"Here is my try at it:
A bonsai is a dwarfed living tree or shrub or a group of them, artistically styled by man and grown with special horticultural technics in a man-made container or natural slab or rock."
Aldeveaux, this is a pretty good stab at it.As Hans pointed out, an "official" definition of bonsai, especially from the world wide bonsai community, would be a difficult thing to achieve As you have seen, it is many things to many people. Some of the "bonsai powers that be" in Japan think for a bonsai to be authentic, it must be Japanese...
