Sir William Temple’s (1628-1699) comment on the Chinese irregular garden layout, a pattern he called sharawadgi, is at the centre of a controversy regarding whether the English garden received Chinese influence. Instead of focusing on the apparent difference between the two garden traditions (i.e. the formal and the informal), this talk investigates how Temple’s reception of the Chinese was shaped by their parallels, namely how both English and Chinese gardens, like poetry, evoke and balance the passions and help to attain true pleasure. Dr Yue Zhuang teaches Chinese studies, art history and visual culture at the University of Exeter. She is the co-editor of Entangled Landscapes: Early Modern China and Europe (2017).