Not unlike its rich history of urban culture, China has a long tradition of the contemplative appreciation of nature. This is aptly proven by gardens (literati gardens or private gardens, imperial gardens), landscape paintings, and poetry with naturalistic themes. Geomancy ( fengshui ) provided the form to reflect on the qualities of local nature when construction projects were concerned. Otherwise, criticism of civilization and of large cities did not play a similarly important role in modern China's history as it did in Western indus…