Tree and stone culture gives a minimal impression of art

"Thanks to the completion of the new roof garden at Shanghai Museum East, we now have a great venue for more exhibitions and events in this field," he says at the opening.

As visitors walk past one rare rock after another, they soon find themselves stepping outdoors to the roof garden, where larger rocks are on exhibition alongside the penjing presented by Shanghai Botanic Garden.

Penjing is a traditional Chinese art and craft featuring the design of miniature trees in pots, also known as bonsai. In Shanghai and nearby regions, the practice of cultivating penjing has gone on for more than 400 years, developing into the youngest Shanghai-style school, among the five leading ones of Chinese penjing, according to Yan Wei, director of Shanghai Botanic Garden, which is co-host of the exhibition.

The Shanghai-style penjing is characterized by its free forms, lively and smooth lines inspired by natural landscapes and Chinese ink painting.

More than 140 species of plants are widely used in Shanghai-style penjing design, such as a wide range of trees of the pine and cypress families, Chinese elm, and Chinese little leaf boxwood.

Many of these plants have a long life span. "Very often our colleagues are working with penjing designed by former generation botanists," according to Wang Juan, head of the penjing administration center at Shanghai Botanic Garden. "When a penjing reaches its designed form, it can live on like that for decades, sometimes even more than a century, if taken good care of."

If you go

The Resonance of Wood and Stone: Jiangnan Scholar's Rocks and Shanghai-style Penjing

10 am-6 pm, Sept 6-Nov 11, closed on Tuesday (except for national holidays).

Roof Garden (5F) & the Atrium of the Jiangnan Gallery (4F), Shanghai Museum East, 1952 Century Avenue, Shanghai.

Reservation is required.