While the awareness of landscape in Europe is relatively young - it only appears in Renaissance painting - it emerged in China more than a thousand years earlier and has continued to develop without significant interruption to this day. In contrast, in Europe: after a peak in landscape painting in the 19th century, interest declines in the 20th century, only to be revived with concerns about nature and the environment. Jullien makes the differences in the concept and perception of nature and landscape in Eastern and Western thought productive for our understanding in this foundational study. He demonstrates why China developed the concept of landscape so early and in such a central way, and how it can contribute to the further development of our concept of landscape and perhaps to its redefinition.