Xing Ruan is Dean and Guangqi Chair Professor of Architecture at the School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China.

• Prologue Part One: HeavenA Panacea from the Courtyard1. What Makes the Chinese HouseI. The Conceptual PartiII. Confucius’ CourtyardIII. From Object to Void2. Heaven and What is Below I. The Chinese Tian II. The King’s CityIII. The Built World and the Literary WorldPart Two: Heaven and Earth Equilibrium in the Courtyard3. The Divergent TowerI. The Emergence of the Individual and MetaphysicsII. Immortality and Freedom Imagined4. Secluded World and Floating LifeI. The Middling Hermit II. The Artful Transition5. A Deceiving SymbolI. The Travelling Merchant and the Oddity of their CourtyardII. Women in Chinese Marriage and HouseholdIII. Behind Good Taste and Refinement6. Literary Enchantment and the Garden House I. Li Yü’s World II. Internalized Garden and the “Horizon” beyondIII. Courtyard and Decorum7. The Golden Mean Finely TunedI. The Anatomy of a Beijing Quadrangle II. Life and Ambience in the HutongIII. The City as a Large QuadrangleIV. Distinctive Character versus Uniformity8. Living like the ChineseI. The “Guest” Chinese and their Chinese CourtyardsII. Chinese Form and Exotic MeaningPart Three: Earth The Emancipation of Desire and the Loss of Courtyard9. The Irresistible MetropolisI. Modern City Born of Refugee CrisisII. From Diminishing Courtyard to Porous House10. The Assault of ModernityI. Quadrangle without the Confucian World II. The Lingering CourtyardIII. Nothingness, Horizon and Discreet PleasureEpilogue The Four or the FiveBibliographyIndex

[Confucius’ Courtyard] is a delightful reflection on and exposition of the significance of the courtyard to the Chinese conceptualization of the cosmos and way of life … Ruan elegantly weaves together literary, philosophical, artistic and architectural musings. The book is both learned and readable.