From Temples to Garden Estates and Academies : Landscape Transformation of Suzhou During the 13th–16th Centuries and Beyond

How did the temple-scape of Suzhou transform into garden-scape during the 13th to 16th centuries? This book investigates the landscape evolution of China during the Yuan-Ming socio-political transformation and provides a previously unrepresented Buddhist and hydraulic history of Chinese gardens. Utilising historical GIS mapping and 3D architectural modelling, the research uncovers spatial strategies employed by monks, the gentry, and the government. It argues that by seizing hydraulic estates from Buddhists, the gentry and government rose as a landed class and cultural elites, establishing the literati garden.