ABSTRACT
From the Great Wall to the Forbidden City, from the Summer Palace of Beijing to the gardens of Suzhou: the wonders of Chinese architecture are known to many in the world. They are well presented in popular literature and increasingly in academic studies. Despite our increasing knowledge about them, however, critical issues concerning spatial design in the Chinese tradition remains not well explored. If there is indeed a unique approach in this tradition, what is it and how is it constituted, in social, cultural and theoretical context? What is, if any, a Chinese approach to spatial design? What is a Chinese approach to spatial positioning, of things and human beings, of objects and subjects, in relation to each other and in relation to nature?
