n a special three-part virtual series for the Garden Conservancy this winter, Professor Andrew Hui explores fascinating yet overlooked history of the Western Gardens at the Chinese Emperor’s Summer Palace in the eighteenth century. Over the course of three episodes, he will explore the unexpected story of how these vast gardens came to be designed by Jesuit priests and how they influence the development of Europe’s own gardens.
Part 1: The Summer Palace: Beijing and its Creators
January 29, 2026 I 12 noon Eastern
The Garden of Perfect Brightness (Yuanmingyuan), better known as the Summer Palace, was the most ambitious garden complex in imperial China. Conceived by the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors, it brought together traditional Chinese landscape art from all parts of its sprawling empire. This talk introduces the palace’s vast grounds and classical Chinese gardens—pavilions, lakes, and rockeries that embodied dynastic authority and literati aesthetics. We will set the stage for the drama of cultural exchange that would soon reshape its landscapes.
Andrew Hui teaches at National University of Singapore and is the author of three books: The Study: The Inner Life of Renaissance Libraries (2025), A Theory of the Aphorism from Confucius to Twitter (2019, translated into 4 languages), and The Poetics of Ruins in Renaissance Literature (2017). His newest project is The Emperor’s Maze: The Jesuits in China and the Making of a Global Age (under contract, Penguin Press).
Andrew is an experienced public speaker who has lectured widely, including recent talks at Yale, Oxford, and Brown universities, as well as online for the Medici Archive Project, the Smithsonian, and the 92nd Street Y.
You will receive the webinar link directly from Zoom.
A recording of this webinar will be sent to all registrants a few days after the event. We encourage you to register, even if you cannot attend the live webinar. Register now at https://www.gardenconservancy.org/events/web26-the-emperor-s-western-maze-and-the-making-of-a-global-garden
