The Chinese originally practiced an animist religion, in which rivers, rocks, and mountains were all seen as materialized spirits and so were to be respected. Thereafter, Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism swept through the land and produced their own forms of the garden.
जापान सागर की दूसरी तरफ़, जापानी बग़ीचों ने अपनी ही शैली विकसित की, जहाँ रंग से ज़्यादा महत्त्व रूप को दिया जाता है और हर वस्तु के लिए अपनी ही निश्‍चित जगह होती है ।