An authentic garden in China might be only one city block but will seem much larger to the visitor. This is accomplished by using walls and plants to divide the space into different sections, each of which will evoke a different natural setting. For instance, walking on a frozen river, or strolling in the mountains, or viewing the lake from a bridge or boat. The effect is a feeling of vastness in a small space, a feeling that Alice might have felt as she stopped tumbling down the rabbit hole and opened her eyes.
This illusion of vastness in a small space is supported by the imaginative usage of plants to screen those elements of the garden that tell the viewer that he's in a small space. Thus, a thick stand of trees and bushes is deliberately left "over grown" so as to hide the wall that is behind the plants, allowing the viewer to imagine woods that stretch forever, rather than being bounded by a wall.
Stands of trees and bushes can also hide an upcoming view so as to function as a dividing element, thereby increasing the number of experiences and the feeling of plenitude. And as the viewer moves along, the suspense builds and increases the feeling of surprise and freshness as the new view is finally presented.
It is evident then that pruning or removing plants that perform a screening function would destroy the viewer's feeling of vastness in a small space. Evident, that is, unless you're the gardeners at the Portland Chinese Garden. Pruning and removal of plants have magically conjured away the vast pageant of nature and made the space into a former parking lot/tourist trap. In a kind of reverse alchemy, the gardeners have turned Alice's wonderland back into a rabbit hole.
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