Chinese Garden
Chinese Garden
Chinese Garden
The borrowed views are among the most important in a garden design. There are
borrowings from distant scenes and from nearby scenes from above and from below,
and borrowings at different seasons of the year. When touched by objects and emo-
tions, our eyes are caught and our hearts leap. It is like a painting in which ideas
are suggested beyond the brushstrokes.
—Ji Cheng (born 1582), Yuan Ye (the earliest extant treatise from the Ming
dynasty on Chinese architecture and garden design of the period)
This publication for teachers focuses on the Chinese Garden Court, one of the
most pleasant and popular parts of the Museum’s Asian art galleries. Its archi-
tectural elements, rock formations, plantings, and pond not only provide a peace-
ful environment but also offer visitors a window through which they can glimpse
how nature was traditionally perceived in Chinese culture and how these ideas
influenced the arts of this ancient civilization. The goal of this publication is to
inspire young people and adults to look more closely at works of art—to discover
that details are essential to understanding an artwork’s meaning. This resource
may be used as an introduction to looking at and interpreting the Chinese Garden
Court or as a springboard for exploring how it reflects the culture in which it was
made. While teachers and students may use these materials in the classroom,
study and preparation are best rewarded by a visit to the Museum.
The fabrication of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Astor Court and Ming
Room in 1981 created the first authentic reconstruction of a Chinese garden in
a North American museum. Museum trustee Brooke Astor’s enthusiasm for the
installation—inspired by her own childhood in China—has meant that visitors
of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy this tranquil retreat and gain revealing in-
sights into fundamental Chinese cultural concepts about art and nature. We
hope the educational materials in this publication will help teachers and stu-
dents gain further knowledge about the garden and Chinese civilization.
Nature within Walls: The Chinese Garden Court summarizes years of re-
search, teaching, and thought by many colleagues at The Metropolitan Museum
of Art. Associate Museum Educator Elizabeth Hammer prepared the text, with
© 2003 by The Metropolitan Museum
the unstinting support of Maxwell K. Hearn, curator of Chinese paintings, who
of Art, New York
Published by The Metropolitan also played the key role in preparing the video tour on the accompanying cd-
Museum of Art, New York
rom. Judith G. Smith, administrator of the Department of Asian Art, attentively
This resource for educators is made
reviewed the text and layout and supplied many insightful suggestions. Felicia
possible by The Freeman Foundation.
Blum, associate museum educator, prepared the classroom activities.
isbn 1-58839-102-7 (The Metropolitan
Museum of Art) The Metropolitan’s Education staff, drawing on years of teaching in the Chi-
isbn 0-300-10344-1 (Yale University Press)
nese Garden Court, contributed substantially to the effort. Nicholas Ruocco,
Library of Congress Control Number:
2003110842 Stella Paul, and Deborah Howes supplied crucial advice and support, as did
Edith Watts, Michael Norris, Rika Burnham, Alice Schwarz, Barbara Woods,
Written by Elizabeth Hammer
Classroom applications by Felicia Blum Karen Ohland, and Rebecca Arkenberg. Teresa Russo, working with Jessica
Video tour written and narrated by
Maxwell K. Hearn
Glass, Marla Mitchnick, Paul Caro, Stephen Rotker, and Felix Cotto, produced
the accompanying cd-rom. Catherine Fukushima shepherded the project,
Project manager: Catherine Fukushima
Senior managing editor: Merantine Hens Merantine Hens supervised editorial work, and Masha Turchinsky oversaw design
Senior publishing and creative manager:
Masha Turchinsky
and production. Emily Roth and Naomi Niles refined the bibliography. Barbara
cd-rom producer: Teresa Russo Bridgers, Bruce Schwarz, and Karen Willis of the Photograph Studio supplied
Design by Binocular, New York
additional photographs of the garden; Robert Goldman handled additional im-
Color separations and printing by
Union Hill Printing Co., Inc.,
aging. Pamela Reboy provided valuable research. Christine Scornavacca and
Ridgefield, New Jersey Justine Cherry-Macklin of the Development Office also provided invaluable assis-
Photographs of works in the Museum’s tance. Joseph Cho and Stefanie Lew of Binocular created the handsome design.
collections are by the Photograph Studio
of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Located in the heart of the Metropolitan Museum and of its Asian Art col-
lection, the Chinese Garden Court is a great work of art that offers solitude and
Cover: The Chinese Garden Court,
view toward the south wall inspiration for the contemplation of art. We extend our sincerest thanks to The
Freeman Foundation, which provided support for creating this publication.
Their dedication to the broader understanding of Asian art and culture has been
exemplary.
classroom activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Landscape paintings and
garden design closely
influenced each other.
While professional
garden designers were
consulted, especially
from the late Ming
dynasty onward, scholar-
gentlemen viewed the
opportunity to design a
garden as a stimulating
creative endeavor. A
noted garden designer
and landscape painter, Ji
Cheng, advised designers
to “take the whitened
wall as the painting pa-
per, and paint it with
rocks.” Similarly, many
mountains in landscape
paintings bear a closer
resemblance to garden
and table rocks than they
do to peaks in nature.
how to use this resource
This teacher resource examines the many components of the Museum’s Chinese
Garden Court. While this publication is intended primarily for social studies,
history, literature, and art teachers of grades 5 through 12, educators of other dis-
ciplines and grade levels may find it useful. The various elements of the garden
are most fully presented in the narrated video tour on the enclosed cd-rom. The
teacher may wish to review this tour before sharing it with students. This book-
let provides background material about gardens and nature in Chinese culture
for the educator’s preparations. Also included are suggestions for topics of discus-
sion and relevant activities for use in the classroom. This material is meant to
draw students’ attention to some of the key features of the garden and to help
them understand how these details can embody fundamental cultural concepts.
A glossary (words defined in the glossary are called out in the margins) and a list
of bibliographic and other resources provide handy references. Of course, the
garden cannot be fully appreciated without actually visiting it.
The Museum has produced two other resources about the Chinese Garden
Court that the educator might find useful. Soon after the construction of the gar-
den court in 1980, the Department of Asian Art published a Bulletin entitled “A
Chinese Garden Court: The Astor Court at The Metropolitan Museum of Art,”
which provides detailed information on the garden’s components, its prototype
in China, and the role gardens played as a source of imagery in the visual arts
(see Resource section). Another useful resource that can help to prepare students
for a visit to the Museum is the video The Ming Garden, which focuses on the
construction of the Chinese Garden Court, including a description of the con-
genial collaboration between the Chinese craftsmen and the American builders.
5
The visitor to a Chinese
garden is presented
with numerous, ever-
changing views of the
garden that evoke the
experience of traveling
through a wilderness
setting or viewing a
landscape painting.
Throughout the garden,
terraces, doorways, and
pavilions frame vistas
for one to stop and
contemplate, while
natural stone steps
mark transition points
between the man-made
architectural environ-
ment and the irregular
and unpredictable world
of nature.
Nature and Chinese Gardens
9
The bare white walls
that enclose and isolate
the garden are pierced
by windows with lattice
patterns made from
low-fired ceramic tiles.
Each design is different,
adding yet more visual
diversity to the garden.
An interest in geometric
patterns characterizes
China’s earliest works of
art. These designs were
found in the Yuan Ye,
an early-seventeenth-
century Ming-dynasty
garden manual. Placing
plants or rocks in the
shallow spaces behind
these windows is a tradi-
tional device for creating
the illusion that further
vistas lie beyond, even
though the actual space
between the window and
the wall behind might
be minimal.
Deep Jade Green Spring
(Hanbi Quan) contains
goldfish, which add
color and liveliness.
because it was highly prized for its rich color, fine grain, and its ability to repel
insects. The horizontal beams and some of the rafters of the garden court are
made of fir; the curved rafters in the back of the Ming Room and the balustrades
are constructed of camphor wood; and the room’s window frames and lattice work
are made of gingko wood. The ceramic floor and ceiling tiles were produced in
a former imperial kiln outside Suzhou that was reopened for this project (page
13, bottom). The stonelike, bluish-gray color of the floor tiles is achieved by re-
ducing the amount of oxygen in the kiln during the firing.
Particularly distinctive and prized are the ornamental Taihu rocks (page 14),
which provide important focal points in the garden. Some of these rocks have
been “piled up” to form “peaks,” others form a grotto for the pond and beds for
the plantings. Because rocks and plantings are intended to evoke a wilderness
landscape, blossoming plants are limited. Instead, the cycle of seasons is repre-
sented by specimen flowering plants in ceramic pots, which are moved into the
garden as they come into bloom. Because the Museum’s garden court is an
interior space maintained at a constant temperature, trees—pines, maples, and
plum—that need climatic changes to thrive are absent. But because Suzhou has
a mild climate, most of the garden’s plantings are also found there, including
“bookmark grass” (mondo grass or liriope), which grows along the edges of the
rocks, and the large banana plant, the tallest tree in the garden.
12
The hallmark of Chinese
wood construction is its
accomplished joinery,
which has served as the
basis for constructing
both buildings and furni-
ture since ancient times.
To join two pieces of
wood, carpenters carved
projecting tenons for in-
sertion into correspond-
ingly shaped holes, or
mortises. Glue was used
only sparingly and nails
not at all. When joins
needed additional stabil-
ity, wood pins or pegs
were passed through the
wooden members to
hold them in place.
13
nature in chinese philosophy
Since ancient times, Chinese culture has paid great attention to the natural world,
and even very early philosophical and historical texts contain sophisticated con-
ceptions about the nature of the cosmos. These ideas predate the formal devel-
opment of the native belief systems of Daoism and Confucianism, and as part of daoism
the foundation of Chinese culture, they were incorporated into the fundamen- confucianism
tal tenets of these two philosophies. Similarly, these ideas strongly influenced
Buddhism when it arrived in China in the first or second century a.d. Therefore, buddhism
the ideas about nature described below, as well as their manifestation in Chinese
gardens, are consistent with all three belief systems.
The natural world has long been conceived in Chinese thought as a self-
generating complex arrangement of elements that are continuously changing
and interacting. Uniting these disparate elements is the Dao, or the Way. Dao is the dao
dominant principle by which all things exist, but it is not understood as a causal
or governing force. Chinese philosophy tends to focus on the relationships be-
“Scholars’ rocks” refer tween the various elements in nature rather than on what made or controls them.
to fantastic stones that,
Within this structure, each part of the universe is made up of complemen-
because of their distinc-
tive shape, texture, and tary aspects known as yin and yang. Yin, which can be described as passive, dark, yin-yang
color, were deemed secretive, negative, weak, feminine, and cool, and yang, which is active, bright,
appropriate for display in revealed, positive, masculine, and hot, constantly interact and shift from one
the scholar’s studio. By
extreme to the other, giving rise to the rhythm of nature and unending change.
the Tang dynasty, three
principal aesthetic crite- Traditional Chinese gardens were meant to offer a feeling of being in the
ria had been identified larger natural world, so that the occupant could capture the sensations of wan-
for judging these stones dering through the landscape. Compositions of garden rocks were viewed as
as well as the larger
mountain ranges and towering peaks; miniature trees and bushes suggested
examples featured in
gardens: leanness (shou), ancient trees and forests; and small ponds or springs represented mighty rivers
perforations (tou), and and oceans. In other words, the garden presented the larger world of nature in
surface texture (zhou). microcosm. In keeping with this goal to recreate actual landscapes, masses of
These criteria led to a
colorful cultivated blossoms, flowerbeds of regular geometric shape, and singu-
preference for stones
that were vertically lar viewing points (such as the formal gardens of Versailles, for example) were all
oriented—often with avoided. Instead, the many aspects of a Chinese garden are revealed one at a
a top-heavy shape— time. A garden’s scenery is constantly altered by the shifting effects of light and
riddled with cavities
the seasons, which form an important part of one’s experience of a garden and
and holes, and richly
textured with furrows, help engage all the senses, not just sight. (Although the Museum’s garden court
dimples, or striations. is protected by a skylight, Chinese gardens are open to the air and, therefore, are
affected by the weather.)
According to Daoist beliefs, man is a crucial component of the natural world
and is advised to follow the flow of nature’s rhythms. Daoism also teaches that
15
people should maintain a close relationship with nature for optimal moral and
physical health. The interdependence of man and nature is expressed in Chi-
nese gardens by the presence of pavilions and walkways among the plants, rocks,
and water. Similarly, Chinese gardens formed an integral part of an enclosed
family compound that included residential buildings, kitchens, studios, and stor-
age rooms for multiple generations of a family—people could step into or glimpse
the beauty of nature at any moment in their daily routine.
Chinese gardens were arranged in accordance with a set of principles for
fengshui siting structures and interpreting landscape configurations—known as fengshui
or geomancy. Thus, before a structure was to be built, a fengshui master would
be engaged to identify a location and directional placement that would take
qi advantage of the beneficial flow of qi, the enlivening energy of the cosmos. The
structure and its accompanying natural elements were placed to conduct the
earth’s qi along the best possible course. The earth’s qi influences the qi of people
Eroded rocks were piled
in ways that can either aid or harm their health, happiness, and fortune. (Tradi- in horizontal arrange-
tional Chinese medicine is similarly concerned with the proper flow of qi within ments to suggest moun-
the body and achieving a harmonious balance among influential elements.) tain ranges. Typically, a
tall vertical rock was
One of the most important considerations in garden design is the harmonious
placed to tower above
arrangement of elements expressing different aspects of yin and yang. The jux- the others as a dominant
taposition and blending of opposites can be seen in the placement of irregularly peak. This composition
shaped rocks next to smooth, rectangular clay tiles; soft moss growing on rough mimics the appearance
of the character for
rocks; flowing water contained by a craggy grotto; and a dark forecourt that pre-
mountain (shan).
cedes entry into a sun-drenched central courtyard. The Chinese word for land- Although garden rocks
shanshui scape, shanshui, embodies the juxtaposition of opposites joining the characters were usually not directly
for mountain (shan) and water (shui). associated with a specific
form, garden owners
Since at least the Han dynasty (206 b.c. – 220 a.d.), mountains have been thought
enjoyed imagining the
of as the home of immortals and Daoist deities, as well as the point of communi- shapes of animals, drag-
cation between Earth and the heavens. The ideograph for immortal, (xian), is ons, and other creatures
made up of a combination of the character for person, (ren), and the character in their contours. For ex-
ample, the curators of
for mountain, (shan). Bronze and ceramic conical incense burners depicting
the Department of Asian
overlapping mountain peaks filled with small images of people and animals (when Art refer to the low rock
the object was used, it would have been surrounded by cloudlike billows of smoke) on the right as “Snoopy.”
are early visualizations of this notion. (For an example, see the Museum’s earthen-
ware incense burner from the Eastern Han period ([25 – 220 a.d.], 65.74.2.) There
are numerous legends in Chinese literature, most notably Peach Blossom Spring by
the fifth-century poet Tao Yuanming (365 – 427 a.d.), that tell of hidden paradises
accessible only through passageways in mountain grottoes. While immortal beings
and paradises are associated primarily with Daoism, Buddhist texts also describe
the heavenly abodes of some of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas (enlightened beings)
16
as mountainous islands. This mystical quality of mountain retreats inspired a pref-
erence in garden design for doorways that separated the garden from the everyday
world; rocks with convoluted, fantastic shapes; and the practice of incorporating
mythical references in the choice of names for gardens and their components.
According to historical records of the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1046 – 256 b.c.), the ear-
liest gardens in China were vast parks built by the aristocracy for pleasure and
hunting. Han-dynasty texts mention a greater interest in the ownership of rare
plants and animals, as well as an association between fantastic rocks and the myth-
ical mountain paradises of immortals. Elaborate gardens continued to be built
by members of the upper classes throughout China’s dynastic history.
A smaller, more intimate type of garden, represented by the Museum’s
Chinese Garden Court, also developed in China. Gardens of this kind are asso-
scholar-gentlemen ciated with scholar-gentlemen, or literati, and have been celebrated in Chinese
literature since the fourth century a.d. Paintings, poems, and historical books
describe famous gardens of the literati, which were often considered a reflection
of their owners’ cultivation and aesthetic taste. The number of private gardens,
especially in the region around Suzhou in southern China, grew steadily after
the twelfth century. Both the temperate climate and the great agricultural and
commercial wealth of the region encouraged members of the upper class to lavish
their resources on the cultivation of gardens. During the period of the Mongol
conquest in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, many literati in
this region found official employment both disagreeable and hard to obtain and
therefore sought a life exclusively devoted to self-cultivation and the arts. The
garden became the focus of an alternative lifestyle that celebrated quiet contem-
plation and literary pursuits, often in the company of like-minded friends. This
mode of life continued to flourish through the Ming period, when economic
prosperity and expanding literacy made possible a new class of educated patrons.
18
with a residence, gardens for leisurely activities, and an economic base. During
times of leisure—either at the end of a busy day or during extended periods of
retirement from official appointments—scholar-gentlemen retreated to their
gardens to enjoy the company of friends, read quietly, relax in a natural setting,
or engage in one of the Four Accomplishments. The Metropolitan Museum’s four accomplishments
painting Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden by Xie Huan (1983.141.3; above)
commemorates a gathering of influential fifteenth-century government minis-
ters in which the participants are depicted surrounded by the accoutrements of
these pastimes: painting, poetry, a chesslike game of strategy known as weiqi (pro-
nounced way-chee, and called go in Japanese), and playing the zither (qin). Con-
fucian teachings urged individuals to use such occasions to refresh their spirits
and to cultivate their moral character. According to Confucian precepts, when
Elegant Gathering in the attentions and efforts of an upright individual were not directed outward for
the Apricot Garden the benefit of others, they should be focused inward for self-cultivation, so that
(detail), Ming dynasty one would be better able to serve society in the future. Thus, gardens became an
(1368 – 1644), 1437;
important locus for study and artistic pursuits, as well as for social gatherings.
after Xie Huan (ca.
1370 – 1450); handscroll: Gardens also embodied virtues extolled by Daoism, which advocated a renunci-
ink and colors on silk, ation of politics and human affairs in order to harmonize oneself with the cos-
143⁄4 ✕ 943⁄4 in. (37.5 ✕ mic rhythms of nature. (A scholar-gentleman’s formal education consisted of in-
240.7 cm); Purchase,
tensive study of Confucian classics, while Daoist and Buddhist tenets formed an
The Dillon Fund Gift,
1989 (1989.141.3) important part of the culture in which he lived. Additionally, some individuals
were devoted practitioners of one tradition or the other. For this reason, as well
as a tendency in East Asia for different religions to blend and overlap, scholar-
gentlemen were influenced simultaneously by a variety of beliefs.)
Gardens provided scholar-gentlemen a means, at least in part, of achieving
these antithetical ideals of pursuing self-cultivation while fleeing from the “dust”
of the world and living in reclusion in nature. Wandering along a garden’s walk-
ways and gazing at its changing views, one could imagine oneself in a mountain
retreat, either alone or in the company of convivial companions. The wish for a
simple, rustic life appears frequently in Chinese literature and the visual arts.
19
Ming Room
Wen Zhengming (1470–
1559), The Garden of the
Unsuccessful Politician:
The Banana Tree Railing,
Ming dynasty (1368 –
1644), 1551; leaf from an
album: ink on paper,
101⁄2 ✕ 103⁄4 in. (26.2 ✕
27.3 cm); Gift of Douglas
Dillon, 1979 (1979.458.1)
22
gate entrance bears an inscription in archaic seal script reading “In Search of
Quietude” (Tan You). Over the doorway at the northeast end of the garden lead-
ing to the veranda in front of the Ming Room is written “Elegant Repose” (Ya
Shi). The half-pavilion is entitled Cold Spring Pavilion (Lengquan Ting) and
the Ming Room (Ming Xuan) is identified by a carved wood plaque inlaid with
chips of coal that hangs above the couch at the center of the hall.
Many of the plants in a Chinese garden were selected for their symbolic
meanings. Because it keeps its green leaves long into winter and bends but never
breaks in a storm, bamboo came to symbolize a man of integrity, one who main-
tains his ideals even through adversity. Orchids were prized as elegant embodi-
ments of the virtuous gentleman, their fragrance a metaphor for loyalty. Pine
trees, which remain green through the winter, were esteemed as symbols of
longevity, their old age made obvious if they had a gnarled appearance. The
narrow-leafed mondo grass, a favorite in Chinese gardens and paintings, grew in
profusion around the house of Zheng Kangcheng (127 – 200 a.d.), a famous scholar
and teacher of Confucian classics. His neighbors referred to the grass as “Kang-
cheng’s bookmarks,” which evolved into the name “bookmark grass” (page 4,
lower right corner).
As can be seen in the painting of a scholar seated in a pavilion (page 22) by
Wen Zhengming (1470 – 1559), one of the foremost members of literati society of
the sixteenth century, gardens frequently inspired paintings. Here a learned gen-
tleman, at ease in loosened robes, pauses while reading and writing to gaze out
of his studio at the verdant garden. On the page opposite this painting, Wen
Zhengming wrote:
Similar scenes can be found decorating ceramic, lacquer, and jade vessels, just
as related sentiments and imagery inspired many poets throughout the centuries.
23
classroom activities
If you visit the Museum, locate the various places in the garden court where
Chinese inscriptions form part of the decoration. Discuss how the writing
styles differ and what they add to the garden’s appeal.
If you were standing in the garden court, how would you experience the five
senses of smelling, hearing, tasting, feeling, and looking?
Ask the students to compare the design of the garden court to those of other
gardens (or parks) that they may have visited.
24
classroom exercises
Wood, stone, and clay are the primary building materials in the garden court.
The presence of water, green plants, and the uniquely shaped Taihu rocks com-
plete the environment. Ask the students to take on the role of garden architect
and to design and draw a plan for an original walled garden using the natural
elements of wood, stone, clay, and water. This can be a collaborative exercise
with two or three students working on a single plan.
The garden court offers the visitor a variety of different viewpoints: a meandering
walkway, a raised terrace, and a covered pavilion. Scale, or the relative size of ob-
jects one to another or to the viewer, is an important element in garden design.
Often, the garden’s rocks, rising above the flat tile courtyard, are viewed imagi-
natively as if they were mountains rising out of the ocean or a sea of clouds. Set
against a white wall, the garden’s elements might also be likened to a handscroll
composition. Ask the students to draw a group of rocks as if it were a mountain
or an island, or to recompose the garden as if it were a landscape in a horizontal
scroll painting.
25
glossary
buddhism: one of the major religions of the world, it was founded by Prince
Siddhartha in northern India in the fifth century b.c. when, after achieving en-
lightenment, he became the Buddha Shakyamuni (563 – 483 b.c.). The basic
tenets of Buddhism are that life is impermanent, illusory, and filled with suffer-
ing, conditions caused by desire and ignorance. The cessation of suffering (nir-
vana) is achieved when all desires and emotional attachments are extinguished.
Buddhism was transmitted to China in the first or second century a.d. from Cen-
tral Asia and became widespread by the fifth century.
dao: (pronounced daow, but often romanized as Tao) “the Way” or “the Way
of the Universe,” Dao is a fundamental term in Chinese philosophy for the un-
changeable, transcendent source of all existence. This principle—encompassing
action and nonaction, void and matter, knowledge and ignorance—remains con-
stant as all else changes.
four accomplishments: the arts that every educated individual was ex-
pected to either practice or at least appreciate. They include painting, calligra-
phy, music (especially the zitherlike qin [koto in Japanese]), and the game of
strategy known as weiqi (go in Japanese).
26
ming dynasty (1368 – 1644): During the early years of the Ming dynasty, the
central Chinese bureaucracy was rebuilt and the imperial institutions reestab-
lished after the disruptive period of Mongol rule under the Yuan dynasty (1272 –
1368). This era was also a time of rapid economic and commercial expansion in
southern China, which gave rise to new cultural centers, expanded private pa-
tronage, and increased literacy. During the later years of the Ming, the court
weakened and lost control of the country, which erupted in numerous rebellions.
qi: (pronounced chee) literally “breath,” qi refers to the vital, creative force that,
according to ancient Chinese thought, energizes the cosmos, the earth, and
living beings.
27
resources
suggested reading
Keswick, Maggie. The Chinese Garden: History, Art, and Architecture. 3d. rev. ed.
Alison Hardie. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003.
Li, Chu-Tsing, and James C. Y. Watt, eds. The Chinese Scholar’s Studio: Artistic
Life in the Late Ming Period. New York: The Asia Society Galleries, 1987.
Morris, Edwin T. The Gardens of China: History, Art, and Meanings. New
York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1983.
Murck, Alfreda, and Wen Fong. “A Chinese Garden Court: The Astor Court
at The Metropolitan Museum of Art,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin
(Winter 1980/81).
Wang, Joseph C. The Chinese Garden. Images of Asia series. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1998.
videography
Ming Garden. 28 min. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1983.
The New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden at the Botanical Garden of Staten
Island, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, (718) 273-8200; www.sibg.org
web sites
Asia Society: www.askasia.org
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