Bonsai is the Japanese art of growing and shaping miniature trees in containers, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of penjing. While both penjing and bonsai involve the cultivation of miniature trees, they differ in that penjing overall aims to showcase "wilder," more naturalistic scenes and encompasses a wider range of styles and designs, and may include various elements such as rocks, water features, and figurines, creating a more elaborate and dynamic scene; on the other hand, bonsai is more restrictively focused on a single tree or a group of trees of the same species, with a higher level of aesthetic refinement.
Similar versions of the art exist in other cultures, including the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese Hòn non bộ.
During the Tang dynasty, when penjing was at its height, the art was first introduced from China.