The Altar of Land and Grain (now Zhongshan Park or the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Park in Bejing) had what western historians call a 'formal' layout. It is neither the garden type nor the design style which features in histories of 'the' Chinese Garden.

There is a regrettable tendency for garden historians to write about the Chinese Garden as though it were one thing which was invented about 5000 years ago, which was made for a single purpose and which has never changed. It puts one in mind of Edward Said’s comment on Orientalism (regarding the Middle East). He wrote of “a misrepresentation of some Oriental essence — in which I do not for a moment believe”. We are therefore pleased to publish a classification of Chinese garden types by Xiaomin Wu. The next stage in developing a systematic history of garden design in China should be to trace the evolution of each of these types through the millennia. This should be done in parallel with studies of the influence of Chinese gardens on neighbouring countries and the influence of neighbouring countries on China. One of the many neglected aspects of Chinese garden history concerns the influence of Buddhism. Maggie Keswick, who wrote by far the most influential western book on Chinese garden history, scarcely mentions the subject.
Another puzzling aspect of Chinese garden history is that it is normally studied without reference to Japan or Korea. To me, this is like writing compartmentalised histories of French and Italian gardens or of Italian and English gardens. It should not be done. With regard to China, Japan, India and Korea, part of the explanation is that the countries were not friendly during the twentieth century – American garden historians have considered the influence of Chinese on Japanese gardens, but they have given far more attention to Japan than to China or India or Korea.
The Altar of Land and Grain (now Zhongshan Park and the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial in Bejing) (drawing above) had what western garden historians call a ‘formal’ layout’. It is neither ‘the’ garden type nor ‘the’ design style which features in histories of ‘the‘ Chinese Garden.