Research On The Aesthetic Culture Of Urban And Rural Landscape Assemble Appellation In The Pearl River Delta

Landscape assemble appellation is an expression of aesthetic culture that highlights the uniqueness of Chinese civilization and cultural diversity.Based on the comprehensive cross-disciplinary perspective by absorbing the latest achievement of Landscape Architecture History and Landscape Aesthetics,this paper focuses on the main clue of the aesthetic relationship between human and nature to explore the intrinsic connection between the aesthetic activities of landscape assemble appellation and the urban and rural cultural system in different periods,taking the Pearl River Delta region as an example.The author attempts to elaborate the characteristics shown in each stage of the aesthetic cultural transformation of landscape assemble appellation in the urban and rural area of the Pearl River Delta.Furthermore,the representative landscape assemble appellations and the material environment they rely on will be sum up in the three spatial levels including the prefectural city,town cadastre area,and the traditional villages.The complex relations between the typical appellations and their physical environment will be revealed.Thus,it not only provides an effective aesthetic method to appraise the historical landscape features of urban and rural life,offers clues for optimizing the selection of landscape title series,but also contributes to the sustainable development between human and the nature,as well as the cultivation of cultural community across time and space.There are five chapters.The first is the section of introduction,which is mainly about the research commentary and the logic framework.First of all,the paper points out that the research on the aesthetic culture of urban and rural landscape assemble appellation belongs to the level between physical elements and philosophical idea.It is emphasized that the study of aesthetic culture history of landscape assemble appellation should absorb and continue the research programs of Art and philosophy,and the existing achievement should be applied to the study of regional history and case comparative history.That confirms the feasibility of the interdisciplinary comprehensive method of combining Landscape Architecture History with Landscape Aesthetics.The characteristic interpretation of landscape assemble appellation aesthetic culture contains two main aspects.On the one hand,we need to sum up the philosophical wisdom contained in the cultural phenomena.On the other hand,we also should use the existing achievement of contemporary aesthetic theory for reference to judge the innovation and social zeitgeist of the landscape cultural practice.The text study of landscape assemble appellation should not only follow the logic level of the art ontology in the artistic conception theory to reveal the multiple ways of transforming the material world into the image world,but also examine the multiple meanings of the various levels of text from the macro,normal and micro angles.The second chapter sums up more than 240 sets of landscape assemble appellations and marks their spatial and temporal distribution in the Pearl River Delta region.On this basis,the paper reveals the aesthetic cultural changes of landscape assemble appellation in the Pearl River Delta by introducing the logical order chain and theory of “Xing(shape/form)– Qing(emotion/affection)– Li(regulation/truth)– Shen(spirit/mind)– Yi(meaning/intention)”.It is divided into four stages from Song to Qing dynasty.The first stage is focusing on shape and affection growing which is the gestation period of the geographic names and terroir image groups.The second one is emotional outbursts and the appearance of Li(regulation/truth)which is the formation period for the three levels of spatial environment and the representative cases.The third is attaching importance to Li and Shen,appreciation of Qing and Yi which is the period of differentiation and expanding of typical types of landscape Title Series.The last is stressing on Li and heightening Qing,which is the period of system reconstruction.The transformation of the four stages makes the whole literary and artistic image of the region change from hazy to clear,from the negative to the positive one,and from being stated to self portrayal and deepening.In the aspect of cultural function,the characteristics change from the individual and emotional expression to the public’s activities of visiting scenic spots and the cohesion of the ethnic culture identification,and then to the active construction of the cultural community of the ancient and modern communion.The third chapter draws lessons from the core theory of Landscape Appraising Aesthetics and three hierarchy theory of Artwork Ontology consisting of physical image,imagery and implication.In the framework of the macro evolution of the aesthetic culture in the Pearl River Delta area,a comparative study is carried out to uncover the initial model and the deductive process of the landscape assemble appellation between different prefectural cities.It argues that the first text and example of landscape assemble appellation are the outcome of interaction of Confucianism,Taoism and Buddhism in the representative prefectural cities like Guangzhou,Huizhou and Duanzhou of Song and Ming Dynasties.Accordingly,the text selection of landscape assemble appellation of different stages implies the determining and inheriting of the representative cultural semiotic system in the progress of prefectural cities.Taking the landscape assemble appellation in Guangzhou for an example,the change of the aesthetic connotation from the ancient to modern times is mainly reflected in the following three aspects: the aesthetic relationship of landscape images transfers from emphasizing the overall association to the individual independence,the aesthetic feelings of rhythm turn from the cyclical harmony to the lineal and clear expression,and the aesthetic attitude towards artistic creation shifts from the following conservation to the advancing innovation.The fourth chapter concentrates on the interpretation of the aesthetic features of the town cadastre landscape assemble appellation.It first discusses the cultural elements which affect the ancient people’s idea when they select the title series about the landscape,traffic and architectural themes.That is,the form of object-observing and image-taking of Chinese ancient people when they face the wonderful scenery;the aesthetic psychology of emulating those better than oneself and advocating simple and optimistic life;the Literati ideals of serving the nation and people to perform their morality,meanwhile enjoy themselves.Those common cultural factors always influence ancient Chinese people’s landscape cultural activities.Besides,the regional humanities and emotional accumulation,the node environment for the interaction of urban and rural area,as well as the local cultural-landmark construction behavior are also important factors to generate landscape Title Series featuring individual district attractions.The case and series of landscape assemble appellations in the contemporary marine geological sites show that the aesthetic appreciation of natural beauty is transferring from the nature worship and the God of bide,to the lofty level of attention to the history of natural life.The fifth chapter reveals the cultural value of landscape assemble appellation in traditional villages in the era of rapid urbanization and explores the multiple cultural connotations of the contemporary landscape title series.The landscape aesthetic strategies are put forward for the development of the new town’s cultural cultivation.The factors like the evolution of the natural water system,sand flat pattern and social surroundings lead to the diversity and richness of the ancient-village landscape assemble appellation.For example,the aesthetic activity around the mulberry garden has the function of indicating their spatial boundaries based on their human activities in the competitive or cooperative way.The Eight Views of Songtang village follow the ancient people’s way of seeing,mainly panoramic sketching,“San Yuan” by Guoxi,looking around from the main spots and scanning along the sightseeing path.By contrast,the landscape aesthetic text of Ma-chong village in Dongguan is the representative of the contemporary landscape assemble appellation,which pursues creative endeavors while following ancient methods in the aesthetic activities.It opens up new ideas of text creation by integrating the concept of utilitarianism and aesthetics,tradition and modernity,national and local aspects.Adhering to the core idea of the times,such as innovation,coordination,green philosophy,openness and sharing,the activities excavate the contemporary significance of the geographical names and terroir image,reconstruct the historical feelings and memory of some places,and create more new cases of landscape assemble appellation connecting to the present social life.Finally,a harmonious new-town cultural complex is cultivated.It depends on the further integration of multi-disciplinary research work to further explore the ecological aesthetic wisdom in traditional Chinese landscape literature heritage,and apply as a guide for the current landscape architectural practice or related social actions,which will promote the creative transformation and innovative development of our traditional landscape architecture discourse system.