Color collection and data analysis of classical gardens—A case study of Tang style gardens in Xi'an

Garden color plays a key role in creating a spatial atmosphere, artistic conception and regional landscape characteristics. The Chinese classical garden has a profound traditional Chinese culture at its core, and its color collocation is a microcosm of Chinese culture. An in-depth exploration of the color matching of classical gardens is helpful for promoting the organic combination of modern urban construction needs and traditional culture. Therefore, this paper takes Tang-style gardens in Xi'an as an example and selects five typical classical gardens to study the color characteristics of garden elements, uses natural color system (NCS) to record color data from classical garden elements, establishes a color map, and quantitatively evaluates the color harmony of classical garden elements on the basis of Moon Spencer (M-S) color harmony theory. Research has revealed that the color system of Tang-style gardens in Xi'an is unique and includes 244 NCS standard colors with a wide distribution of hues. The study distinguishes between humanistic environment colors and natural environment colors that vary greatly with season, and provides a wide color range that reflects the beauty of nature. The color range of the humanistic environment appears calm and solemn, with colors having low blackness and low chromaticness in general. There is a certain difference in color harmony between natural and cultural environment colors, but the overall color harmony is good. This paper not only enriches the color theory system of Tang-style gardens but also provides a reference for promoting the scientific application of traditional urban colors in modern urban landscape construction.