"Extreme Aesthetics: Records of the Elegance of Southern Scholars in the Late Ming Dynasty" Author: Zhao Baitian Publisher: Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House

Introduction
This is a history of the elegant life of southern scholars in the late Ming Dynasty. The book is based on time and characters. Through a large number of interesting historical materials and notes, it connects more than 30 extraordinary people in the late Ming Dynasty with different destinies. They put their spirits into objects, integrate elegance into daily life, and get nourishment from a painting, a piece of ink, a cup of tea, and a burner of incense, showing the ultimate aesthetic taste and life pursuit of the ancient Chinese.
Although the book describes people and events in ancient times, it can soothe people's confusion and anxiety today, enrich and calm our hearts, and allow us to live a free and romantic life.

About the Author
Zhao Baitian is a contemporary writer and humanist who has been engaged in the research of Chinese intellectual history for more than ten years. His main research areas include the culture of Jiangnan in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the modernity of modern port cities, and the research of modern intellectuals in daily life. He has written novels such as "Hard's Lover" and "The Comprador's Daughter", and the collections of essays such as "Fragments of History", "Flowers and Trees in the Rocks", and "The Maze of Empire".
Table of contents · · · · · ·
001 / The Spirit of Antiquities - Xiang Yuanbian, the Time Collector, and His Times
093 / A fleeting dream, a land filled with emptiness - Tu Changqing, who fell in love and could not turn back
121 / Ending with Shuiyunxin/
——Tang Xianzu's fantasy world
179 / Ink, Hero, Bandit: The Sea Legend of Ink Worker Luo Longwen
217 / Being a disciple of the ancients: Wu Qizhen, the art dealer possessed by the devil
247 / In the Realm of the Sensual: A Pseudo-elegant History of the Fragrance Age
273 / Southern Garden - Qi Biaojia and his "Yu" Garden
313 / Waking up from a dream in a flash - Dong Ruoyu in Wanjing Tower
339 / Rain and wind blow my hair full of catkins - "Making" Liu Jingting
381 / Nine Smoke - Huang Zhouxing's Fantasy Garden
411 / Drunken Eyes on Green Mountains - Chen Hongshou, a Heart as Strong as Iron
469 / An Untied Boat: The Dream of the Tycoon Wang Ranming in the West Lake
513 / The Art and Literature of an Era - Zhou Lianggong's Notebook
558 / "Extreme Aesthetics" Character Biography
571 / Postscript: My Imagination of the South
574 / References