---

By the 18th century, all the major powers across Eurasia were investing major levels of thought and resources into gardens. This was so in part because, prior to the invention of World Fairs, the Olympics, or international sports, gardens were an important means of competing for status in the international arena. In addition, gardens served as a kind of worksheet for trying out new ideas about society and nature, government and individuals. In fact, some of the most important buzzwords in modern life were first worked out in relation to gardens in the 18th century. In this course we'll come to understand how this came about first by surveying the evolution of gardens in China: we'll trace the origins of the "natural" garden with its oppositional political and social connotations, and then learn what happened when this tradition of garden design clashed with Europe's royal gardens in the 17th century. By reading together original 18th century sources, we'll learn how to reconstruct the complex, multicultural discourse of society and nature that developed on the two ends of Eurasia during the 18th century.

Students will have the opportunity to conduct original research using UM's excellent rare book library as well as online sources providing access to 17th and 18th century sources. There will be an oral progress report and a written term paper. No previous course work in Chinese art is required. (Powers)

---