Craig Clunas is Percival David Chair of Chinese Art at SOAS, London, and the author of Superfluous Things, Fruitful Sites: Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, and Art in China.
One of those rare books whose every chapter makes you think, often
about features of Chinese society that we have too long taken for
granted.... Inspiring, even entertaining.-- "Journal of Asian
Studies"
The sense of completeness that characterizes Clunas' writing has
something to do with the self-assured patter of his prose, with its
intense and unwavering focus on the subject before him. But it has
more to do with his reach, his willingness to cross the
disciplinary boundaries of his field.... An eye-opening pleasure to
read.-- "Ming Studies"
Bold and insightful.... Clunas establishes the importance of
material consumption as an index of much larger historical
processes. Students of early modern Europe as well as China will
find [his] arguments both pertinent and compelling.-- "American
Historical Review"
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