Karin Albert

is a writer, public speaker, and penjing specialist who studied and researched this ancient Chinese art during a five-year stay in China in the 1980's. She was the first foreigner invited to join the Shanghai Penjing Society and was introduced to many fine artists at a time when penjing was virtually unknown to most Westerners. She was the foreign investor and co-founder of a Sino-American joint venture company that became one of the leading exporters of penjing and related items to the U.S. and Europe.

Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Ms. Albert became a pioneer in introducing penjing to bonsai circles in the U.S. and Germany, her native country. For the past twenty years, she has interpreted penjing and other aspects of Chinese culture to the West through the publication of numerous articles in bonsai and gardening magazines and through public appearances. She is the translator of Hu Yunhua's book Chinese Penjing: Miniature Trees and Landscapes published by Timber Press in 1988. Since 1991, she has organized tours for and collaborated with Qingquan 'Brook' Zhao, a penjing artist she met in China at a national penjing convention in 1986. Mr. Zhao is now widely recognized as China's foremost penjing master, and he is a popular speaker and demonstrator at national and international conventions around the globe. Ms. Albert is the translator and designer of Mr. Zhao’s book Penjing: Worlds of Wonderment, now considered a classic on the art of penjing. The book was published in 1997 by her small publishing and consulting firm, Venus Communications. Ms. Albert is particularly interested in the cultural, philosophical, and spiritual context of the art.