Confucius’ Courtyard

Architecture, Philosophy and the Good Life in China

Häftad, Engelska, 2021

429 kr

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For more than three thousand years, Chinese life – from the city and the imperial palace, to the temple, the market and the family home – was configured around the courtyard. So too were the accomplishments of China’s artistic, philosophical and institutional classes. Confucius’ Courtyard tells the story of how the courtyard – that most singular and persistent architectural form – holds the key to understanding, even today, much of Chinese society and culture.Part architectural history, and part introduction to the cultural and philosophical history of China, the book explores the Chinese view of the world, and reveals the extent to which this is inextricably intertwined with the ancient concept of the courtyard, a place and a way of life which, it appears, has been almost entirely overlooked in China since the middle of the 20th century, and in the West for centuries. Along the way, it provides an accessible introduction to the Confucian idea of zhongyong (‘the Middle Way’), the Chinese moral universe and the virtuous good life in the absence of an awesome God, and shows how these can only be fully understood through the humble courtyard – a space which is grounded in the earth, yet open to the heavens.Erudite, elegant and illustrated throughout by the author’s own architectural drawings and sketches, Confucius’ Courtyard weaves together architecture, philosophy and cultural history to explore what lies at the very heart of Chinese civilization.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2021-11-18
Mått138 x 216 x 30 mm
Vikt480 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor368
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN9781350217614

Tillhör följande kategorier

Asiens historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Arkitekturhistoria inom Kultur

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