Place

In this chapter, I will examine three key aspects of the concept of place: spatiality and temporality, aesthetics and ethics, and memory and protection. In terms of spatiality and temporality, it is related to space and time. However, by space and time, I don’t mean the mathematical, geometrical and physical sense of place and time, rather it is humanized space and time. Emerson and Chinese philosophy have deeply influenced people’s experience of place and time in their respective cultures. In terms of aesthetics and ethics, the concept of place is related to aesthetic appreciation and moral obligation towards place. For Emerson, wilderness is regarded as place. However, for Chinese philosophy, place is deeply related to agricultural land, gardens, mountains and waters and so on. Wilderness is not considered as a place. The third aspect of place is memory and protection. Memory is deeply related to place. Memory is guided by values and when we value a place, we tend to protect it.