László Krasznahorkai - Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens - Reportage

[180] Liu Yuan (‘The Garden That Remained’): Originally a Ming-era garden, today it is a private garden in the Qing-era style. One of China’s four nationally protected parks.

[181] Yi Yuan (‘The Garden of Joys’): A private garden for government officials in Suzhou, built in the second half of the nineteenth century.

[182] Canglang Ting (‘The Pavilion of Meandering Waves’): A true masterpiece of the art of gardening dating from the Song era. It is located in Suzhou and was created in the tenth century. Its name is derived from a poem by the great poet Qu Yuan. The present form dates from 1873, and one of its buildings houses 500 portraits of the renowned figures of Suzhou.

[183] Wangshi Yuan (‘The Garden of the Master of the Nets’): The smallest garden in Suzhou, it was built by a government official in 1140. Considered one of the most beautiful Chinese gardens, part of it has been rebuilt in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

[184] Beisi Ta (‘The Pagoda of the North Temple’): A nine-storey, wooden-framed building in Suzhou. Its present form dates from 1673, and it is considered one of the most beautiful pagodas in southern China.

[185] ren (‘humanness’): One of the most important values of Confucianism.

[186] Pan Yue (247–300): A poet known for his melancholic verses on the themes of beauty and talent. The name of Zhuozheng Yuan derives from his poem entitled ‘Xianji fu’ (‘Verse Describing a Careless Life’).

[187] Wu State: A Chinese kingdom that existed between the eleventh century bce and 473 bce in the area of today’s Zhejiang.

[188] Wang Xianchen: A censor during the Ming era. After he lost favour in the court, he built the Zhuozheng Yuan in Suzhou. Later, his son was to gamble away his entire inheritance — including this garden — in one single evening.

[189] the mountain and the waters (shanshui): The two indispensable elements of Chinese gardens, parks and landscapes which always must be present, at least in symbolic form (for example, as rocks and basins). Because of this, shanshui also means ‘landscape’.

[190] feng shui (‘wind — water’): The science of geomancy in China, based upon the belief that the forces that determine individual places influence the fate of those who come into contact with them. For that reason, all kinds of human dwelling, for the living and the dead, must be chosen in accordance with the principles of feng shui.

[191] Wen Zhengming (1470–1559): A renowned Ming-era poet and artist.

[192] ‘Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou’ (Yangzhou ba guai): Jin Nong (1687–1764), Huang Shen (1687–1768), Zheng Xie, also known as Zheng Banqiao (1693–1765), Li Shan (1686–1762), Li Fangying (1695–1755), Wang Shisen (1685–1759), Gao Xiang (1688–1753) and Luo Pin (1733–99) — artists active in Yangzhou, reformers of the Chinese art of painting.

[193] Wu Zixu, Tong Wengshu [. .] Fang Chouyan, Su Dongpo [. .] Xun Cunei, Han Shizhong, Weng Cengming, Wen Tianxiang, Liu Zifu: Renowned personalities whose lives were somehow connected to Suzhou.