Garden buliding is considered a chief component of Chinese culture. The Chinese garden has a long history. It first appeared in the form of a hunting preserve for emperors and nobles in the 11th century B.C. during the Zhou Dynasty. During the Qin and Han dynasties, those natural preserves were made more beautiful and became places of recreation for imperial families.

Garden building saw its heyday during the Ming and Qing dynasties and the imperial garden Yuanming Yuan was regarded as a masterpiece in this period. Different from the classical European gardens, in which geometric patterns dominate, Chinese gardens are made to resemble natural landscapes on a smaller scale. Tradi tional Chinese gardens fall into three categories, namely, imperial, private, and landscape gardens.

Most imperial gardens are located in north China: Beihai Park, the Sununer Palace, the Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City in Beijing; the Imperial Summer Resort in Chengde, Hebei Province, and Huaqing Palace in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Imperial gardens occupy large areas. The Summer Palace, for instance, has an area of 290 hectares while the Imperial Summer Resort in Chengde, which covers more than 560 hectares, is the largest imperial garden in China. Most of these gardens have three sections which serve administrative, residential, and recreational purposes. In large imperial gardens, the main buildings are connected by an imaginary line in the middle of the garden on a north-south axis. Other buildings are scattered among hills, and waters are linked by subodinate lines, forming a well-designed symmetry and adding beauty to the chief architectural complex.

Other characteristics of the imperial gardens are coloured paintings, screen walls, stone tablets, bridges, man-made hills and lakes, and ingeniously-designed buildings. Decorated archways abound in those gardens.

Most private gardens are found in the south, especially in cities south of the Yangtze River. Private gardens were mostly built at one side or the back of the residential houses. In almost every garden, there is a large space in the garden set in a landscape of artistically arranged rockeries, ponds, pavilions, bridges, trees, and flowers. Surrounding the beautiful scene are small open areas partitioned by corridors or walls with latticed windows or beautifully shaped doors. Buildings in the garden were used for receiving guests, holding banquets, reading, or writing poetry. They are open on all sides and are often situated near the water. The winding corridors connect various buildings and also provide a covered veranda as shelter from the rain and shade from the sun.

Suzhou, known as the home of gardens, displays the most and the best traditional private gardens in China. Among them, the Pavilion of the Surging Waves is known for its rustic charm, Lion Grove for its strange rockeries, the Humble Administrater's Garden for its tranquil waters and elegant buildings, and the Garden for Lingering in for its ancient architectural art and the arrangement of hills, waters and plants. They are the examples of the garden styles
of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties respectively.

Gardens in Yangzhou are characterized by their architectural style and artistic rockeries, whereas Guangdong style gardens are distinguished by large ponds, brightly coloured buildings, and luxuriant plants.

Landscape gardens are different and are places for public recreation. The landscape garden mainly contains natural scenes, so it looks more natural than artificial. Good examples include the ten West Lake scenes in Hangzhou, the twenty-four Slim West Lake scenes in Yangzhou, and the eight Daming lake scenes in Jinan.

Many famous poets and painters contributed greatly to the development of landscape gardens. They either lelt poetic inscriptions for those gardens, or designed many of the gardens themselves. In order to commemorate those poets and painters, later generations had their poems and inscriptions engraved on tablets, pavilions, or pagodas, thus enchanting and inspiring visitors.