The art of penjing pursues the beauty of natural spontaneity.

Landscape, plants, and architecture, as the main elements of scenic composition, become the primary considerations in creating natural beauty. The natural beauty of landscape is mainly achieved through two aspects: natural form and natural structure. Planning and organizing garden landscapes based on the directional flow of natural rock formations and the source and course of water is called the natural vein of garden landscapes. In order to give artificial rockeries the appreciation effect of real mountains, when arranging rockeries, the stones selected for the rockery must follow the vein patterns of real mountains in the creative work, so that the artificial rockery and the real mountain merge into one, "as if naturally formed by heaven." Similarly, in penjing creation, the stones used vary greatly due to differences in texture, vein patterns, color, and form. First, based on the conceived theme, select stones with similar quality, interconnected vein patterns, similar color, and similar grain, adapting measures to the material. For example, to express towering mountains, select stones that are rugged and majestic; to express earthen hills and mounds, select stones that are undulating, full, and gracefully shaped. For the creation of waterscapes, penjing artistic creation and garden landscaping pursue the same compositional principles. First is seeking the source, that is, concealing the head and hiding the tail, giving people the wondrous feeling of "not knowing where the living water comes from." Second is achieving opening and closing, gathering and releasing, winding and turning, combining the virtual and the real, with stones arranged in irregular heights along the banks, forming free shorelines and rich landscape layers. For example, the penjing placed in the Lion Grove Garden takes expressing lions as its theme, selecting stones with identical grain and color that resemble lions for combined creation. Although the piled mountain is not tall, the main peak and secondary peaks are clearly layered, as if several lions are crouching and roaring skyward; the winding and turning of the rockery group adds a profound and mysterious interest, and the divided water surface opens and closes appropriately, with a small amount of plants as embellishment, further highlighting the natural, heaven-made feel of the penjing work.

"Heavenly interest" means deeply exploring the artistic conception of natural mountains and forests, configuring suitable plants, making the landscape merge with nature, and embodying the characteristic of "as if naturally formed by heaven." In penjing artistic creation, although the flowers, grasses, and trees used for creation need pruning and shaping, the principle of maintaining a natural growth state should also be followed. Penjing techniques should try to erase traces of artificial carving and retain more of the wild charm of natural scenery, giving people the aesthetic enjoyment of natural spontaneity. In addition to constituting scenery, plants can also coordinate the center of gravity, enrich the layers of the work, combine form and spirit, and strengthen the "as if naturally formed by heaven" feeling of the landscape artistic conception.

Structures play the role of viewing scenery and creating scenery in gardens. When arranging structures, abandon regular layouts and instead follow natural-style layouts, randomly dotting structures among natural scenery, so that structures and scenery set each other off and form a seamless whole. In addition, garden structures also emphasize varied and winding forms and varied structures, using creativity to combine them with hills, valleys, springs, and rocks into artificial landscapes. When selecting accessories for penjing, they should be few but refined, matching the environment and theme in texture, color, and style, so that the penjing work is rich in content and profound in flavor, achieving the artistic effect of "seeing the large within the small." When placing accessories, attention should be paid to their integration with the landscape scenery and to changes in density and gathering and scattering, creating rich spatial layering relationships, with both concealment and exposure, and an orderly irregular arrangement. In addition, the arrangement of accessories should conform to the perspective rules of near large and far small, near solid and far void, and center large with left and right small, allowing viewers to experience the beauty of the natural space of real mountains and real waters.