a famous landscape designer, lists out what he considers to be the main elements of a landscape: topography, botanical materials, buildings, pavement, garden construction and water. No human factor is included. Another example can be found in Yuan Ye (园冶，On the Design of Gardens), a Chinese classic on landscape design, which mentions several essential factors in garden design, such as forming foundation, designing buildings, decoration, pavement, rockery or stone selection, even borrowing scenery from afar. However, even though there is no direct mentioning of the presence of people or the impact of their activities, one can still find sporadic hints of people participating in the scenery. Sentences such as "A poet is chanting in the pine house and musicians are playing instruments in the bamboo jungle", or "As if a beauty descends from the moon, and an excellent man is lying on the rooftop covered by snow", give hint that people may be actively counted as one of the elements for a landscape. In Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language, the roles of people on landscape in some patterns is pointed out. For example, in "promenade", he suggests that "each subculture needs a public center, where you can see other people and at the same time, you can be seen by the people". In "dancing in the street", he proposes that a stage on a slightly higher platform be built in squares or the likes so as to provide street musicians or local bands with an easily-seen-and-accessible platform for people passing by. In "stair seats", he moves on to suggest that in any public space, it is good to have a few staircases designed to provide people with places to simply sit down and enjoy the view. These all indicate that the author is prone to the idea that people and their activities can be taken as an important element for landscape layout.

As a social component, man have an interest in watching other people and at the same time, under certain condition, in being seen by others. In what is considered as the oldest existent anthology of Chinese poetry The Book of Poetry, one can find multiple excerpts reflecting these phenomena. In the poem On the Qi River (淇奥Qi Ao), it reads,

"Look at those recesses in the banks of the Qi.

With their green bamboo, so fresh and luxuriant!

There is our elegant and accomplished prince.

As from the knife and file,

as from the chisel and the polisher!

How grave is he and dignified!

How commanding and distinguished! "

These sentences show that people enjoy the scenery of Qi River not only because of the green bamboo clusters, but more also because of the presence of their elegant and accomplished prince. In Went out from the East Gate (出其东门Chu Qi Dong Men), it reads,

"I went out from the east gate,

where the girls were in clouds."

and,

"I went out by the tower on covering wall,

where the girls were like flowering rushes. "

This shows that the purpose of the people gathering at the east gate is not just for the scenery, but also for viewing the charm of the girls. In Rivers Qin and Wei (溱洧), it reads,

"River Qin and River Wei,

now present their broad sheets of water.

Ladies and gentlemen,

are carrying flowers of valerian".

One can see here that if there are no ladies and gentlemen presenting at the site, the scenery will be far less desirable.

In other Chinese classical literature works, descriptions of natural landscape or garden scenery always include people and their activities. In Su Shi (苏轼, 1037-1101)'s The Spring Scenery (蝶恋花·春景), the late spring scenery is vividly described as follows,

"Red flowers fade,

green apricots appear still small,

when swallows pass over blue water

that surrounds the garden wall.

Most willow catkins have been blown away.

No place on earth where sweet grass cannot be found."

The latter half of the poem zooms in to describe a specific garden scenery,

"Outside the wall there is a path,

and inside a swing.

A passer-by hears a fair maiden's laughter in the garden ring.

The ringing laughter fades silence by and by;

For the enchantress the enchanted can only sigh."

This poem is very interesting because it depicts both the environment and people's activity therein.

In another poem Ballad of Lotus Harvesting

(采莲歌) by Wang Changling (王昌龄, 698-757), it reads,

"Dresses fashioned from neighboring leaves.

Flushing blossoms with rosy cheeks.

Nestled in the vivid lotus sea.

Found only through songs of glee."

This poem also depicts both the scenery and the girls involved in the harvesting.

Gao Qi (高启, 1336-1373) writes in his poem Song of Tea Picking (采茶词)，

"Thunders gone white clouds return to warm Qi Hill.

On top of tea shrubs new shoots are still.

Wearing silver hair pins maidens sing songs in duets.

To compare whose basket has gatherings fully filled."

This poem serves as another good example of presenting the scenery of tea garden along with the tea-picking girls. Therefore, one can clearly see that in these poets' eyes, landscape is aesthetically incomplete without people involved.

Same idea can be found in traditional Chinese painting, as people are often depicted as an integrated part in the scenery. In a famous 7thcentury painting On a Spring Day (游春图) by Zhan Ziqian (展子虔, 545-618), a man on a horse, followed by his two attendants, is depicted as walking through the valley surrounded by green mountains and vast lake. A girl piloting a boat can be vaguely seen on the vast lake. These figures lend vividness to the picture. Another famous 13thcentury painting Fishing Alone on a Cold Winter River (寒江独钓图) by Ma Yuan (马远), depicts a lonely fisherman on a tiny boat against a stunningly void and vast river backdropped with huge mountain. More examples can be given if needed.

Examples above can clearly demonstrate that people and their activities have long been viewed as an integrated part and an essential element in natural sceneries, especially when they are represented or constructed aesthetically. Therefore, when it comes to landscape designing, omitting or downplaying people and their activities as an essential element comprising scenery, will inevitably lead us to losing sight of some important perspectives. On the contrary, if we have the intention of incorporating people and their activities into the scope of landscape designing, we will enhance the potential scope of landscape planning and designing by adding a more humanizing dimension to it.

Although this principle has not been proposed with such clarity before, similar considerations and applications can be found. One example is that people dressing in their folk costumes are perceived as an inseparable component of sightseeing scenery in many parts of the world. In some areas of China where minority ethnic groups dwell, many local tourist attractions provide folk performances on scenery landscapes. The most well-known among these are the Bamboo Dancing of Li ethnic group in Hainan Province and the reed pipe performance of Miao ethnic group in Southwest China. In some cases, designers also attempt to integrate the stage of these performances into the layout of the surrounding scenery. A successful case is the Image Series directed by the most famous director in China, Zhang Yimou. This series consists of three sightseeing programs, "Image of the West Lake", "Image of Liu Sanjie" and "Image of River Li". In the performance of "Image of the West Lake", the performers are literally dancing or playing on the water surface of the West Lake. They take the famous West Lake as stage and the surrounding mountains as perfect background to form a special spectacle within the scenery which is totally novel to viewers. All these projects successfully incorporate performers and their activities into scenery planning and through the performance, create an unerasable impression of the landscape scenery for the viewers.

Obviously, normal elements of landscape designing denote those that can be easily controlled by designers. That explains why static and stationary elements tend to be selected. Some dynamic elements may also be included, such as flow, waterfall and animals. In comparison, people and their activities are continually subject to changes and thus cannot be easily controlled. However, some activities are predictable and can be arranged in advance. Or one may set up some sites and spaces for spontaneous or impromptu shows or performances so that spectators can watch them conveniently. The principle proposed here will inspire landscape architects and garden designers to dive into local culture and folk custom in order to conceive patterns which are deeply rooted in our cultural tradition and thus worth preserving and developing. By doing so, the ineffective tendency of producing stale and cliché platitude in landscape or garden design can be avoided.

By elevating the consciousness of incorporating people and their activities as an essential element into landscape designing, the perspective of landscape design will surely be further expanded.

By keeping this principle in mind, landscape architects will find ways to design stages or open spaces for shows or performances which can be easily accessible for people passing by. Buildings such as pavilions can be used as stages for folk dancing and singing, local music and theatrical performance while auditorium seats can be set in open space surrounding the stage. Tealeaf-picking activities can be arranged in tea gardens. Similarly, girls on boats for lotusflowers-picking in springtime lotus pond can be arranged to increase the liveliness of the atmosphere. The pattern languages mentioned above can be also applied in landscape designing. Some new techniques such as holographic projection and virtual reality, can be used to create some images of artificial people and activities.

In conclusion, the principle of taking people and their activities as an element of landscape will enrich the practice of landscape designing and thus contribute to the construction of a beautiful China.