Traditional Chinese Mountain-water-field-city System from the Perspective of Territorial Landscape

For thousands of years, the Chinese have been developing agriculture to survive. To meet the developmental needs of agriculture, human settlement and transportation, they have built various water conservancies according to specific geographical environment and natural character of different regions, and formed a nationwide-covering water network by combining natural water system with artificial water system. Cities were built in proper site within the regional natural landscape and the artificial system of farmland and water conservancy. The land texture inside and outside the city were gradually transformed and embellished, and the landscape environment turned into scenic areas. This unique way of land arrangement and utilization has led to the traditional landscape of China including both artificial and natural elements, and formed the landscape system integrating mountain, water, field and city. Today, we urgently need to comprehend the history from a new perspective, learn from the ancient experiences, protect the ancient water conservancies, villages, agricultural and urban heritages left over on our land, and seek new ways of landscape construction compatible with ancient experiences