Chinese potted landscapes started as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty with a history of about 2000 years. When potted landscapes were first grown it was very difficult to determine because they are only a folk art in the beginning. But a mural in the tomb of Crown Prince Li Xian of the early Tang Dynasty shows that they had already won royal favor by then. Great Tang and poets like Wang Wei, Han Yu, Bai Juyi, Su Dongpo and Lu You all mentioned them. Potted landscapes require painstaking efforts to create, taking dozens to hundreds of years. Craftsmen devote all their lives to their art works only to have later generations enjoy them to the fullest.

There are two major kinds of Chinese potted landscapes: trees and rockeries.  Miniature trees are made from old stumps. Short, easily shaped stumps are forced into the form wanted by hanging, binding, trimming and grafting. Some are made to look like running beasts, some like soaring birds, and some like beasts created from the imagination of the craftsmen. Miniature rockeries are made by carving or corroding and then gluing either solid or absorbent rock, which is decorated with slender growing plants. Absorbent rock will accept mosses. Some rockeries are imitations of paintings, but often they represent scenic spots. Nowadays, in Chinese cities, big or small, there are potted landscape exhibitions within parks.

The most famous one in China is Suzhou Classical Garden.