China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta

By Clarissa von Spee, Curator of Chinese Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, with contributions from Yiwen Liu, Curatorial Research Assistant, The Cleveland Museum of Art. China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta is the first publication in the West that focuses on the artistic production and cultural impact of this region of China. Also called Jiangnan, it is located in the coastal area south of the Yangzi River that has throughout large parts of its history been one of China’s most wealthy, populous, and fertile regions. For millennia it has been an area of rich agriculture, extensive trade, and influential artistic production. Art from Jiangnan—home to such great cities as Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing, as well as to hilly picturesque landscapes stretched along rivers and lakes—has largely defined the image of traditional China for the world. The lavishly 432-page illustrated catalogue includes introductory essays by internationally renowned scholars covering s