ThoughtGallery.org > DocTalks x MoMA with Zheming (Taro) Cai and Joy Zhu

DocTalks x MoMA with Zheming (Taro) Cai and Joy Zhu

This paper explores the transnational exchange of landscape design knowledge and practice in creating an overseas Chinese garden, focusing on the construction of the Astor Chinese Garden Court at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It highlights the critical role architects and architecture played in shaping this cultural ensemble. In 1981, the Met unveiled the Astor Court, a garden designed to house Ming-dynasty Chinese furniture, exemplifying traditional domestic spaces typical of Southern China. Notably, this project marked a significant moment in history as the first permanent cultural exchange between the People’s Republic of China and the United States following the reestablishment of their diplomatic relations.

Despite the use of authentic Chinese building materials and the involvement of skilled craftsmen from Suzhou, the garden required substantial adaptation to accommodate the conditions unique to its new setting in New York. The research investigates the nuanced negotiations occurred during transplanting a garden across distinct cultural, technological, legal, and ecological frameworks. It also explores the role of architecture in the institutionalization of the “Classical Chinese Garden” canon and the modernization of traditional garden-making practices through architectural production. The Astor Court, through its various epistemological discrepancies during the transnational production, challenges traditional notions of authenticity and the nature-culture binary. Furthermore, it sheds light on the role of architecture in facilitating cultural diplomacy and shaping national identity.

DocTalks is a series dedicated to ongoing investigations by doctoral, postdoctoral, or early-career researchers into the expansive entanglement of architecture and the natural environment. These sessions are meant to create an intercollegiate cohort of scholars who workshop writing, share research findings, and experiment with methodological tools while engaging with the vision and investigations of the Ambasz Institute.

These Doc Talk sessions are intended for scholars or architecture history and theory, but scholars in related fields and the general public are welcome to attend.











When: Tue., Apr. 1, 2025 at 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Where: Museum of Modern Art
11 W. 53rd St.
212-708-9400
Price: Free
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This paper explores the transnational exchange of landscape design knowledge and practice in creating an overseas Chinese garden, focusing on the construction of the Astor Chinese Garden Court at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It highlights the critical role architects and architecture played in shaping this cultural ensemble. In 1981, the Met unveiled the Astor Court, a garden designed to house Ming-dynasty Chinese furniture, exemplifying traditional domestic spaces typical of Southern China. Notably, this project marked a significant moment in history as the first permanent cultural exchange between the People’s Republic of China and the United States following the reestablishment of their diplomatic relations.

Despite the use of authentic Chinese building materials and the involvement of skilled craftsmen from Suzhou, the garden required substantial adaptation to accommodate the conditions unique to its new setting in New York. The research investigates the nuanced negotiations occurred during transplanting a garden across distinct cultural, technological, legal, and ecological frameworks. It also explores the role of architecture in the institutionalization of the “Classical Chinese Garden” canon and the modernization of traditional garden-making practices through architectural production. The Astor Court, through its various epistemological discrepancies during the transnational production, challenges traditional notions of authenticity and the nature-culture binary. Furthermore, it sheds light on the role of architecture in facilitating cultural diplomacy and shaping national identity.

DocTalks is a series dedicated to ongoing investigations by doctoral, postdoctoral, or early-career researchers into the expansive entanglement of architecture and the natural environment. These sessions are meant to create an intercollegiate cohort of scholars who workshop writing, share research findings, and experiment with methodological tools while engaging with the vision and investigations of the Ambasz Institute.

These Doc Talk sessions are intended for scholars or architecture history and theory, but scholars in related fields and the general public are welcome to attend.

Buy tickets/get more info now