Lingering Garden

桂丽黎Jilin Literature and History Publishing House · ChinaOct 2018

Rating 3.6
Word count
27K words
Chapters
9
ISBN
9787546312804

Tags

Design Taihu StoneGarden ArtLandscape ImageryChanging ScenerySuzhou GardenSlow ReadingWorld HeritageLiterati Garden

Summary

The "Chinese Culture Knowledge Reader" series is a large-scale knowledge series compiled by Jilin Literature and History Press and Jilin Publishing Group Co., Ltd., with the participation of renowned domestic experts and scholars, aiming to spread China's outstanding traditional culture of five thousand years and enhance the cultural cultivation of the general public.

Editor's review

Lingering Garden is architect Gui Lili's substantial work of "paper architecture" and humanistic reflection, produced after long immersion in both professional practice and Jiangnan gardens. Far from a simple garden guide or architectural analysis, the book takes Suzhou's Lingering Garden as a concrete sample, penetrating the material forms of its pavilions, terraces, hills, waters, flowers, and trees to uncover the traditional Chinese spatial philosophy, the spiritual world of the literati, and refined living aesthetics that lie behind them. Drawing on her deep architectural training and keen cultural sensibility, the author recounts the garden's construction principles, spatial narrative, and generation of atmosphere, revealing how a garden, as a comprehensive artistic medium, mediates the relationship between humanity and nature, inner life and the outside world, the finite and the infinite.

The book's value lies in its unique dual perspective: it is both a professional, subtle technical reading (as in the analysis of path design, viewpoint control, borrowed scenery, and framed scenery) and a warm, profound humanistic writing (as in its probing of the garden owner's state of mind, the spirit of the era, and cultural metaphors). It successfully restores a static classical garden to a living body full of dynamism and dialogue. For readers, this is not only a journey of knowledge about gardens but also an exercise in thinking about how to settle body and mind and how to understand the essence of traditional Chinese aesthetics. The book's exquisite illustrations and detailed measured drawings complement the text, making the reading experience more three-dimensional. In today's rapid urbanization and modernization, the reflections on spatial quality and spiritual dwelling offered by Lingering Garden are particularly precious and timely.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Reading in chapter order is recommended: first build a basic understanding of the Lingering Garden's overall layout and history, then savor the details
  2. While reading, use the plans and photographs in the book to take a "paper tour" of the garden, trying to construct the spatial sequence in your mind by following the author's descriptions
  3. No need to rush; the book can serve as a bedside companion to be read in installments, focusing on one theme at a time (such as water design, rockery, or planting) and reflecting in light of your own observations

About the publisher

Jilin Literature and History Publishing House China · Founded in 1985

Jilin Literature and History Publishing House is a professional publisher specializing in literature, history, and social science titles, with publishing areas covering culture, theory, historical reading, military affairs, classical poetry, and medicine. Its list includes historical and military works such as National History 001: The Tragedy of the Southern Ming and Naval Battles 006: The Russian Navy before and after the Russo-Japanese War, as well as the "Chinese Culture Knowledge Reader" series, which covers Sun Tzu and military thought, ancient tea ware and Zisha art, Song Huizong Zhao Ji's contributions to painting, the Book of Songs, and Hai Rui. Medical works such as How a Famous Doctor Diagnoses Patients are also represented. Authors include Jin Kaicheng, Yang Liang, Zha Youyin, Luo Dalun, Zhiwen Fenghuo Studio, and Theodore Dodge. The press combines the popularization of literary and historical knowledge with focused research, forming a publishing profile centered on traditional culture readers and balancing academic and general reading.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 《中国文化知识读本》编委会
  3. 关于《中国文化知识读本》
  4. 一 长留天地间的留园
  5. 二 东西南北各异的留园
  6. 三 留园烂灿的历史
  7. 四 自然美与艺术美的融合
  8. 五 与众不同的留园
  9. 六 留园空间造景

FAQ

Does this book require professional architectural knowledge? No. The author explains professional concepts in an accessible way. Although it adopts an architectural perspective, the writing is elegant and easy to understand, and any reader interested in gardens and culture can draw inspiration from it.
How is Lingering Garden different from other books introducing Suzhou gardens? Its uniqueness lies in the identity of the author as an architect. It focuses more on interpreting the garden from the internal logic of spatial construction, visual experience, and design philosophy rather than offering a general historical and cultural introduction, providing more penetrating professional analysis.
Is this book suitable as an introductory read for understanding Chinese gardens? It is an excellent in-depth guide. As an introduction, its information density may be relatively high; it is advisable to gain the most basic understanding of Suzhou gardens first and then use this book for deeper enrichment, which will yield greater rewards.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

桂丽黎 Author

Gui Lili is an author about whom limited public information is available; details such as her nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background have not been clearly recorded. Within the library's holdings, she currently has one work, Lingering Garden (Liuyuan), which is classified under design, suggesting that her writing focuses on garden space and design culture. The book takes a celebrated classical Chinese garden as its subject and typically involves organizing and explaining aspects such as garden layout, architectural elements, rockery and water features, and borrowed scenery, making it a reader-oriented introduction to garden design knowledge. Because information about the author is scarce, it is difficult to assess the full range of her writing style or scholarly context, but her choice of subject indicates a tendency to use a specific garden as a point of entry for discussing how traditional design language is expressed in space. Such a work offers some reference value for understanding the design concepts of Jiangnan gardens and helps general readers build a preliminary understanding of classical Chinese gardens.