What do you think?
Rate this book
Where Dragon Veins Meet: The Kangxi Emperor and His Estate at Rehe
In 1702, the second emperor of the Qing dynasty ordered construction of a new summer palace in Rehe (now Chengde, Hebei) to support his annual tours north among the court's Inner Mongolian allies. The Mountain Estate to Escape the Heat (Bishu Shanzhuang) was strategically located at the node of mountain "veins" through which the Qing empire's geomantic energy was said to flow. At this site, from late spring through early autumn, the Kangxi emperor presided over rituals of intimacy and exchange that celebrated his garden tours, banquets, entertainments, and gift giving.
Stephen Whiteman draws on resources and methods from art and architectural history, garden and landscape history, early modern global history, and historical geography to reconstruct the Mountain Estate as it evolved under Kangxi, illustrating the importance of landscape as a medium for ideological expression during the early Qing and in the early modern world more broadly. Examination of paintings, prints, historical maps, newly created maps informed by GIS-based research, and personal accounts reveals the significance of geographic space and its representation in the negotiation of Qing imperial ideology. The first monograph in any language to focus solely on the art and architecture of the Kangxi court, Where Dragon Veins Meet illuminates the court's production and deployment of landscape as a reflection of contemporary concerns and offers new insight into the sources and forms of Qing power through material expressions.
Art History Publication Initiative
Stephen Whiteman draws on resources and methods from art and architectural history, garden and landscape history, early modern global history, and historical geography to reconstruct the Mountain Estate as it evolved under Kangxi, illustrating the importance of landscape as a medium for ideological expression during the early Qing and in the early modern world more broadly. Examination of paintings, prints, historical maps, newly created maps informed by GIS-based research, and personal accounts reveals the significance of geographic space and its representation in the negotiation of Qing imperial ideology. The first monograph in any language to focus solely on the art and architecture of the Kangxi court, Where Dragon Veins Meet illuminates the court's production and deployment of landscape as a reflection of contemporary concerns and offers new insight into the sources and forms of Qing power through material expressions.
Art History Publication Initiative
292 pages, Hardcover
Published January 9, 2020
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 7, 2022
The Rehe estate is a key part of the system of Qing palaces and government centers and Whiteman in this very fine study studies the development of the estate under Kangxi.
Rehe was designed to be in the line of Han gardens from the Han, Tang, and Ming but located between Manchuria, Mongolia, and the Han regions, it was designed to highlight the Qing policy of synthesizing both nomadic and sedentary traditions that was unique to the Qing.
The Qing worshipped Changbaishan, which was in their ancestral homeland and the Rehe estate was on the axis of the "dragon veins" that extended from Manchuria to Rehe and onwards to Taishan, displacing Taishan as the central holy mountain of China.
Included in the design of Rehe were Tibetan monasteries and Whiteman reminds us that to understand the Qing, one must understand the Tibetan style buddhism that the emperors had faith in.
Rehe was designed to be in the line of Han gardens from the Han, Tang, and Ming but located between Manchuria, Mongolia, and the Han regions, it was designed to highlight the Qing policy of synthesizing both nomadic and sedentary traditions that was unique to the Qing.
The Qing worshipped Changbaishan, which was in their ancestral homeland and the Rehe estate was on the axis of the "dragon veins" that extended from Manchuria to Rehe and onwards to Taishan, displacing Taishan as the central holy mountain of China.
Included in the design of Rehe were Tibetan monasteries and Whiteman reminds us that to understand the Qing, one must understand the Tibetan style buddhism that the emperors had faith in.
Displaying 1 of 1 review