This paper describes the use of a parametric system for generating garden plans that replicate selected socio-spatial characteristics and aesthetic properties of traditional Chinese private gardens (TCPGs). To achieve this, the spatial characteristics of three historic TCPGs are first mathematically derived using connectivity analysis, a variation of a space syntax technique. The data developed through this process is then used to shape the rules of a parametric system to generate new garden plans with similar spatial connectivity values and structures. While these new plans capture some of the socio-spatial features of the TCPG, the other important characteristic of these gardens is a particular level of visual complexity. Using fractal analysis, the characteristic visual complexity of the newly generated garden plans is then compared with the historic cases, to assess the success of the system in aesthetic terms. Through this three-stage process (syntactical derivation, parametric generation and fractal analysis) the paper demonstrates a method for capturing selected spatial and aesthetic properties in a parametric system and also provides new tools for landscape design in the context of specific historical sites and approaches.