Ronald G. Knapp

"China's Walled Cities focuses on city walls - the essence and signature of the traditional Chinese city - to bring this cosmic order to light. An overview of the history and importance of Chinese walls leads into extended explorations of Chang'an and Xi'an, Beijing, Nanjing, and the recently preserved city of Pingyao. The author's discussion is complemented by illustrations drawn from his extensive collection of images, as well as historic photographs, maps, and drawings."--Jacket.

It has been said that for the Chinese "a house is a living symbol," one endowed with meaning and the result of conscious action. China's Living Houses is the first book in any language to explore comprehensively the extraordinarily complex links among folk beliefs and household ornamentation across time, space, and social class. Well-written and copiously illustrated, it reveals dwellings as dynamic entities that express the vitality of Chinese families as each journeys through life.

Winner of ForeWord Magazine's Architecture "Book of the Year" Award! Exquisite examples of traditional dwellings are scattered throughout modern-day China. Chinese Houses focuses on 20 well-preserved traditional homes, presenting examples from a range of rural and metropolitan areas throughout China. The photographs of each are accompanied by extensive background information and historical content. An introductory essay examines the different types of Chinese homes and provides an overview of the rich regional variety of Chinese dwelling forms. It also provides insights into little-known design concepts that emphasize the flexibility, adaptability, and versatility of traditional building forms and the work of traditional craftsmen. Richly illustrated with photographs, woodblock prints, historic images, and line drawings, Chinese Houses portrays an architectural tradition of amazing range and resilience.

The studies collected in this volume were written by anthropologists, architects, geographers, historians, a sociologist, and a veterinary ecologist. Taken together they form an exceptionally coherent survey of Chinese villages, ranging from the dry north to the humid southeast and southwest of this vast country. Going beyond books on Chinese vernacular architecture that focus on individual dwellings, this work examines the village ensemble itself, the various settings for the habitation, work, and leisure of China's large rural population. Discussions of design, spatial layout, physical setting, settlement patterns, geomantic principles (fengshui), and evolutionary patterns set the stage for eighteen village case studies. Many villages still preserve characteristics that evoke a respect for and understanding of "old China," while others expose the drastic metamorphosis of recent decades. Villages are examined as places, emphasizing that which is visible; each village has its own order and complex of natural and human elements. Chinese Landscapes, though it focuses on the physical appearance of individual villages as they are situated within the constellation that comprises the Chinese landscape, suggests much about more general social, economic, and political patterns.