Gardens of Korea : harmony with intellect and nature

The Author: Heo Kyun ('Huh Gyun') has spent most of his adult life studying Korean aesthetics as seen in traditional paintings, architecture, handicraft and Buddhist art, paying special attention to the symbols used in those art forms as well as the ideas Koreans read into them. Over the many years he spent immersed in Korean aesthetics, Heo Kyun became interested in Korean gardens as well, recognising that gardens, too, are an art form. He realised that Korea's gardens, no less than other traditional art forms, reveal much about the Korean view of nature and the Korean philosophy of life. Heo studied the history of Korean art at both the undergraduate and the graduate level at Hongik University, Seoul. He has worked for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as a specialist, identifying and appraising cultural properties, and has also served as the director of a Centre for Research on Korean Culture. Currently, he is an editor for the Academy of Korean Studies, where he continues to research attitudes and philosophies behind Korea's traditional culture. His publications in Korean include a number of books on Korea's traditional culture, including "A Stroll Around Korea's Old Palaces"; "Explaining the Ideas behind Korea's Old Paintings"; and "The World of Symbols in the Art Decorating Korea's Temples". The Photographer: Lee Gapcheol ('Yi Gapcheol') has travelled to virtually every corner of South Korea, capturing the dynamic spirit of the Korean people in his photographs. Among the published collections (in Korean) of his photographs is Challenge and Response. The Translator: Donald L Baker taught English as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Gwangju in the early 1970s and obtained his PhD in Korean history from the University of Washington in 1983. Since 1987, he has been teaching Korean cultural history at the University of British Columbia, where he is the director of the Centre for Korean Research. He has published numerous articles on Korean religion, philosophy and traditional science, and was one of the editors of the Sourcebook of Korean Civilisation. He is currently working on a survey of religion in modern Korea as well as a study of the Joseon dynasty scholar, Dasan Jeong Yagyong. He was assisted in this translation by Javier Joohang Cha, a Korean Studies graduate student at UBC.