西方对“中国──园林之母”的认识

UNDERSTANDING OF “CHINA──MOTHEROF GARDENS” BY THE WEST

１００年前，英国园艺学者威尔逊来到中国，在湖北和四川工作了十多年，为英美等西方国家引去了大量的观赏植物，被西方称为“打开中国西部花园的人”。长期的园林工作实践，使他认识到，中国花卉对世界园林艺术的发展作出极其巨大贡献，因而写下了《中国─—园林之母》这样一部颇有见解的著作。他的这一观点，立刻得到西方的普遍认同。而且随着时间的推移，以及我国传出花卉观赏植物的增多，威尔逊观点的依据还在不断被加强、充实。如今，原产我国的奇花异草和风景树木在世界各地的园林和风景名胜争奇斗艳，呈芳溢彩，为美化各国人民的生活作出了巨大的贡献。该文就西方在华的花卉植物引种，及以威尔逊为代表的此种认识的产生和日益为人们所认同的过程作简要的论述。

China is the third largest country in the world, and has some 30000 species of higher (flowering) plants. Meanwhile the Chinese people love flowers and are fond of gardening, and from time immemorial they have begun practice of ornamental horticulture, and bredmany kinds of brilliant flowers, such as peony, chrysanthemum, rose, azalea, lily and lilac.It is interesting that some ornamental flowering plants reached Europe quite early, amongwhich the day lily and peach are both famous examples,although limited in variety. In the seventeenth century, more beautiful garden flowers originated in China began to be introduced tothe West by the hands of merchants and Jesuit missionaries. Lots of well-known flowers originated in China, like some kinds of camellia, peony, rose, magnolia, azalea and chrysanthemum,had been introduced to Europe, together with several very decorative trees by the nineteenthcentury, from which Europeans caught sight of a wonderful vista, and directed more attentionto the botanical riches of China.In 1804, the English Horticultural Society of London was founded. The institution pro-moted greatly the collection of rich garden flora in China. Its many zealous members and enthusiastic employees including J. Reeves, J. D. Parks and R. Fortune were all successful intheir introduction of Chinese ornamental plants. Up to the middle of the nineteenth century,the majority of Chinese garden flora had been Introduced to the West. They chiefly came fromthe gardens in the east of China, which includes Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing.Among the introduced flowers, rose and chrysanthemum are remarkable, and have abiding influence on the gardening and beautified environs in the West.After 1860, Westerners were able to travel freely in China, where they discovered the existence of a great number of wild ornamental plants. When the accounts of investigations concerned became known, the West realized that there were yet more beautiful plant treasures tobe obtained in the mountains and valleys of West China. Hence, numerous collectors weresent to China to take back live specimens and seeds of the floral riches to Europe.In 1899, E. H. Wilson, one of the most successful collectors, came to China for the Veitchfirm. He traveled in Hubei and Sichuan for over ten years in the first two decades of the present century, and introduced over a thousand new beautiful ornamental plants into the gardensof Europe and North America, including the dove tree, many lilies, azaleas and Meconopsis.For this reason, Wilson was called the man who opened the door of garden in western China.His experience in China made him realize that China is the real 'Kingdom of flowers', and bylong practice of horticulture, his knowledge of the garden plants of Chinese origin contributedgreatly to gardening all over the world. China was referred to by him as the 'Mother of Gardens '.Following closely Wilson, many plant collectors were once again sent to China, amongwhom the more famous are G. Forrest and F. Kingdon-Ward of Great Britain and J. Rock ofAmerica. They introduced actively various beautiful flowers such as azalea, primrose, gentianand Nomocharises from the real 'Kingdom of flowers' Yunnan to the West. With the increaseof favorite flowering plants reaching the West from China, wilson's view became increasinglypopular. It is obvious that the influence of introduction by the West over several centuries hasbeen enormous. It is just as the late great botanical geographer N. I. Vavilov said: 'Literallythousands of species of woody and herbaceous decorative plants, which can be seen in parks allover the world,--originated in China.' Today the process of the introduction of Chineseornamental plants which began long before the time of Wilson still continues, which wellshows the perpetual charm of China as 'Mother of Gardens'.