Portland Classical Chinese Garden is a walled garden enclosing a full city block, roughly 40,000 square feet in the Chinatown area of the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. The garden is influenced by many of the famous classical gardens in Suzhou.
Most of the plants featured in the garden are indigenous to China. However, no plants were brought from China due to import bans. Instead, many plants were found in gardens and nurseries in Oregon, having grown from plants brought over before the import ban. Some plants in the garden are as old as 100 years. There are over a hundred trees, orchids, water plants, perennials, bamboos, and unusual shrubs located throughout the garden. In total there are more than 400 species. The dominant feature is the artificial Lake Zither at the center of the garden.
The garden was built by 65 workers from Suzhou on land donated by NW Natural; groundbreaking occurred in July 1999, and construction was completed 14 months later at a cost of about $12.8 million. 500 tons of rock were brought from China and used in the garden. The garden's grand opening was on September 14, 2000.
Entry Plaza: The large inscribed rock is one of many pieces of rockery from the famous Lake Tai adjacent to the city of Suzhou. Stone is the hard skeletal structure of the world. What most often intrigues the first-time visitor to our Chinese Garden are the strangely-shaped standing stones; these are the highly prized Taihu stones. Formed of limestone brought up from the bed of Lake Tai, only 30 kilometers west of Suzhou, they demonstrate the soft force of water as it wears away hard stone over many years. You will find Taihu stones piled into false mountains, set up as monolithic abstract sculpture, and lining the edge of the Garden’s lake.
Hall of Brocade Clouds This is the main building of the Garden where traditionally the host meets and entertains the guests. In Chinese tradition, garden landscape without poetry is not complete, and Lan Su Yuan is graced with a wealth of poetic inscriptions. Traditionally, the owners of such gardens were scholar officials in the Ming imperial court. Poetry writing and recitation, along with an extensive understanding of classical texts, were essential requirements for successful passage of China’s rigorous civil service examinations. Discovering poetic inscriptions engraved into rocks, framing doorways, or above gateways have long enhanced the natural wonders of the Garden and added another level of intellectual pleasure to everyone’s experience. Poetic inscriptions reveal deeper meanings of the Lake Tai rocks, moving water, symbolic flowers, and elegant architecture.
Painted Boat in Misty Rain Flanked on one side by willow, banana, and hibiscus and on the other by lotus on the lake. It is important to remember that Ming dynasty gardens were part of the extended living space for the adjacent family home. Therefore, the placement of the principal buildings was the most important element in the layout of a garden in order to achieve a harmonious integration of architecture within the natural world. Suzhou gardens are often referred to as ‘living landscape paintings’ in which Tao, or the Way, overwhelms even the people inside.
Moon-Locking Pavilion In the Chinese Garden, the solidity of stone (yang) is balanced by the softness of water (yin). When opposites--yin yang--are in balance, there is rejuvenating qi energy. As the circulatory system of the world, water brings vital energy to the Garden and to its visitors.
Tower of Cosemtic Reflections The only two-story buiding in the Garden is the teahouse. Visitors can come in for some refreshments and the Garden offers classes on traditional tea ceremony. The Classic of Tea introduces the concepts of tea as a symbol for the harmony and mysterious unity of the universe.
Flowers Bathing in Spring Rain This pavilion walls carved by ginko wood panels illustrate actual Suzhou gardens.
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