Abstract:In order to clarify the ways of knowledge modernization in Chinese landscape architecture, the three-level theory of landscape architecture proposed by Wang Juyuan was chosen as the object of this study. Through close reading and literature study, the influence and evolution of the theory are sorted out, and it was found that the later theories of disciplinary categories have a consistent theoretical structure, although there are some differences in discourse expressions. The theoretical origin of Wang Juyuan’ s three-level theory is investigated. The results reveal that it shares the same logical framework with the three-level theory of landscape architecture introduced by Tong Yumin. Then, an earlier source, the system of landscape architecture proposed by Japanese scholar Keiji Uyehara, is traced. From the perspective of Edward W. Said’ s doctrine of Travelling Theory, the theoretical variation, reconstruction phenomenon and its significance in the process of modernization of knowledge in Chinese landscape architecture are explained.