Traditional Domestic Gardens of China Reading Answers

Jul 3, 2025

Traditional Domestic Gardens of China Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. Traditional Domestic Gardens of China Reading Answers has a total of 13 IELTS questions in total. In the question set given, you have to state whether the statement is true, false or not given with the information given in the text.

The IELTS Reading section is an essential part of the test that evaluates a candidate's comprehension and analysis of various passage types. You will work through a number of IELTS reading practice problems in this section that resemble actual test situations. These questions are designed to help you improve your ability to recognise essential concepts, extract particular facts, and make inferences. Practising these IELTS reading problems can help you get comfortable with the structure and increase your confidence for the exam, regardless of whether you are studying for the Academic or General Training module.

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Section 1 TRADITIONAL DOMESTIC GARDENS OF CHINA

In China, gardens of various types have a long history, dating back more than three thousand years to the large parks of the emperors and aristocracy. Smaller domestic gardens were first constructed in the fifth or sixth century AD. They are often called 'literati gardens', because

many were created for the country's elite - the scholar-gentlemen, or literati, who worked as officials in the administration of the empire. The number of gardens increased steadily from the twelfth century, particularly in southern China, thanks to the temperate climate and wealth

of the region, reaching a peak in the sixteenth century.

Garden design was traditionally seen as a serious art form comparable with painting, sculpture and poetry. Designers aimed to create a landscape in miniature, providing the sensation of wandering through the natural world: arrangements of rocks evoked mountain ranges, trees

suggested forests, and ponds represented seas. Gardens were intended to reflect balance and harmony between human beings and nature. European gardens of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were characterised by flowerbeds, lawns and wide, panoramic views. Chinese gardens, on the other hand, contained viewing points presenting numerous small vistas, perfectly composed and framed - as though the visitor is looking at a painting. The idea was that different scenes would be revealed to visitors as they walked round - a pond, tree or waterfall, perhaps, viewed through the window of a pavilion or gallery. Buildings were an integral part of the Chinese garden, again unlike gardens in Europe. According to Ji Cheng, who wrote on garden design in the early seventeenth century, gardens should look natural, though manmade'. He also emphasised the harmonious combination of opposites, such as small and large, revelation and concealment. For this reason, irregularly shaped rocks were often placed next to smooth, rectangular clay tiles, or a dark entrance led into a sun-lit courtyard. In Chinese gardens, beautiful compositions were created, whereas in European gardens of that period there was an emphasis on symmetry and formality, with straight rows of trees that often seemed as unlike nature as possible.

The classic domestic garden in China was a rectangular outdoor space adjoining a home. It was enclosed by walls or buildings and had no windows on the outside walls. Being enclosed provided privacy and a degree of protection from the summer sun and winter cold. Walls were

often painted white, to set off the flowers and trees. There might be a pond in the centre of the garden, with buildings beside it. Gardens varied in size, from less than a hectare to more than ten. Some were large enough to contain orchards or fields to grow produce which could

be sold. As well as plants, rocks and water, gardens traditionally contained pavilions, temples, towers and other buildings. These were often linked by covered galleries that zigzagged or wound round the edge of the pond, and provided shelter from the sun and rain. The galleries usually contained small windows, framing carefully planned views of the garden. The windows might be circular, oval, or in the shape of a leaf or petal. Like the galleries, bridges, too, were rarely straight. Footpaths often contained designs made with coloured pebbles, such as a crane

- a bird symbolising good luck - or a fishing net denoting wealth. There were also scenes from well-known legends.

Gardens were intended to be elegant and beautiful, and to reflect the wealth and status of the homeowner. Designing gardens became an activity of the wealthy and well-educated, whatever their knowledge. Like gardens elsewhere in the world, they were used for relaxation and

entertaining guests, but there has always been a much greater emphasis than in Europe on the garden as a calm setting for solitude and contemplation, and for activities such as painting, poetry, calligraphy, music and study. Some scholar gentlemen in effect withdrew from

the outside world and retreated to their gardens.

One of the most impressive Chinese gardens, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, is the Humble Administrator's Garden in the city of Suzhou, close to Shanghai. This was constructed between 1510 and 1526 by Wang Xiancheng, an imperial envoy, on his retirement,

and it takes its name from a line in a poem written some three hundred years earlier. The garden is dominated by a pond - large and irregularly shaped - and 48 structures for viewing different scenes or for entertainment. These include a waterside pavilion built partly on land and

partly on stilts over the pond. After Wangs death, the garden changed hands many times and was split up, eventually into three separate properties. The whole of the original garden came under the same ownership in 1949 and was later restored.

In recent years, a number of Chinese gardens have been created in other countries. Particularly in cities with a large Chinese community, such as Vancouver, Canada and Sydney, Australia. Sydney's Chinese Garden of Friendship was officially opened in 1988 to mark the country's bicentenary.

Questions 1-9

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? Write

TRUE - If the statement agrees with the information

FALSE - if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN - if there is no information on this

1. The earliest domestic gardens in China are thought to have been created three thousand years ago.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: Smaller domestic gardens were first constructed in the fifth or sixth century AD.

Keywords: domestic, fifth or sixth

Keyword Location: Para 1, Lines 1-2

Explanation: The domestic garden in China was first built in the 5th or 6th century AD, as per the text.

2. Many Chinese domestic gardens belonged to government officials.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: They are often called 'literati gardens', because many were created for the country's elite - the scholar-gentlemen, or literati, who worked as officials in the administration of the empire.

Keywords: literati, officials

Keyword Location: Para 1 Lines 2-4

Explanation: According to the text, the Chinese domestic gardens were made for government officials, the country's elites, and scholars, and they were called 'literati gardens.

3. Gardens were often represented in Chinese paintings.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: No information regarding the garden's representation of the Chinese paintings is given in the text.

4. Panoramic views were typical of both European and Chinese gardens.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: Chinese gardens, on the other hand, contained viewing points presenting numerous small vistas, perfectly composed and framed - as though the visitor is looking at a painting.

Keywords: Chinese gardens, painting

Keyword Location: Para 2, Line 7

Explanation: According to the text, Panoramic views were not a part of the Chinese gardens; they were only related to European gardens.

5. The design of Chinese domestic gardens was influenced by the weather.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: Being enclosed provided privacy and a degree of protection from the summer sun and winter cold.

Keywords: enclosed, protection

Keyword Location: Para 3, Line 3

Explanation: According to the text, the Chinese domestic gardens were designed with the weather conditions in mind, while providing privacy and protection from the sun's heat and cold in winter.

6. In Chinese gardens, galleries normally connected buildings by the shortest route.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: Some were large enough to contain orchards or fields to grow produce which could be sold.

Keywords: large, grow

Keyword Location: Para 3, Line 6

Explanation: According to the text, Chinese gardens were usually large with no shortest route that connected them to the galleries.

7. Designs in footpaths were sometimes based on paintings.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: No information about the designs in footpaths being based on paintings.

8. Garden design was limited to professional designers.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: Designing gardens became an activity of the wealthy and well-educated, whatever their knowledge.

Keywords: Designing, well-educated

Keyword Location: Para 4, Line 2

Explanation: According to the text, garden designing was enjoyed by the wealthy and well-educated, not only by the professional designers.

9. Gardens were sometimes used for the performance of plays.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: No information about the garden being used for play performances.

Questions 10-13

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

10. What is a view in a Chinese garden compared with?

Answer: (A) PAINTING

Supporting statement: Garden design was traditionally seen as a serious art form comparable with painting,

Keywords: traditionally, comparable

Keyword Location: Para 2, Line 1

Explanation: In the past, Chinese garden design was regarded as a major art form on par with painting.

11. What were sometimes situated beside clay tiles?

Answer: ROCKS

Supporting statement: arrangements of rocks evoked mountain ranges,

Keywords: rocks, mountain

Keyword Location: Para 2, Line 3

Explanation: Rocks were arranged to evoke mountain ranges, besides clay tiles.

12. Where does the name of the Humble Administrator's Garden come from?

Answer: (A) POEM

Supporting statement: its name from a line in a poem written some three hundred years earlier.

Keywords: poem, three hundred

Keyword Location: Para 5, Line 4

Explanation: The name of the Humble Administrator's Garden comes from a poem written some 3 hundred years earlier.

13. What occupies a large part of the Humble Administrator's Garden?

Answer: (A) POND WATER

Supporting statement: The garden is dominated by a pond - large and irregularly shaped -

Keywords: dominated, pond

Keyword Location: Para 5, Line 5

Explanation: A Large area of the Humble Administrator's Garden is dominated by pond water.

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*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

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