Entangled landscapes : early modern China and Europe

Description

"The exchange of landscape practice between China and Europe from 1500-1800 is an important chapter in art history. While the material forms of the outcome of this exchange, like jardin anglo-chinois and Européenerie are well documented, this book moves further to examine the role of the exchange in identity formation in early modern China and Europe. Proposing the new paradigm of "entangled landscapes", drawing from the concept of "entangled histories", this book looks at landscape design, cartography, literature, philosophy and material culture of the period. Challenging simplistic, binary treatments of the movements of "influences" between China and Europe, Entangled Landscapes reveals how landscape exchanges entailed complex processes of appropriation, crossover and transformation, through which Chinese and European identities were formed. Exploring these complex processes via three themes--empire building, mediators' constraints, and aesthetic negotiations, this work breaks new ground in landscape and East-West studies. Interdisciplinary and revisionist in its thrust, it will also benefit scholars of history, human geography and postcolonial studies.".--  Read more... Introduction: Entangles landscapes: a new research paradigm / Yue Zhuang and Andrea M. Riemenschnitter -- 1. Western orientals?: the theme of the Tartar in the Elizabethan discourse on Ireland / Mark Dorrian -- 2. Fear and pride: Sir William Chambers' Dissertation on oriental gardening, Burke's Sublime and China / Yue Zhuang -- 3. Layered landscape: textual and cartographical representations of Hangzhou's West lake, 16th-18th centuries / Roland Altenburger -- 4. Copperplates controversy: Matteo Ripa's Thirty-six view of Jehol and the Chinese rites controversy / Michele Fatica and Yue Zhuang -- 5. The "true wonder" in emperor Qianlong's garden labyrinths / Hui Zou -- 6. "Retreats or attacks?": scholars, poets and the politics of landscape gardening in China and the West / Stephen Bann -- 7. Culture and nature: human landscapes in Chinese and European imaginations / David E. Cooper -- 8. Postscript: Contemporary Chinese landscape aesthetics between crisis and creativity / Andrea M. Riemenschnitter.