Chinese Gardens - Master Ye Fang - artist and philosopher

Ye Fang was born in Suzhou in 1962. He spent his childhood in the garden of his mother’s great-grandfather, Bi Yice. During the cultural revolution (1966-1976) his family was forced to abandon the private garden. In 1983 he graduated at the Art and Crafts Institute in Suzhou, and soon after he begun his activity as a painter and teacher. In 2003 Ye Fang successfully built a garden in Suzhou, on an area of approximately 500 square meters with 700 stones and many plant varieties. It is a contemporary garden but it draws on traditional models found in the paintings of the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1278) dynasties.

Ye Fang lives with his family in the garden that is named after the place where it was built: Nanshipiji. His mission in life is to build Chinese gardens: “The garden is my preferred art form and it does not necessarily become a commercial product. Life is like a boat: what I long for in this boat is a good bottle of wine, some books and my family’s happiness.”

But now his thoughts harbour another dream: a Chinese garden in Venice.