FEATURED BOOK REVIEW

Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, Changsha. 197 pages. ISBN: 978-7-5746-0926-6. 98 RMB (ca $15).(In Chinese)

By Thomas S. Elias

This newly published book is a welcome departure from many previously published volumes illustrating an exhibition, an individual private collection, or a "how-to guide." Instead, Carrying Mountains Home: A Journey in Search of Rockeries and Viewing Stones is a collection of 15 delightful essays in three chapters and an appendix. The book aims to follow the great literary tradition of ancient Chinese scholars who traveled and wrote about gardens and viewing stones, while also offering knowledge about Chinese and Japanese viewing stones for contemporary stone collectors. 

In the Preface, Ge Xing states that his book is "nothing more than what one stone lover saw and thought while traveling. It links and blends together the cultural experiences of visiting mountains, seeking stones, personal memories awakened along the way, and some stories from historical texts, and describes them anew." The title borrows from Su Shi (苏轼, one of the greatest Chinese poets and the most well-known stone lover in Chinese history), who wrote that taking a stone home was like holding the whole mountains and the East Sea in his sleeve. 

Ge Xing is modest, as he is a leading member of the new generation of scholars of Chinese and Japanese stone appreciation, as well as a talented writer. His work is well known in Chinese stone circles, but he is not yet familiar to Western audiences. Ge studied at Fudan University in Shanghai and later at the University of Tokyo, and is a frequent visitor to the places of origin of viewing stones in China and Japan. In addition to many Chinese viewing stones and Japanese Suiseki, he also collects books, calligraphy, and paintings of stones for his study and writing. 

Many Western stone enthusiasts are superficially familiar with the odd and fantastic shapes of Lingbi and Taihu stones, and have some knowledge of the classical evaluation criteria shou (瘦 channels), tou (透 holes), and zhou (皱 wrinkles). Ge takes readers further into the more sophisticated aspects of Chinese viewing stone aesthetics. For example, his essay Fragments on Lingbi Stone: Those Stones, Those People fills many gaps missing in the Western English-language literature on Chinese stone appreciation. He explains why Lingbi stones were not used to build rockeries, and describes and compares northern Taihu stones with those from Jiangnan. He also introduces Hugh Scogin’s argument about Lingbi stone’s role at the Song court, and Richard Rosenblum’s idea of redisplaying stones are “living art.” Ge’s knowledge of the classical Chinese stone-related literature allows him to weave historical aspects of stone appreciation with modern observations and thought.

Gi’s writing style is personal and impressionistic rather than a systematic and technical treatment. For Chinese readers, it offers a more comprehensive understanding of Chinese stone appreciation and its relationship to Japanese practices.

This review used an AI translation of selected passages.

Rating: Excellent. This modestly priced book is a valuable contribution and essential reading for serious and novice stone collectors. An English-language edition would be welcome.