Download or read book Chinese Houses and Gardens written by Henry Inn and published by . This book was released on 1950 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1936, Henry Inn of Honolulu - a connoisseur of Chinese art - made his tenth extensive tour of China to study the designs of houses and gardens. Travelling from Canton to Beijing and from Shanghai to Hangchow, he visited homes of culture and refinement built according to the traditional Chinese principles of architecture, interior decoration and landscape gardening developed over many centuries, sketching and photographing characteristic details. These illustrations form the core of this volume, supplemented with chapters by distinguished Chinese specialists on houses, gardens, architecture and the Chinese love of home and symbolism. The result is a unique work that gives readers a sense of the subtly symbolic and decorative art that is a vital part of the cultural inheritance of the Chinese people, and presents an informal and intimate picture of Chinese living. Beautifully pictured and described are tall temple doorways of lacquered teak, graceful pavilions with glazed tile roofs and enclosed gardens which beckon to the wanderer through moon gates. Soon after the volume was prepared, the events of World War II irreparably injured or completely destroyed the houses and gardens that Inn recorded, and later events transformed the way of life described by his collaborators. The value of Chinese Houses and Gardens is twofold. It is an important record of architecture, gardens and lifestyles which are gone forever though their legacy survives, and through it the reader can see and understand the relationship between house and garden in China which for over two hundred years has profoundly influenced home and garden planning in the West.