Abstract:

The garden-aesthetics of the Late Ming Dynasty turned to the life paradigm focusing on the practical functions and the desire for pleasure in the overall planning and the spatial arrangement. This shift, combined with the perspective of the intellectual history that Yangming Confucianism replaces the dominant position of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, implies that the late Ming garden aesthetics paradigm reflects a “Mind-Object”relationship characterized by conformity and immediacy. By incorporating material desire and the sensuality incorporated into the realm of Tao, it transcends the limit of the daily turn envisioned by Yangming Confucianism. In terms of the“Body-Tao”relationship, the life paradigm suggests that the desire and the dailyness have become new contents and new fields contained in the Tao. As a result, the Confucian tradition creates a living space independent of the mode of“implementing Tao with the support of the ruler”in line with the tradition of political governance. The living space created by garden-aesthetics represents an autonomous field absent of political governance tradition, indirectly weakening the symbolic prestige and influence of the imperial power. This constitutes a subtle form of aesthetic political criticism.

Key words: late Ming Dynasty, the garden-aesthetics, living space, desire, Confucian tradition