Talk:Penjing

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[edit] Conflicting information cross-article

This article:

"(Maintenance and Care) The maintenance and care of penjing trees are similar to that of the bonsai, but the only difference is with the location of the plant being outdoors for penjing."

Bonsai article:

"(Location) Contrary to popular belief, bonsai are not suited for indoor culture, and if kept indoors will most likely die. While certain tropical plants (Ficus, Schefflera, etc.) may flourish indoors, most bonsai are developed from species of shrubs or trees that are adapted to temperate climates (conifers, maples, larch, etc) and require a period of dormancy. Most trees require several hours of direct or slightly filtered sun every day."

Am I misreading this, or is the Penjing article incorrect? ZNull 10:39, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

I noticed this as well. Only certain bonsai are suited for indoors growth, only certain species. Most are ment to be grown outdoors. I think you're right; the Penjin article is incorrect, especially if it's claiming that this is a "difference" between Bonsai and Penjing. AlexDitto 18:01, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Difference between Chinese Penjing and Japanese Bonsai

The above titled section lists some qualities of Chinese art but does not in any way detail differences between the identified forms, and adds no information about Penjing that is not available elsewhere in the article. If no one has made the section applicable to this article in the next week, I will be removing it. 144.15.115.165 14:29, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

The section was a copy-paste of the paragraph directly below it, so I removed it. It didn't fit the section header, either. Unfortunate... the article needs a section about the differences between the two arts (as the only one I've been able to discern is the use of tiny statues in Penjing) but I'm not sure where to put it or what to include. This page needs a lot of work. The section at the end with the huge list seems excessive. It needs sprucing. I'll try to help. AlexDitto 18:01, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bonsai and Penjing

It seems to me that the differences between Bonsai and Pengjing are not large. Moreover, the Bonsai article says: "The word Bonsai (盆栽) has been used by the West as an umbrella term for all miniature trees."

I'm wondering if there is really a need for separate articles. I know there is strong and tenacious resistance to the use of Japanese words for Chinese arts (and resentment that the name of the "derivative culture" has usurped the place of the original and authentic culture in English-language usage), but this has a lot to do with cultural chauvinism and not so much to do with the essence of the arts in question. This kind of petty quibbling over the spoils of the East Asian cultural sphere (and the deep hurt that China is not invariably given priority) is played out all over Wikipedia, from ume to Chinese dragon, to ink and wash painting, to name a few. Instead of fighting over this, the emphasis should be on enlightening readers. Articles should give a broad view over such East Asian (originally Chinese) arts rather than try and split them up by country to prevent the dirty Japanese from being given priority (sorry, but that's the mentality involved). If the same mentality reigned in the West, we would have separate articles for Classicism, classicisme, Klassizismus, Clasicismo, or cathedral, cathédrale, kathedrale, catedral, cattedrale, etc.

User:Bathrobe 17 March 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.104.161.144 (talk) 05:54, 17 March 2008 (UTC)