北宋士人大多是兼具文人、学者、政治家多重身份的综合型人才。作为官员,他们大多心怀济世理想,先忧后乐,但这种理想落到现实中,往往是陷于官场争斗。因此,他们渴望在官场之外构筑一些私人空间以获得身心的宁静与自由,园林便是其中之一。首先,园林可以被视为官场名教之外的自然场所,士人在其中获得逍遥之乐。其次,园林按照写意的方式构建,处处体现了文人趣味。再次,通过对园林的建构与欣赏,士人实现了身份认同。从美学上讲,园林在士人生活中具有重要意义,诗文创作、书画欣赏等文化活动不仅展现了士人的文化素养和审美趣味,也成为其社会交往的重要组成部分。更重要的是,园林是士人构建身份认同和社会地位的工具,士人通过营造和体验这些私人空间,塑造并传播一种精英文化,在更广泛的社会层面引领审美潮流。

In the Northern Song Dynasty, most scholars were comprehensive talents with multiple identities such as literati, scholars, and politicians. As officials, most of them cherished the ideal of helping the world and shared the sentiment of worrying before others and enjoying pleasures later. However, when such ideals were implemented in reality, they often got trapped in officialdom struggles. Therefore, they aspired to build a private space outside the officialdom to resolve the contradiction between entering and leaving officialdom and obtain peace and freedom of body and mind. The functions of literati and scholars were fully exerted, and the prosperity of literature and art in the Northern Song Dynasty was closely related to this. Gardens were one of them. Firstly, gardens could be regarded as personal nature outside the officialdom, where scholars could gain the joy of freedom. Secondly, gardens were constructed in a freehand manner, and the tastes of literati were reflected everywhere. Thirdly, through the construction and appreciation of gardens, scholars achieved identity recognition. Aesthetically speaking, gardens played multiple roles in the lives of scholars. Cultural activities such as poetry and prose creation, and appreciation of calligraphy and painting not only demonstrated the cultural literacy and aesthetic tastes of scholars but also became an important part of their social interactions. More importantly, gardens were the tools for scholars to construct their identity and social status. By creating and experiencing these private spaces, scholars shaped and disseminated an elite culture and led the aesthetic trends at a broader social level.