Gardens of China

General

• A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization: Gardens by Patricia Buckley Ebrey (University of Washington).
• Chinese Gardens and Collectors' Rocks, by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A brief overview of the history of gardens in China illustrated with artworks in the Met collection.
• Gardens in China. The China subsection of the Garden and Landscape Guide at gardenvisit.com. Provides brief intros to some four dozen gardens in China and links them to Google satelite maps.
• Asian Historical Architecture. Includes recent photographs of gardens in China and elsewhere in Asia.
• Chinese Architecture Links by Ronald Knapp (SUNY New Paltz)
• china.org.cn. Contains numerous recent Chinese newspaper articles in English related to gardens in China. Type "gardens" or a more specific term in their search field.

  Old Depictions of Gardens

• Wangchuan Villa, Rubbing after Wang Wei (701-761). Interactive viewing of a rubbing from the 1617 stone engraving, as well as other Chinese handscrolls. Digital Scrolling Paintings Project (Center for the Art of East Asia, The University of Chicago).
• Wang Tingna and the Illustrations of the Gardens of the Hall Encircled by Jade. Interactive viewing of a handscroll of a 16th-century Chinese garden. Dumbarton Oaks, Garden and Landscape Studies.
• Ernst Boerschmann, Baukunst und Landschaft in China, vol. 1. Boerschmann, a German architect, took this collection of photographs documenting architecture and scenery between 1906 and 1909. The book was published in 1926 in Berlin. Accessible through the Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books.

  Jiangnan Gardens

• Suzhou Gardens and Architecture. On the website Asian Historical Architecture.
• Suzhou Municipal Administrative Bureau of Gardens.
• Suzhou Gardens, by the China Internet Information Center. Good, but unlabeled photographs by Chen Jianxing.
• Panoramic images of UNESCO registered Suzhou Gardens, by 1001 Wonders.
• Liu Yuan, the Lingering Garden in Suzhou. Photographs by Jun Shan, June 2001.
• Ge Yuan, Yangzhou
• Yuyuan, Shanghai. On the website Asian Historical Architecture.

  Beijing Gardens

• Public Parks and Formal Gardens in Beijing. Part of Beijing: A guide to China's Capital City.
• Prince Gong's Mansion (Gong wang fu). Wikipedia.
• Grand View Garden (Daguan Yuan). Built as a set for the 1987 CCTV series A Dream of Red Mansions (Honglou meng), and now a public park.
• Imperial Gardens:
  • Imperial Garden (Yu Yuan) in the Forbidden City, ChinaReport.com.
  • Ningshougong Gardens. Exhibition website, Peabody Essex Museum, including some video.
  • Garden of Established Happiness (Jianfu Yuan). Geremie Barme's review of the restoration report by May Goldsworth.
  • Beihai Park, Wikipedia.
  • Summer Palace (Yihe Yuan), Wikipedia.
  • Jingshan Park, Wikipedia.
  • Zhongshan Park, Wikipedia.

  • Yuanming Yuan

    • Special Issue on Yuanming Yuan, China Heritage Quarterly 8 (2006).
    • A Particular Account of the Emperor of China's Gardens near Pekin. Jean-Denis Attiret's description of the Yuanming Yuan of 1743.
    • The Sack of the Summer Palace. The famous open letter of 1861 by Victor Hugo in the original French.
    • Yuanming Yuan, le jardin du palais d'été. Detailed overview of the Yuanming Yuan based on a full publication of the 40-page album in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. The album was commissioned in 1738 by the Qianlong emperor and painted by the court painters Tang Dai and Shen Yuan. This site also includes various accounts of the gardens, including remarks by the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. The site is part of the website of the 2004 exhibition "Chine: l'Empire du trait." To access it, follow the link and click on the image at the bottom right.
    • Photographs of Yuanming Yuan by Ernst Ohlmer, 1860s.Teng Gu ed., Yuanmingyuan Oushi gongdian canji (Shanghai: Shanghai yinshuguan, 1033).
    • Yuanmingyuan: 150 Years After the Fire. Very detailed, seven-part CCTV documentary in the "Journeys in Time" series (2011). Covers the history of Yuanming Yuan until the end of the Qing dynasty. Also available on Youtube 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

  Plants, Horticulture, and Botany

• Magical Miniature Landscapes: A Comprehensive History of Bonsai and the Related Arts, by Robert J. Baran.
• peonygarden.com: The Peony Superstore, for a vast selection of modern peony varieties.
• Multilingual Plant Name Database, by Michel H. Porcher and friends in cooperation with the University of Melbourne.

Gardens of Japan

General

• Historic Gardens of Kyoto by Clifton Olds (Bowdoin College)
• JGarden - The Japanese Garden Database by Robert Cheetham
• Rock Gardens, Dry Landscapes, Hill Gardens, Karesansui, Kasan, Tsukiyama, Others. A subsection of the website Buddhism and Shintoism in Japan: A to Z Photo Dictionary of Japenese Sculpture and Art, by Marc Schumacher.
• Japanese Garden Dictionary: A Glossary for Japanese Gardens and Their History, by Ono Kenkichi and Walter Edwards. Based on their Bilingual Dictionary of Japanese Garden Terms (Nara: Kansai Process, 2001).

  Individual Gardens

• Shokoku-ji, with information on its affiliated temples Ginkaku-ji and Kinkaku-ji
• Daikaku-ji
• Katsura Palace. Introductory walking tour by Daniel Baum, 1998.
• Heian Jingu Shrine
• Mirei Shigemori Residence
• Photographs of Japanese Gardens by William Corey
• Photo Gallery of Japanese Zen Gardens, Kyoto. by Frantisek Staud.

Gardens of Korea

• Korean Gardens: Where Man and Nature Become One, short article by Chung Jae-hoon (Korean National University of Cultural Heritage)
• Royal Palaces, Cultural Properties Administration of South Korea
• SoswaewonOverview and images of the famous Joseon-era garden in Damyang County (South Korea), originally built by Yang San-bo (1503-1557) as a retirement retreat. (Asian Historical Architecture)
• Soswaewon video tour.
• Soswaewon Official Website.
• Anapji Royal Pond, part of the Asian Historical Architecture site.
• Gyeongju National Museum, for images of some of the artifacts excavated at Anapji Pond.
• Garden of Morning Calm, a scenic botanical garden designed by Han Sang-kyung in the early 1990s, in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

Additional Resources

• Research Center for Japanese Garden Art, Kyoto
• The Japanese Garden Journal
• Classical Historiography for Chinese History by Benjamin A. Elman (Princeton University)
• Chinese and Japanese Art History Virtual Library, by Nixi Cura

Back to Main Page