Landscapes and Politics: Leibniz, China, and the Gardens of Europe

The essay focuses on the political roots and implications of Europe’s fascination with the Chinese garden, from the late seventeenth century to the second half of the eighteenth century, when Western vogue for China reached its peak. Relating the significant influence Chinese garden design exerted on the development of Western garden art to the symbolic meanings of gardens as reflections of a set of socially and economically determined values, this chapter discusses how Chinese gardens were used in Europe to support discourses on political and national identity.