Medicinal plants are a distinctive category of garden plants. They have long been collected and cultivated in China. Those plants that were selected as landscaping elements specifically for their medicinal properties. Such plants often were employed to symbolically connote “medicines of immortality” (xianyao 仙藥). Prior to the Qin dynasty, practitioners in China had already developed techniques to pursue longevity, the key to which was the consumption of herbal medicines or elixirs rich in qi 氣. Such pursuits laid a Daoist foundation for the use of medicinal plants in China; later, Confucian and Buddhist ideas were layered atop this foundation to develop a rich and diverse system of values, functions, and meanings. Through this value system, medicinal plants became an important means of constructing the overarching theme of a garden and of shaping the identity of its owner. Chinese garden paintings represent medicinal plots within Chinese literati gardens, a type of landscape that has not received much scholarly attention.
The medicinal plant landscaping in garden involved the creation of a self-contained garden with an orderly layout or a separate, designated area within a larger-scale garden. These sites were known as “medicinal plots” (yao pu 藥圃). They were focused especially on the practical use of medicinal plants in treating disease and maintaining health. In contrast to the winding, unpredictable layout typical of Chinese literati gardens, medicinal plots were relatively simple. They evoked a plain, natural feeling, often emulating rural vegetable gardens. They were designed to facilitate experimental, scientific, and practical engagement with plants.
Through the creation of a garden, a garden-owner could manifest his inner world. Indeed, in addition to facilitating such practical functions as cultivating medicinal herbs, curing diseases, and maintaining good health, establishing a medicinal plot was an important means for the owner to express himself. Literati gardens in general integrated the philosophical concepts of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism; these, in turn, were further embodied in the diverse symbolic meanings of medicinal gardens. With its multiple layers of meaning, the medicinal garden became a unique type of landscape within the literati garden. As aesthetic fashions changed over time, medicinal plots gradually disappeared from later gardens. Today, it is difficult to recognize the original form of such medicinal plots in extant gardens, but their traces can still be found in paintings and poems. The little-known literati art of gardening with medicinal plants is revealed to us through them. Through the interpretation of the depictions of the gardens in these paintings, as well as the associated inscriptions, we can understand that the meaning of medicinal plants in Chinese gardens shifted over time. Key word: Chinese garden, garden painting, medicinal plants
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Shanshan Liu is an associate professor in the History of Architecture at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture in Beijing, China. She holds a doctorate in Architectural History and Theory from Tsinghua University and was a visiting scholar at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Liu teaches courses on the history and design of architecture and landscape architecture. Her research and writing have focused on the interdisciplinary study of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, painting, and engineering from pre-modern to modern times. Recently, she led a national project sponsored by the Natural Science Foundation of China on the topic “Reconstruction of Perished Gardens, Verifiable by Combining Multiple Evidence”. Liu has published more than 40 academic papers and co-authored seven monographs in both Chinese and English, including The Zhi Garden Album: A Portrait of Peach Blossom Spring (2022). This monograph is a case study of the in-depth restoration of pre-modern Chinese gardens based on garden paintings. Garden Paintings in Old China (2012) is the first comprehensive study of Chinese garden painting in China and abroad. Liu is also the co-translator of the Chinese edition of House and Home in Modern Japan (2021). https://jzxy.bucea.edu.cn/xygk/szdw/176fca58da734fc7b12e3936dbf87e6a.htm
Xiao Huang ( xingying003@163.com ) , associate professor of Beijing Forestry University, secretary general of Chinese Landscape Architecture Thought Research Center, and a former visiting scholar of Georgetown University. He got his PhD degree from the School of Architecture of at Tsinghua University. His research focuses on reconstruction of gardens based on garden paintings. In recent years, he has presided over two national projects sponsored by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundations on garden painting, published more than 40 academic papers, and as well as six monographs in Chinese, including Garden Paintings in Old China (2012) , Private Gardens in Northern China（2019）, Rediscovering Zhi Garden: a Ming Dynasty Peach Blossom Spring（2022）etc..
Medicinal plants played a vital role in shaping Chinese gardens, symbolizing the owner's identity and reflecting philosophical concepts. Chinese literati paintings depicted these gardens highlighting "medicinal plots" known as "yao pu ??." These plots were strategically designed to emphasize practical health benefits and facilitate experimental engagement with plants. Literati gardens integrated Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist ideals, enriching the symbolic meanings of medicinal gardens. Over time, changing aesthetics led to the disappearance of medicinal plots in gardens. While their original form is challenging to recognize in existing gardens, traces endure in paintings and poems, revealing the little-known art of gardening with medicinal plants and the evolving meaning of these plants in Chinese gardens.