The Hall of Deep Willows and Its Master

深柳大師與深柳堂 Wu Yankang 武延康 Translated by Frederick W. Mote 閒門向山處
深柳讀書堂 Editor’s Note The following is an account of the Jinping Buddhist Press, founded in Nanking following the depredations of the Lower Yangtze Valley, and the wholesale destruction of Buddhist monasteries, libraries and practice, during the pseudo-Christian Taiping Rebellion (1851-1865).… Read

The Age of Exuberance

David Hawkes The Chinese equivalent of the sack of Rome occurred in A.D. 311 when [the capital of the Latter Han dynasty] Luoyang fell to the barbarians. As many better-off Chinese as could get away fled south, where a Chinese court had established itself in Nanking.… Read

Choice Morsels from Li Yu

Selected and translated by T.C. Lai 賴恬昌 No account of Nanking would be complete without reference to Li Yu 李漁 (李笠翁, 1610-1680) who published The Arts of Living 閒情偶寄 in 1671, when he was sixty.. … Read

Tung Chuin on The Garden of Accommodation

Translated and Introduced by Duncan M. Campbell 《隨園考》童寯 著 The architectural engineer Tung Chuin (童寯, 1890-1983) was a long-time resident of Nanking. During his years living in the city he taught at various universities and became known also as one of the foremost garden historians of the twentieth century.… Read

Sui 隋

In the year 549 CE, the general Hou Jing (侯景, d.552) leads a rebellion and lays siege to Jiankang 建康, that is Jianye/ Jinling/ Nanking. The emperor Wu of Liang starves to death in the Terrace Citadel 臺城.… Read