Confucius’ Courtyard: Architecture, Philosophy and the Good Life in China - Softcover

Ruan, Xing

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1350217611 ISBN 13: 9781350217614

Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2021

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Xing RUAN was born in Kunming, China in 1965. He studied architecture, and currently is Guangqi Chair Professor and Dean at the School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He was Professor of Architecture at Sydney's University of New South Wales (2004-20). His books include: Fusheng Jianzhu (Floating Life and Architecture), 2020; Allegorical Architecture, 2006; New China Architecture, 2006; Hand and Mind, 2018; Topophilia and Topophobia, 2007. He is co-editor, with Ronald Knapp, of the book series Spatial Habitus: Making and Meaning in Asia's Architecture.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350217611
• ISBN 13: 9781350217614
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368