**Shuishan Yu**

Shuishan Yu (associate professor of architecture, Northeastern University) focuses his research on Chinese architecture, modern architecture and its theoretical discourse, literati arts, and Buddhist architecture in East Asia. His book Chang'an Avenue and the Modernization of Chinese Architecture was published in English by the University of Washington Press (2012) and in Chinese by the Sanlian Shudian Press (2016). He has also published articles, book chapters, and exhibition catalogs and presented conference papers on the city and architecture of Beijing, guqin music, Tibetan architecture, Buddhist architecture, Chinese literati art, Chinese garden, and modern architectural historiography. Yu's research projects are mostly case studies aiming for the demystification of a specific historical site, issue, or phenomenon, and highlight the significance, nature, and problem of cross-cultural translation of architectural forms, practices, and theories.

At Northeastern University, Professor Yu has been teaching Architecture and Global Cultures, History of Chinese Architecture, and the Modernization of Chinese Architecture. He has taught Western Architectural History in Beijing, Chinese Architecture in the School of Architecture at the University of Washington, and Chinese Architecture, Buddhist Art, Chinese Art, Japanese Art, and Asian Art Survey at the Oakland University. Yu is also a distinguished qin musician and the current chair of the North America Mei'an Guqin Society. He has been invited for performance, teaching, and lecture on qin music both in the US and internationally. His groundbreaking book Yu Shuishan Guqin Etudes was published by the Zhonghua Book Company in 2018.

Yu's current research projects include case studies of historic streets in China and the role they played in the modernization of Chinese cities, architecture and urbanism of Beijing, literati gardens of the Ming-Qing dynasties, and the fingering motif concept of guqin performance and its application in the study, analysis, and composition of guqin music. He is a key member and contributor to the GAHTC (Global Architectural History Teaching Collaboration), an organization of architectural historians aiming for the integration of global history of architecture and the development of new pedagogical strategy in teaching architectural history.

## **Aibin Yan**

Dr. Aibin Yan is an associate professor from the Department of Landscape Planning and Design at East China University of Science and Technology. His research interests cover architectural history, Chinese classical garden, heritage protection and urban spatial culture. He has published more than 50 academic papers in these fields, participated in editing the Chinese architectural history section of the 21st edition of "Sir Banister Fletcher's Global History of Architecture" (Bloomsbury, 2020), translated and published "A Treatise on the Garden of Jiangnan" (Springer, 2022), and also presided over two national research projects. He was a visiting scholar in Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University from 2017 to 2019, focusing on the investigation and mapping of ancient stone architecture in the Song and Yuan Dynasties at the southeast coast of China. He is also currently serving as an associate researcher in Harvard CAMLab (Chinese Art Media Lab), an academic member in China Architectural History Society, member of council of Shanghai Urban Study Committee, and the director of China Urban and Rural Heritage Conservation Research Center in China Urban Construction Research Institute, and won the honorary award of "Shanghai Pujiang Scholar".

#### **Preface to "Buddhist Architecture in East Asia"**

This Special Issue on Buddhist Architecture in East Asia offers a collection of new scholarship representing the cutting-edge research on the subject. In the selection and organization for publication of articles by different authors, I discovered shared themes that are of grea<sup>t</sup> significance in the research on Buddhist architecture and history. They range from the macroscopic cultural transformation of the East Asian society to the small details in the design and decoration of a stone pagoda, from the formation and reshaping of sacred landscapes to the re-organization of pre-existing urban spaces, and cover all three East Asian countries of China, Korea, and Japan. Regional varieties of Buddhist architecture are also explored, showcasing both famous historic sites with concentrated studies in the past and new survey and documentation of rarely studied local temples. Together, the collection of articles in this anthology samples scholarship on the Buddhist built environments of East Asia with both broadness and depth.

The selected articles are grouped into four thematic sections. The first section explores the Buddhist construction of sacred sites, including three case studies of a sacred mountain with famous historic and religious landmarks, a monastic environment for Buddhist ritual ordination, and objects generating sacred spaces for specific religious practices. The second section investigates the ways Buddhism had transformed urban spaces and social relationships in the past, including those of both imperial capitals and the local cities of provincial and prefectural levels. The third section focuses on the Buddhist reshaping of East Asian cultures and its architectural exemplifications, delving into such significant topics as the Buddhist influence on funeral rituals and architectural typologies, Buddhist secularization, and the architecture of Pure Land Buddhism unique to East Asia. The fourth section concentrates on the formal aspects of East Asian Buddhist architecture, both physical and spatial, offering insights into such significant topics as the stone pagodas in ancient Japan, proportional principles of the timber-framed temples in ancient Korea, detailed survey of Buddhist architecture in a specific region, and the comparative study of architecture between Buddhism and other belief systems.

The contributing authors with diverse academic backgrounds are from all over the world, resulting in a colorful anthology of fresh angles, new perspectives, and innovative approaches. I thank all contributors for their excellent works and their willingness to share research through such a venue. Thanks to all external manuscript reviewers and the involved editorial board members for their selfless support and their safeguard of academic quality and vigor. Special thanks to the Managing Editor Kiki Zhang for her excellent work and steadfast support throughout the entire publication process. I also want to take this opportunity to thank my co-editor, Professor Aibin Yan from the East China University of Science and Technology, for his time and expertise, which are indispensable for the successful selection and production of such a volume. I hope readers find in this volume both valuable information and inspiring discoveries on Buddhist architecture in East Asia.

> **Shuishan Yu and Aibin Yan** *Editors*

## *Article* **Legends, Inspirations and Space: Landscape Sacralization of the Sacred Site Mount Putuo**

**Yiwei Pan 1,2 and Aibin Yan 1,\***


**\***Correspondence: yanaibin@ecust.edu.cn

**Abstract:** Mount Putuo in Zhejiang Province, China, is the most important holy land of Guanyin in East Asia. Landscape sacralization is a key modality by which sacred meaning is constructed. This paper takes several examples—the Tidal Sound Cave ("chaoyin dong" 潮音洞), the Well of the Immortal Mei ("Meixian jing" 梅仙井), the Well of Ge Hong ("Ge Hong jing" 葛洪井), the Well of the Immortal ("xianren jing" 仙人井), and Duangu Pier ("Duan Gu daotou" 短姑道頭)—to analyze the three types of processes of sacralization. The Tidal Sound Cave is a re-construction of the founding myths; Well of the Immortal Mei, the Well of Ge Hong and the Well of the Immortal reflect harmony between local legends of Daoist immortals and the sacred Buddhist site; and the Duangu Pier accomplished its sanctification process in the course of local pilgrimage activities. By sorting out the mechanism and process of landscape sanctification and exploring the generation and renewal of landscape meaning, we can observe the logic of the construction of this sacred site.

**Keywords:** sacred site; Mount Putuo; Guanyin; legends; inspirations; space
