中國園林可分為皇家的「苑囿」和官僚富豪商家的「私家園林」兩類。而中國園林原型則必須向包攝大規模自然並與狩獵儀禮融合一體的苑囿尋求之。秦漢時代人工園林中有二大元素，亦即挖掘池水與構築假山。這些最早期的園林具備了堆砌土造或石造之假山、開鑿池水、營設池岸等園林基本原素。自魏晉南北朝的王侯貴族私家園林，傾向於以人工自然景觀為主之構成元素更為明顯。 造成假山的形態有很大變化的契機是北宋徽宗時，徽宗於國都汴梁之東北，營造了艮嶽，因而造就了山匠或花園子專門職業技術的出現，甚至在風格及造園元素上發生了急速之變化。明清時代江南地方園林，大多在假山內部之各處造有洞穴，山洞之盛行使石山得到了普遍化及規格化。今天被視為中國園林具代表性景物的高聳矗立形態的石峰，大約自宋代才開始穩定成形，屬於較新式的風格。而且大部分現存之石峰，大部份都與宋代的風格有顯著的差距。 據推測早期園林要比今天所看到的江南園林實例，在水面所占全體之比率要大得多。並且，東漢時代的私家園林對於水池岸邊的處理，有如比擬水鳥的姿態，或鋪上白砂等等的作法，與今日現存的園林相較，屬相當不一樣的風格。至於造園上縮景、借景、框景、景深（層次）等中國固有造園手法的空間性表現，可說是直接與山水畫論中所言之三遠－亦即，呼應於高遠、深遠、平遠三個不同視點（仰觀、俯瞰、遠望）之構圖理論相對應。 本文最重要的目的在於對中國園林早期的風格，以及在觀看江南園林實例時，能將原先的先入為主的偏見－在江南園林實例中所可看到的種種構成元素或造園手法，視為中國園林古來不變的特徵－作一些修正。

　　　　　There are lots of elements of ancient garden in traditional garden that have disappeared today. For example, the layout with pond, man-made island and bridge, as central figure; white sandy brink; artificial earth hill; arranged natural and simple stone; scenery of a view from a far distance; the design by imitation from famous sight etc. When we compare the elements of ancient garden with the traditional gardens of late imperial China, the outstanding difference between both can be found. After analyzed the represented technique of stone arrangement of traditional gardens, the following result was obtained in this article. That is the garden's styles changed from about Sung Dynasty. The traditional gardens of late imperial China constructed artificial hill, but mainly used stone, not earth. They always chose unique stone that have strange shape which can be found from famous Tai-Hu Lake.