The seed of an idea for an international symposium on Chinese gardens was planted when America's first authentic scholar's garden was opened in June, 1999 at the Staten Island Botanical Garden.

Because such an event had no predecessor, the Garden's founders were unlimited in its parameters and elected to address both scholarly and practical issues relating to the history and contemporary practice of garden building. The Landscape Architecture Corporation of China, responsible for this project, has built classical-style Chinese gardens throughout the world over the last twenty years, during which time the traditional gardens in China have also received a great deal of restorative attention.

The Chinese garden and its associated practices and traditions are subjects of great interest to an ever-growing audience. It is difficult for anyone to be unmoved by the world's longest unbroken horticultural tradition.

Bringing an outstanding group of experts together for a weekend in New York to address the subject of Chinese gardens can only prove to be rich in knowledge and inspiration.

Dr. Robert E. Harrist, Jr.
Symposium Chairman

Frances X. Paulo Huber
SIBG President & CEO

April 26
5:30 - 7:30 pm
Champagne Reception at the Hotung Scholar's Garden at China Institute
(125 East 65th St, NY between Lexington and Park)
Includes viewing of current exhibition on Chinese bronze mirrors.
($20)

April 27
8:30 am - 6:00 pm
Asia Society
(725 Park Avenue, NY at 70th Street)
Symposium: $100/$25 full-time students.

Registration and Welcoming Remarks (8:30-9:15am)
Frances Paulo Huber (President and CEO, Staten Island Botanical Garden)
Robert Harrist (Jane and Leopold Swergold Professor of Chinese Art History, Columbia University), Symposium Chairperson

Keynote Address: Lothar Ledderose (Heidelberg University)

Saturday Morning Panels:
Gardens of Suzhou:
Jan Stuart (Freer/Sackler Galleries), "The Art History of the Garden of the Artless Official, Suzhou"
Iris Miller (Catholic University of America), "Today's Landscape Design of the Garden of the Artless Official, Suzhou"
David Sensabaugh (Yale University Art Gallery), "The Lion Grove Garden in Time and Space"

Discussion of Morning Panel: Robert Harrist, Chair

Lunch Break

Saturday Afternoon panels:
Aesthetics of Ming Dynasty Gardens:
Qianshen Bai (Boston University), " Calligraphy and Gardens of the Ming Dynasty"
Stanislaus Fung (Univeristy of New South Wales), "The Pavilion of Borrowing Borrowing"
Philip Hu (New York University), "Mi Wanzhong (1570-1628) and the Cultural Landscape of Rocks and Gardens in the Late Ming Dynasty"

Gardens of the Qing Dynasty:
Eugene Wang (Harvard University), "Back to the Future: The Qianlong Emperor's Retirement Garden in the Forbidden City"
Victoria Siu (University of San Francisco), "The Garden for Prolonging the Springtime (Changchun Yuan): Chinese Elements in the European Sector of the Yuanming Yuan"
Cary Liu (Princeton Art Museum). "Imperial Garden-Palace as Archive of Power: The Qing Dynasty Summer Villa at Jehol"
Jin Feng (Purdue University),"Yuan Jiang's Landscape Painting, The Wonders of the Eastern Garden (Dongyuan sheng gai tu): A Study of its Architectural Accuracy and the Rule of Axometric Projection"

Discussion of Afternoon Panels: Robert Harrist, Chair.

Reception: Chambers Fine Art (210 Eleventh Avenue 2nd Floor, NY at West 25th).

April 28
9:30 am - 6:00 pm.
Asia Society and The NY Chinese Scholar's Garden.

Sunday Morning panels (Asia Society):
Botany and the Garden:
Katie Ryor (Carleton College), "Surrogate Gardens: Penjing, Flower arrangement and the Objectification of Nature in the Ming Dynasty"
Georges Metaille (Centre Alexandre Koyre, Paris, France), "The Botany of Scholars, Gardeners and Amateurs 16th-17th Centuries
Terese Bartholomew (Asian Art Museum, San Francisco), "Significant Plants: their function and meaning in a Chinese Garden"

Beyond Suzhou:
Richard Quaintance (Rutgers University ), "European Guesswork on Chinese Gardens, 1685-1785: Temple, Ripa, Walpole, Chambers, Le Rouge"
Wu Xiangdong (Landscape Architecture Corporation), "The Architecture and Landscape of the Great Garden Library in Ningbo"
Jerome Silbergeld (Princeton University), "Design and Function in the Gardens of Sichuan"

Discussion of Morning Panels: Robert Harrist, Chair.

Depart Asia Society by Bus

Sunday Afternoon at the Chinese Scholar's Garden:
Welcome: Frances Paulo Huber
Reception for all Symposium attendees.

Flute and Guqin music in the Garden and at the Buffet.
Tours of the Garden and Garden Exhibitions of Scholar's Rocks, Tree Peonies, and Penjing.
Bus to Ferry at 4 pm for those not attending the Buffet.

Chinese Buffet follows the reception.
Buffet Cost ($35) includes roundtrip bus transportation from Asia Society.