early 17th century Potosi sounds like such a fascinating place - governed by an early modern empire that is still mentally medieval, the birth of modern capital made possible by the most primitive brutal extractions. arise from nothing but the forces of empire and capital

pictures taken at Zhuo Zheng Yuan拙政园，Shi Zi Lin狮子林 and Wang Shi Yuan网师园

the delicate balance between everything being carefully designed and everything appears natural and free-flowing

travelled to Suzhou this weekend and enjoyed the lovely art of 17-19th century chinese landscaping