Ji Cheng, born in 1579, was a practicing garden designer in
the first half of the 17th century. He designed gardens for several
well-known individuals in the late Ming Dynasty, who supported the
original publication of this book, summing up his life's work and
experience.
Alison Hardie, a graduate of Oxford and Edinburgh
Universities, began to translate The Craft of Gardens when she was
working for the Hong Kong trading firm Jardine Matheson, in the
1980s. Later she wrote her doctoral thesis on Chinese garden design
in the late Ming, and is now a Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies
at the University of Leeds. She is internationally known as a
scholar of Chinese garden history.
Zhong Ming, who took the photographs for The Craft of
Gardens, is an artist whose work has been exhibited in many
countries including China, France, the UK, Japan, and Sweden. He
trained as an oil painter and first came to prominence as China
opened up after the Cultural Revolution, his portrait of the
philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre causing a sensation in 1979. He now
divides his time between China, France and the UK.
Maggie Keswick, who originally inspired and supported this
translation of The Craft of Gardens, grew up in Shanghai and Hong
Kong, where her father ran the trading company Jardine Matheson.
Based on her personal experience of traditional Chinese gardens,
she published The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture in
1978; it remains an indispensable introduction to the subject.
"This book offers a view into a strange and delightful world with
characteristics worth emulating." —The Atlantic
"[Ji Cheng's] delightful "how-to-do-it" manual, published around
1631, is here put in historical context by Maggie Keswick in her
foreword, while Alison Hardie provides an accurate and readable
translation, a scholarly preface and a wealth of necessary endnotes
based on the work of the modern Chinese editors." —Times Literary
Supplement
"Ji Cheng's book, beautifully translated and illustrated, gives a
wonderful insight into the Chinese concept of what a garden should
be and shows how, in the late Ming dynasty, the planning and
ownership of a garden was a way of life. Alison Hardie's excellent
notes lead you through this exquisite back door into the high
culture of 17th century China." —The Garden: Journal of the Royal
Horticultural Society
"This delightful book provides not only insights into Chinese
garden design but also a unique perspective on Chinese culture and
society in late Ming times. Garden designers and historians alike
can learn much from it." —Garden Design Journal
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