Lu Rong (1436-94) was a Ming dynasty scholar-official.Halperin Mark :

Mark Halperin is associate professor of East Asian languages and cultures at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of Out of the Cloister: Literati Perspectives on Buddhism in Sung China, 960-1279 (Harvard University Asia Center, Harvard University Press, 2006).

Lu Rong (1436–1494), a native of Suzhou Prefecture, spent his career in positions at the capital, the northern frontier, and south China. Mark Halperin is associate professor of East Asian languages and cultures at the University of California, Davis. He is author of Out of the Cloister: Literati Perspectives on Buddhism in Sung China, 960–1279.

"The collection is first and foremost a useful resource for social history, with the themes of gender, religion, and technology especially prominent throughout. . . . [A] wonderful teaching resource at the undergraduate level."

"The major contribution of this translation lies, first and foremost, in the rich insight it provides into mid-Ming China, a period that is generally neglected by scholars. . . . Overall, Halperin’s translation of Lu Rong's Shuyuan zaji is an invaluable addition to the corpus of English-language works that enrich our understanding of Ming China. It offers scholars a rare glimpse into the daily life and intellectual milieu of a representative Ming Confucian scholar-official. The book's interdisciplinary appeal makes it a useful resource for historians, literary scholars, and students of Chinese philosophy. The shorter-length entries and kaleidoscopic subject matter also make it an ideal reading material for classical Chinese language and literature courses."

"Mark Halperin's translation from Lu Rong's Miscellaneous Records from the Bean Garden is a treasure trove of both subjective and objective gems. It highlights the belief system of Lu Rong himself and provides invaluable information about the mid-Ming period"

"The translation is introduced by a witty and perceptive description of the contemporaneous Ming context as well as a detailed discussion of Lu. What makes this book relevant to the scholar of religion is the many instances Lu the Confucian gazes effectively at his religious lifeworld, which one encounters in many of his depictions of Ming quotidian life. Scholars of Chinese religions and Confucianism will have much to gain from this."

"Entering the Bean Garden, you enter the mental world of someone who, six centuries ago, made sense of his life in ways sometimes uncannily familiar, and sometimes impossible for us to imagine. Halperin's translation brings China's fifteenth century to life in fresh and surprising ways."—Timothy Brook, author of The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties

"Reveals glimpses of fifteenth-century China that are not found in more orthodox histories. This is a necessary contribution to the growing corpus of informal Chinese literature available in English translation."—James M. Hargett, author of Jade Mountains and Cinnabar Pools: The History of Travel Literature in Imperial China

"This first English translation of a major Ming biji presents fascinating material and vivid details about every aspect of Ming China."—Cong Ellen Zhang, author of Performing Filial Piety in Northern Song China (960–1127): Family, State, and Native Place