The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture, Third Edition
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • The right place to begin
  • The Garden as the Source of History and Philosophy
  • It takes me back to my hometown
  • Acutely Perceptive, Informative, Profound
The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture, Third Edition
Maggie Keswick , and Alison Hardie
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674010868

Book Description

Dense with winding paths, dominated by huge rock piles and buildings squeezed into small spaces, the characteristic Chinese garden is, for many foreigners, so unlike anything else as to be incomprehensible. Only on closer acquaintance does it offer up its mysteries; and such is the achievement of Maggie Keswick's celebrated classic that it affords us--adventurers, armchair travelers, and garden buffs alike--the intimate pleasures of the Chinese garden.

In these richly illustrated pages, Chinese gardens unfold as cosmic diagrams, revealing a profound and ancient view of the world and of humanity's place in it. First sensuous impressions give way to more cerebral delights, and forms conjure unending, increasingly esoteric and mystical layers of meaning for the initiate. Keswick conducts us through the art and architecture, the principles and techniques of Chinese gardens, showing us their long history as the background for a civilization--the settings for China's great poets and painters, the scenes of ribald parties and peaceful contemplation, political intrigues and family festivals.

Updated and expanded in this third edition, with an introduction by Alison Hardie, many new illustrations, and an updated list of gardens in China accessible to visitors, Keswick's engaging work remains unparalleled as an introduction to the Chinese garden.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars The right place to begin .......2007-01-13

I've been a garden designer in Portland Oregon for twenty years and have spent over a year in China visiting gardens . This book is a very good place to begin if you want to understand , on a basic level, Chinese gardens . It is however, not the place to stop if you really seek to understand them . To do that you have to try to understand the culture and times which produced them. Fruitful Sites by Craig Clunas is the best work which I have found so far as it analyzes the gardens at Suzhou over the course of several dynasties. Chinese Classical Gardens of Suzhou (Hardcover)
by Tun-Chen Liu, Joseph C. Wang is also a very good book . It is a critique of most of the principal gardens in Suzhou and it punctures the illusion the every Chinese garden is equally great and every feature wonderful. And if you are actually going to travel to China to see gardens you really should read both of Peter Valders books . They will help you understand Chinese plants and to find gardens in many Chinese cities. I don't always agree with Valder's assessments . He is quite restrained at times . And if you are planning to travel to Suzhou consider visiting Tongli as well. I also consider the gardens of The Slender West Lake in Yangzhou and other gardens there to be equal to many of the gardens in Suzhou. And if you are going to go to China I recommend you start reading The Orientalist online and purchase Beijing by Peter Neville Hadley so that you will not be shocked when you travel China . It is by no means an easy process if you want to travel beyond some air-con rip-off tour.

5 out of 5 stars The Garden as the Source of History and Philosophy.......2005-04-27

While the attitudes and examples of Japanese gardens abound in books and in cities around the world, very little has been written or photographs of the unique concepts found in the Chinese gardens. Maggie Keswick repairs that paucity of information with this very beautifully designed, photographed and written monograph on the spirit of the subtle beauties that abound in the Chinese garden.

Keswick offers an in depth analysis of the history of gardens in China and even if the reader is not an avid horticulturist, just the amount of information about China alone is reason to read this book carefully. But in addition to the history and the architectural elements of these gardens here considered, there are many graceful photographs and accompanying illustrations that keep pace with the narrative while providing an encouragement to return to the book purely for the art of it.

Keswick has found the middle ground in creating a volume about the elements of the Chinese garden and a volume that stands strongly as simply an art book. Highly recommended for repeated readings. Grady Harp, April 05

5 out of 5 stars It takes me back to my hometown.......2004-02-17

How great Chinese garden are!From north to south ,east to west,royal to normal,fancy to simple,you could see all of the best gardens in China.Especially two cities that must visit:Beijing,my hometown,and Suzhou,a wonderful small town built beside the river.The spirits of Chinese gardens were focused on how to combine nature and humanity together.The gardens in Suzhou absolutely rendered an ideal level without artificial fixing,you might called it "Eastern Venice".On the oher hand,Beijing seems much more luxurious since it used to be the capital of China for 5 dynasties.The best known garden named Summer Palace ,which settled in Western part of Beijing,belong to the royal family. A fire desaster ruined most valuable garden named Yuan Ming Yuan,if it still being there,Yuan Ming YUan might be the most gorgeous garden in the world.However we pitifully left a waste garden,morely a Country's shame.You luckily better read this book before you visit China. < >is a helpful tourguide take you a preview.

5 out of 5 stars Acutely Perceptive, Informative, Profound.......2003-05-05

A superb study that is as engrossing as it is elegantly written and lavishly illustrated, and a sensitive inquiry into the aesthetics, the history and the philosophy that underpin an ancient and majestic civilization's view of mankinds's place within the cosmos. Both unique and profound. An essential work.
The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Good background on an endangered species
  • What a story -- and every word true!
  • A surprising adventure
  • ------Amazing adventure story------
  • THE LADY AND THE PANDA
The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal
Vicki Croke
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375759700
Release Date: 2006-06-13

Book Description

Here is the astonishing true story of Ruth Harkness, the Manhattan bohemian socialite who, against all but impossible odds, trekked to Tibet in 1936 to capture the most mysterious animal of the day: a bear that had for countless centuries lived in secret in the labyrinth of lonely cold mountains. In The Lady and the Panda, Vicki Constantine Croke gives us the remarkable account of Ruth Harkness and her extraordinary journey, and restores Harkness to her rightful place along with Sacajawea, Nellie Bly, and Amelia Earhart as one of the great woman adventurers of all time.

Ruth was the toast of 1930s New York, a dress designer newly married to a wealthy adventurer, Bill Harkness. Just weeks after their wedding, however, Bill decamped for China in hopes of becoming the first Westerner to capture a giant panda–an expedition on which many had embarked and failed miserably. Bill was also to fail in his quest, dying horribly alone in China and leaving his widow heartbroken and adrift. And so Ruth made the fateful decision to adopt her husband’s dream as her own and set off on the adventure of a lifetime.

It was not easy. Indeed, everything was against Ruth Harkness. In decadent Shanghai, the exclusive fraternity of white male explorers patronized her, scorned her, and joked about her softness, her lack of experience and money. But Ruth ignored them, organizing, outfitting, and leading a bare-bones campaign into the majestic but treacherous hinterlands where China borders Tibet. As her partner she chose Quentin Young, a twenty-two-year-old Chinese explorer as unconventional as she was, who would join her in a romance as torrid as it was taboo.

Traveling across some of the toughest terrain in the world–nearly impenetrable bamboo forests, slick and perilous mountain slopes, and boulder-strewn passages–the team raced against a traitorous rival, and was constantly threatened by hordes of bandits and hostile natives. The voyage took months to complete and cost Ruth everything she had. But when, almost miraculously, she returned from her journey with a baby panda named Su Lin in her arms, the story became an international sensation and made the front pages of newspapers around the world. No animal in history had gotten such attention. And Ruth Harkness became a hero.

Drawing extensively on American and Chinese sources, including diaries, scores of interviews, and previously unseen intimate letters from Ruth Harkness, Vicki Constantine Croke has fashioned a captivating and richly textured narrative about a woman ahead of her time. Part Myrna Loy, part Jane Goodall, by turns wisecracking and poetic, practical and spiritual, Ruth Harkness is a trailblazing figure. And her story makes for an unforgettable, deeply moving adventure.


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Good background on an endangered species.......2007-08-01

A lot of good research on pandas, wealthy adventurers of 1930s and NY's Cafe Society. It was a good story, although it was hard to identify with the spoiled Lady. She loved China, but only as seen from the backs of the coolies carrying her. It has a lot of good information and is a worthwhile read. The Lady's life goes downhill rapidly after the experience with the pandas.

5 out of 5 stars What a story -- and every word true!.......2007-05-28

I bought this book as a gift for my mother. She loved it, and gave it back to me to read. I let it lie for a couple of months, then picked it up one day and started reading -- and, to my surprise, could hardly put it down! What Ruth Harkness accomplished was amazing, given her background and the difficult times (1930s). I learned a lot about China of the times and did not realize the extent of its war with Japan in those years. With that backdrop, it was nothing short of a miracle that Harkness was able to bring even one panda from China to the U.S., much less two. The hardships she endured along the way made me truly wonder why she put up with them when she could have had a much "cushier" life staying home in New York City. The author has woven a truly fascinating tale -- all the more amazing that it all really happened. I believe anyone would find this a great read.

4 out of 5 stars A surprising adventure .......2007-04-14

Ruth Harkness became famous in 1936 for undertaking an exploration into the Chinese wilderness and bringing back the first live Panda. Her story is amazing if only for the fact that she was a woman with no skills and no experience in the outdoors never mind that she did it in a country where the terrain, culture, language and politics were completely foreign to her. Luckily she had some great supporters but she also made some bold choices and took a lot of risk to accomplish her goal.
The author does a fine job of bringing into focus the people and politics of the time along with insight into China, Pandas, zoos and natural history museums. I will not think of any of them the same way again.
If you tend to think that non-fiction is dry and boring this book may change your mind. A very good read. The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal

5 out of 5 stars ------Amazing adventure story------.......2006-08-12

Although, a little slow to start, this book took off and became a fascinating read. It's the true story of Ruth Harkness, a sophisticated New York dress designer. Ruth's husband, Bill was from a wealthy family which enabled him to live the life of an adventurer. His desire was to bring a giant panda back from China. He ventured out early in their marriage and headed for China. Unfortunately, Bill became ill on his trip and died in China. This story is how Ruth adopted Bill's dream and had her own expeditions to China in search of the illusive panda.

When Ruth took on her on first adventure, she initially received very little support from the big game hunters of that time period. Many of those men had been friends of her husband, but it was unheard of for a woman to make such a difficult journey. Of course, Ruth persevered and came back with a Su Lin, a baby panda. Ruth Harness was a smart and fascinating woman! The love and care that she gave Su Lin is what kept the panda alive.

The search for the pandas was in many ways horrible because they were difficult to locate and capture. It wasn`t uncommon for a hunter to just shoot one and bring back it's hide for a natural history museum. The habits and life of the panda were unknown and many of those beautiful animals died shortly after they were captured. This was due to the fact that the conditions with which they were kept and the food they were given to eat wasn't acceptable to their bodies. Also, the competition to bring a panda out of China was so great, that many of the "so-called" experts were just hunters who wanted fame and fortune and had no concern at all for the wildlife that they sought. Unfortunately, many pandas died in their cages before ever leaving China.

Besides the basic story, the author gives us some history of China, its people and terrain. On many levels, this is an unforgettable story.


5 out of 5 stars THE LADY AND THE PANDA.......2006-03-09

Knowing the author (Vickie Croke) made this all the more special for me. The book is easy to read, her research is thorough, and the true life drama is made so REAL. It is hard to put it down and get back to work!
The China Garden
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • An amazing fantasty/mysery set in the English countryside
  • China Garden
  • my favorite book
  • A Mystery Woven With Skill
  • the best
The China Garden
Liz Berry
Manufacturer: HarperTeen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0380732289
Release Date: 1999-10-06

Book Description

When Clare moves with her mother from London to Ravensmere, an historic English estate, she can't shake the feeling that the residents already know her, especially Mark, a maddeningly attractive biker. Clare also feels compelled to take midnight walks in Ravensmere's abandoned China Garden. Then her mother reveals that their own past is tragically linked to the estate. But when Clare discovers that Ravensmere is in grave danger, will she risk her future-and Mark's-to save it?

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars An amazing fantasty/mysery set in the English countryside.......2007-10-05

This is an amazing fantasy/mystery/romance. It is about a girl who is slowly unravelling the mystery of her mother's past and her future, after they move to a beautiful and mysterious country estate in England. The story is very original and filled with symbolism.
I definitely recommend reading it. I gave it 4.5 stars, rather than 5 because I am extremely picky about what I consider a 5 star book. The only qualm I had with this book was that the romance seemed a bit shallow. It was based almost entirely on a fate they seemed unable to escape, and instantaneous sexual attraction. The sexual content is a bit mature for teens too.
Aside from that, I really liked it.

5 out of 5 stars China Garden.......2007-09-10

ISBN 0380732289 - With teens the target audience, and with teens largely able to pick their own reading material without mom and dad nosing in, let me at least note that the sex scenes aren't as bad as romance novels for the grown-up audience, but they're there.

Clare and her mother, Frances, have some trouble getting along lately, partly because of the boy Clare's been dating. Once somewhat idealistic, Clare has taken up Adrian's opinions, which tend toward the "every man for himself", greedy sort. This is a little thing compared to what's coming next - Frances has taken a job as a private nurse and tells Clare, basically, that she ought to stay behind in London. Clare, however, makes up her own mind (for once) and decides to go along to Ravensmere, where her mother will be caring for 87 year old Mr. Aylward. Slowly, long-hidden truths begin to come to light.

So many things Clare thought she knew - from where her mother was born, to her own name - turn out to be half-truths or outright lies. Frances had spent Clare's entire life protecting her from Ravensmere and the legacy that will be hers, no matter what she does. With a history that might well go back tens of thousands of years, Ravensmere and the families tied to it protect a secret so powerful that the head of the Aylward family and his bride, always a Kenward daughter, must protect it with their lives.

Really well done, with a nice build up (that others found too slow) that leaves you wondering where everything is headed. As the secrets are revealed to the reader, and to Clare, understanding begins to dawn - but the real secret is beyond your guessing. You're going to have to read it to find out!

On the negative side, there's not much. At one point Clare snaps "Cat fleas don't live on humans." at Roger Fletcher, which is just stupid, since there's no such thing as "cat fleas" and fleas DO live on humans. And I hate to say it, but the ending wasn't as well done as the rest of the book. If Clare and Mark hadn't actually SAID what it was that they were sworn to protect, I'd still have no idea. Don't let that scare you off, though, because this one is one you'll be sorry to miss out on!

5 out of 5 stars my favorite book.......2007-09-10

This is my favorite book ever. Mystery, intrigue, incredible plot and character development, romance, it's got it all! Liz Berry is a great author.

4 out of 5 stars A Mystery Woven With Skill.......2007-09-06

An intricate web of lore, romance, and mystery, this novel raises some interesting thoughts about the pressure of inheritance and the suffocating nature of responsibility. The plot is well thought out and mysterious, and as a reader you can feel yourself being slowly sucked into the story, lured by the many cryptic clues that lead up to the climax.

Ravensmere, the old country estate that is the setting of the story, is so deeply saturated with history and emotion that it is almost like a character, too alive and potent to be merely a part of the scenery. It creates a mysterious, intoxicating mood for the book simply through its presence, and provides the perfect location for a subtle mystery story.

In much the same way, Clare Meredith provides the perfect heroine for such a story. She is sharp, level-headed and sensible, believable and realistic, just like any ordinary person until she comes to Ravensmere and discovers her seer-like powers and bizarre connection to the estate and its puzzling past.

The only major flaw that I discovered upon reading the novel was that it took a while to get into. Nothing really happened within the first hundred pages to capture my interest. The plot only really starts speeding up after Clare meets Mark, and even then it could be quite slow-moving at times. Rather then hauling the reader in with explosive action or suspense, the author relies on her elaborate plot with its many mysterious references to draw your attention.

5 out of 5 stars the best.......2007-08-11

I have read this book over and over again. I may have read it for the first time at about the age of twelve, but I do feel that the book is captivating for woman of any age. It is mystical, but in a way that feels real and like I might belong, too, to an estate like Ravensmere.
I have been inexplicably drawn to this book, like Claire to Ravensmere, the garden and the biker, for ages.
On top of that I have discovered that the author is one of the nicest around!
The book is magic!
Fruitful Sites: Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Fruitful Sites: Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China
    Craig Clunas , and Craig Clunas
    Manufacturer: Duke University Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

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    ASIN: 0822318008

    Book Description

    Gardens are sites that can be at one and the same time admired works of art and valuable pieces of real estate. As the first account in English to be wholly based on contemporary Chinese sources, this innovative, beautifully illustrated book grounds the practices of garden-making in Ming dynasty China (1368&ndash;1644) firmly in the social and cultural history of the day.
    Who owned Ming gardens? Who visited them? How were they represented in words, in paintings, and in visual culture generally, and what meanings did these representations hold at different levels of Chinese society? How did the discourse of gardens intersect with other discourses such as those of aesthetics, agronomy, geomancy, and botany? By examining the gardens of the city of Suzhou from a number of different angles, Craig Clunas provides a rich picture of a complex cultural phenomenon—one that was of crucial importance to the self-fashioning of the Ming elite.
    Drawing on a wide range of recent work in cultural theory, the author provides for the first time a historical and materialist account of Chinese garden culture, and replaces broad generalizations and orientalist fantasy with a convincing picture of the garden&rsquo;s role in social life. Fruitful Sites will appeal to all students of China&rsquo;s cultural history, to students of garden history from any part of the world, to art historians, and to readers engaged in Asian and cultural studies.

    Gardens of Longevity In China & Japan
    Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • Gardens of Longevity explains why a few designed landscapes are fabulous
    • rock in Chinese
    Gardens of Longevity In China & Japan
    Rizzoli
    Manufacturer: Rizzoli
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

    LandscapeLandscape | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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    ASIN: 0847808378
    Release Date: 1987-09-15

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Gardens of Longevity explains why a few designed landscapes are fabulous.......2007-03-28

    Gardens of Longevity is a beautiful book which illustrates why some landscape design immediately looks spectacular and feels "right", while most landscape design feels dead. The book relies upon the iconography of landscape paintings and gardens in Japan and China, but the principles apply to all types of design (painting, sculpture, architecture, as well as landscape).

    By analyzing original works of art and comparing them with western copies, the author explains the principles of allowing the dragon through. Those familiar with some branches of fung shui will understand that this means, in crude imagery, letting the good "chi" through and deflecting the bad "chi." However, what sounds like trendy gibberish to most scientific types, actually finds visual proof in this book.

    I am a successful practicing architect, who marries the design of landscape with my buildings and urban designs. This book comes closer to explaining how to do this, and why some landscapes (natural and human-made) are so spectacular and most are humdrum or worse than any other book I know of on this subject.

    The book also contains many examples to explain Chinese landscape painting to westeners which give us the aesthetics to "see" and then value an aesthetic tradition different from that of western Europe.

    Incredibly, one example from the book, on a larger, geological scale, illustrated by the river drainage of China, explains why the country is killing the dragon which has sustained it for thousands of years, by damming and polluting the Yangtze, Yellow, and other rivers.

    I can't say enough good things about this book. It's just marvelous. I have gone back to it many times to refresh my knowledge and to review the examples.

    3 out of 5 stars rock in Chinese.......2000-01-25

    I would like to read the digist about book. I am interested in rock in garded in China.
    Gardens of Pleasure: Eroticism and Art in China
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • Pages of pleasure
    • One-Hundred Eighty Pages of Sheer Joy!
    Gardens of Pleasure: Eroticism and Art in China
    Ferdinand M. Bertholet
    Manufacturer: Prestel Publishing
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    Binding: Hardcover

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    ASIN: 3791330470

    Book Description

    "Well documented and researched, this beautifully produced book contains a treasure-trove of Chinese erotic art."

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Pages of pleasure.......2005-09-10

    Maybe it wasn't altruism that led Bertholet share his collection in this book. I'm grateful anyway. It's an outstanding collection of Chinese erotic art, from about the end of the 17th century to the late 19th. The works here are all silk paintings, except for a few drawings. They are printed in beautiful color, large enough for easy reading, with expanded details of a few. Bertholet adds plenty of useful commentary (much of which I skipped, I admit). He also adorns most pages with brief extracts from classic Chinese poetry, all on the topic of physical love.

    Two things stand out in every artwork and in the collection as a whole. First is the gentle, consensual tone. The closest thing to aggression is a jealous wife twisting the ear of a husband caught 'in flagrante,' and that's more humorous than anything. Voyeurism, whether peeking in on a lady's solitary pleasure, secret viewer of a couple's engagement, or the reader's own participation with the artwork, is always un-threatening. Humor is always close to the surface, the natural good humor of happy people.

    The second thing that strikes a Western eye is the very non-Western conventions these artists followed in rendering men and women. The figures are very similar - women aren't given the guitar figure one might expect, and men have rounded and nearly hairless bodies. Women's breasts get only a little attention, and are covered by a bandeau or bib in many scenes. Genitalia aren't exaggerated, and their realistic scale may jar an eye that expected size and importance to go together.

    But that's why these works are so enjoyable. They aren't Western, they're a very different look at the thing all people have in common. They're still beautiful, both in the Chinese tradition and in the visual celebration of sex.

    //wiredweird

    5 out of 5 stars One-Hundred Eighty Pages of Sheer Joy!.......2004-03-03

    This stunning collection of more than 100 color illustrations from the Bertholet Collection is a magnificent achievement. Prestel has created a thoroughly engaging publication here, and never before has the world been able to view most of these breathtaking visions of love and sex from pre-modern China. Much of the visual works date to the 18th century. But, in addition to the visual feast, the entire book overflows with verses that match the age and mood of each work of art, as well as essays on the history of the art form, the effect of Taoism on erotica, Confucianism, the trials a husband undergoes getting his wife to accept a concubine, and even the history of Bertholet's collection itself, and lots more. This is a fascinating read! Intellectual, artistic, and even at times, quite humorous, this is a superb collection of erotic imagery and one of the most enjoyable publications one will find in this genre. This is one book that owners should proudly display on their "coffee-tables" for all to enjoy.
    Chinese Landscapes: The Village As Place
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Chinese Landscapes: The Village As Place

      Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

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      ASIN: 0824814134
      The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting
      Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
      • Wonderful resource
      • Essential textbook for sumi-e and Chinese brush painters
      • The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting
      • A must
      • Great reference
      The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting
      Michael J. Hiscox , and Mai-mai Sze
      Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      1. The Way of the Brush: Painting Techniques of China and Japan The Way of the Brush: Painting Techniques of China and Japan
      2. Chinese Brushwork in Calligraphy and Painting: Its History, Aesthetics, and Techniques Chinese Brushwork in Calligraphy and Painting: Its History, Aesthetics, and Techniques
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      ASIN: 0691018197

      Book Description

      Originally published as Volume 2 of The Tao of Painting, this is the first English translation of the famous Chinese handbook, the "Chieh Tzu Yüan Hua Chuan" (original, 1679-1701). Mai-mai Sze has translated and annotated the texts of instructions, discussions of the fundamentals of painting, notes on the preparation of colors, and chief editorial prefaces.

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars Wonderful resource.......2007-03-08

      I am a student of Chinese painting and this book was recommended by our teacher as the most reliable reference book for Chinese painting. I am very pleased with this purchase since it is everything that I expected.

      5 out of 5 stars Essential textbook for sumi-e and Chinese brush painters.......2005-09-27

      This manual has been used for centuries in China and Japan and illustrates all the basics needed to paint in oriental style, with helpful written pointers. Be aware that the black ink illustrations were originally wood-block prints so grey tones do not translate. Particularly useful for compositional study and models of outlline figures, animals and architectural elements. For more up-to-date and in-depth instruction in the Four Gentlemen, including stroke-by-stroke illustrations, try the "Book of Bamboo", "Book of Plum", "Book of Orchid" and "Book of Chrysanthemum" by Prof I-Hsiung Ju.

      4 out of 5 stars The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting.......2005-08-16


      Excellent book to understand how to work with Sumi brush.

      5 out of 5 stars A must.......2005-02-01

      Thanks to the Amazon:" look inside this book" I purchased the The Mustard Seed Garden Manual Of Painting. It is amazing how didatic and philosophical can be a text written three hundred years ago ! I could not stop reading since opened the first page: for those who paints or admires chinese pictures (or even calligraphy ) - it is really a must. I recommend to read carefully the : "look inside" because when you receive the book it will surprise you: it is much, much more than that. And, being a 640 pages book and in an almost squared form, it is also delightful to hold those messages that came from the past and is still valid today. Buy now, because if it goes out of print, for sure , you will repent to miss a Classic.

      4 out of 5 stars Great reference.......2004-01-02

      The illustrations are a wonderful source of reference and inspiration for the beginning and intermediate painter. There are plenty of examples to get you started if you're thinking of trying something new and aren't quite sure how to approach it. The sections I find myself using all the time are trees and human elements.

      I learned from a teacher when I was living in Japan, so the bad translation doesn't bother me. I use this book for the images, which is what you really should buy it for. If you want something more of step-by-step instruction for the very beginner, this book isn't it.
      Gardens in China
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • The beauty of the garden
      • Simply Marvellous
      Gardens in China
      Peter Valder
      Manufacturer: Timber Press, Incorporated
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

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      Similar Items:
      1. The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture, Third Edition The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture, Third Edition
      2. The Garden Plants of China The Garden Plants of China
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      ASIN: 0881925551

      Book Description

      In this new companion book to The Garden Plants of China, Peter Valder describes more than 200 gardens he has visited in China. He documents temple courtyards and gardens, evocative enclosures of ancient burial grounds and imperial tombs, and public parks, botanical gardens, and arboreta, most of which have sprung up since 1949.

      Gardens in China is illustrated with more than 500 color photographs, many of them depicting gardens not previously illustrated in any Western publication, as well as reproductions of illustrations of historical interest. With their distinctive characteristics, the gardens of China are among the most fascinating in the world. This book is essential reading for visitors to China with an interest in gardens, garden history, and Chinese culture.

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars The beauty of the garden.......2003-06-01

      Peter Valder first became interested in GARDENS IN CHINA, from learning about famous planthunters in the 19th and early 20th centuries. His first trip, in 1980, was only as one of a small group visiting cultivars of camellia reticulata in Kunming and a famous plant collecting site, at Emei Shan. He went back to China 14 years later, on a photograph trip of wisterias.

      At that point he realized three important things. First, he had a basically correct understanding of Chinese gardens, from the famous willow-pattern porcelain. The Thomas Turner design, from 1779, showed the Chinese garden as it tended to be, with water; trellis work; rocks; fancifully-shaped plants, such as the weeping willow; and buildings.

      What the author went on to learn was that what was in Chinese gardens was based on specific Chinese beliefs. Two main sources for these beliefs were Daoism and Buddhism. Daoists believed in people and world as one, particularly through nature. But nature didn't have to look like nature. The Chinese didn't have the Native American respect for keeping the landscape and nature as close to how they were naturally. The Chinese in fact had no problem changing watercourses, making hills and lakes, and putting in buildings, as focal points, memorials and scenic viewpoints.

      The ancient Chinese believed immortal beings flew about on the backs of cranes. These immortals supposedly lived on the islands of Fangzhang, Penglai and Yingzhou, in the eastern sea off the coast of Shandong. So islands were made in lakes, in the hopes of getting immortals to land there.

      Likewise, Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West, supposedly lived in the Kunlun mountains. Whoever ate peaches from her beautiful orchards there lived forever. So Chinese gardens often had fake mountains.

      Mountains were also among the places where the immortals lived. They were important in Daoism and Buddhism too. Daoists worshipped five mountains, as standing at the corners and center of the Chinese world. Buddhists worshipped heavenly and sacred peaks, which they called, respectively, Mounts Sumeru and Potalaka.

      These fake mountains often had caves in them. This was because a beloved Chinese scholar, Tao Yuanming, was famous for telling a story about a fisherman who walked through a cave, into a utopian world. Caves could also be homes for the immortals. So caves became common in Chinese gardens.

      Likewise, plants and trees were often chosen for definite reasons. One was because of what they called to mind from Chinese art, everyday life, and literature. So Chinese horse chestnut, ginkgo, juniper, pine, and thuja became traditional garden trees. Bamboo, chrysanthemum, cymbidium, marvel of peru, pine, plum, and yucca became traditional garden plants. Citrus, figs, large-flowered gardenias, and jasminum sambac became traditional potted plants.

      Second, how the Chinese traditionally designed their gardens ended up, later, as common parts of Western gardening. They actually had among our earliest rock, topiary and water gardens. A brownish-yellow limestone, known as huangshi, was especially popular. Its veining called to mind the brushwork of classical Chinese paintings. The Chinese often put, among living bamboos, such unusual garden stones as fossilized tree trunks, stalactites, stalagmites, and standing pieces of fossilized wood. They often trained such vines as wisteria to grow around and over the hardened wood.

      The Chinese started up training plant growth, known as topiary, much earlier than Western gardeners. They trained shrubs to grow, over a wire framework, into the shapes of birds, bridges, dolphins, dragons, fans, fishes, flower baskets, houses and square-sailed boats. They even shaped human figures, with added-on china or wooden feet, hands and heads.

      In their water gardens, the Chinese often went in for what's known as landboats. Landboats, as well as Chinese dwarfed trees, were part of what later came to be known in English as potted scenery. For landboats were actually very small, but complete and detailed, landscapes left floating in garden pools.

      Thirdly, Western gardening actually returned the favor. So there were long-lasting influences on Chinese gardening, especially from the United States. Chinese gardeners took up such American plants as African marigolds; cymbidium, most often as orchids; 4 o'clocks; ipomoea quamoclit; red salvias; and yucca gloriosa. In addition, devout Buddhists took to magnolia grandiflora. Its flowers were so like those of their sacred lotus.

      Any reader who has followed Peter Valder's photography and writing career won't be let down. The organization is attention-keeping, the photography gorgeous, the writing clear. His book fits perfectly in between the earlier THE CHINESE GARDEN by Joseph Cho Wang and the most recent THE CHINESE GARDEN by Maggie Keswick.

      5 out of 5 stars Simply Marvellous.......2002-07-29

      Peter Valder has now established himself as one of the world's major horticultural writers with his "Gardens in China" the new companion volume to his wonderful, award winning, "Garden Plants of China". This book looks at over 200 gardens that the author has visited over a period of twenty years. It is a richly descriptive work both historically and geographically and is extremely readable, to the point that it is almost impossible to put down. The photography once again is simply stunning. Besides the famous classical gardens of Suzhou Valder gives a fascinating overview of temple courtyards , parks, cemeteries, botanical gardens and arboreta(many established since the cultural revolution) in every corner of this vast country. If you are contemplating a visit to China there could be no better preparation than reading Valder's "Gardens in China". If you are not going to China then travel there vicariously via this magnificent book. A must for every serious garden lovers bookshelf.
      Penjing: The Chinese Art of Miniature Garden: The Shanghai Botanic Garden
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • Gives new meaning to neat, elegant
      Penjing: The Chinese Art of Miniature Garden: The Shanghai Botanic Garden
      Hu Yunhua
      Manufacturer: Timber Press, Incorporated
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

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      1. Mountains in the Sea: The Vietnamese Miniature Landscape Art of Hon Non Bo Mountains in the Sea: The Vietnamese Miniature Landscape Art of Hon Non Bo
      2. Penjing: Worlds of Wonderment: A Journey Exploring an Ancient Chinese Art and Its History, Cultural Background, and Aesthetics Penjing: Worlds of Wonderment: A Journey Exploring an Ancient Chinese Art and Its History, Cultural Background, and Aesthetics

      ASIN: 0917304705

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars Gives new meaning to neat, elegant.......1998-10-20

      Nice plates, good text, an inspiring book. Well worth the high retail price I paid for it.

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