Beautiful China: Reflections on Landscape Architecture in Contemporary China

Beautiful China is the title of the Chinese government’s broad policy to ensure the traditions and esthetics of Chinese culture not only survive as heritage but apply to contemporary society and to the future. Beautiful China is also nested within the larger policy concept of creating an “ecological civilization.”

Applied to a nation of over 1.3 billion people and the second most powerful economy in the world, these policies are arguably the most fascinating socio-political experiment taking place anywhere in the world today. This book is the first serious consideration of this policy and what it means for the design professions in contemporary China.

Richard J. Weller is the Meyerson Chair of Urbanism, professor, and chair of Landscape Architecture, and co-director of the McHarg Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Tatum L. Hands, PhD is the editor in chief of the LA+ Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture, University of Pennsylvania. Images by Shengyuan Zheng Contributors Rui Yang, Yufan Zhu, Yuning Cheng, Binyi Liu, Hui Liu, Xiangrong Wang, Feng Han, Tao Han, Zheng Chen, Wei Guo, Jason Zhisen Ho, Yuelai Liu, Shulin Shi, Zhifang Wang, Jinshi Zhang, Tianjie Zhang, Zhengwei Zhang, Jijun Zhao, Xiaodi Zheng, Stanislaus Fung, Richard Weller, Marilyn Taylor, Christopher Marcinkoski, Kongjian Yu, Yuan Zhu, Junli Xu, and Tatum Hands