2. Literature Review

     For a long time, professors and scholars who have studied gardens have formed relatively systematic knowledges. Because the gardens before Ming dynasty were hardly kept, the main items Chinese scholars have studied are the ones built in Ming and Qing dynasties. Professor Ding shan from Nanjing Agriculture University did research on Chinese imperial gardens, he said that he has linked royal gardens with monarchical power closely.(Ding shan, 2006: 13)Professor Zhou Weiquan did research on classical gardens throughout the whole Chinese history, he said that he has concluded features and cultural meanings among different elements in gardens.（Zhou Weiqun, 2011: 21）Professor Zhou Wuzhou in Yangzhou University made great efforts in gardens’ researches. In his book, In Search of Paradise —A Comparative Study on Chinese and Western Classical Garden Arts, he said that he has expounded the history of Chinese and western gardens' development and elaborated Chinese and western cultures from different elements in gardens.(Zhou Wuzhou, 2012: 18)As the Chinese scholars, western scholars did researches on gardens mainly by these methods. However, owing to different kingdoms in Europe,they have their features separately. The main differences lie in the studies on elements. And western researchers also studied gardens based on the history of single country. Professor Christoper Thacker has expounded in his book, The History of Gardens,the whole development of western gardens from the classical ones to the ones with modern styles (Thacker, 1988: 20). Professor Pierre Anglade said in his book, The Oxford Companion to Gardens, that he had introduced the trim skills in gardens and gardening mainly (Anglade, 1991: 15). Based on the former abundant researches, this author explores the cultural differences between Chinese and western countries  through the plant, water, stone and mountain in gardens.

3. Choices of elements

3.1 Plant

     Firstly, plants in Chinese and western classical gardens have different cultural symbols. The most typical examples in Chinese gardens are peony, which represents wealth; lotus and bamboo, which represent righteous people; plum blossom and orchid, which represent noble spirit; osmanthus shares the pronunciation with “gui” which means wealth. In western classical gardens, lily, conker tree, bay tree, grape, apple tree, daffodils, yew, wisteria, pomegranate, fig, walnut are representative plants. All of them have their own stories in the Bible. Take the apple as an example, such fruit is the wisdom fruit which was eaten by Eve in the garden of Eden. And the leaves of fig were used to cover her body.

       Secondly, Chinese people prefer plants with slight scent while western ones prefer the ones with dense smell and eye-catching color. No matter the prune flower, lotus, orchid or the osmanthus fragrances, they are felt just when you walk close to them or by the effect of the wind. Westerners like flowers with enchanting colors and aroma, such as lily, rose, tulip, iris. They try to create various colors of one flower. For example, Battier garden in Paris, there are fifty kinds of roses with different colors.