Chinese Classical Garden Photo Gallery
This is the Chinese Classical Garden (the Garden of Awakening Orchids) in Portland which opened September 2000. These were taken about 2 weeks after it opened. It is the largest classical Chinese Garden outside of China.
The garden was designed by Kuang Zhen Yan who is the director of the Suzhou Institute of Landscape Architectural Design. Suzhou is Portland's sister city. Everything was built in Suzhou and then shipped to Portland. All of the stone in the garden (500 tons) was exported from China.
This is a picture of the Lounge House which is called Reflections in Clear Ripples. Lounge houses are typically used for meditation, strategic games, or other cultural activities.
This is the Knowing the Fish Pavilion and is for relaxing and watching the fish in the lake. When I went there, the fish hadn't arrived to the garden yet. This also has a view of the building above (you can see this pavilion on the right edge of the photo above.)
This view looks north between the above two buildings across the lake. This is a good example of how the designers organized the garden to look much bigger than it is. Way in the back through the bridge, you can see the two story high teahouse.
This was taken inside the Celestial House of Permeating Fragrance also known as the Scholars Studio. Typically this room would be used for practicing calligraphy, but it will be used for displays. The wood carvings are done in ginkgo wood and most were carved in China and then shipped to Portland.
This is a view looking between the lounge house and the pavilion to the south
Because of strict import laws, all of the plants in the garden were donated by various individuals and companies in the United States. This area is known as the Scholars Courtyard and the design of the mosaic represents plum petals on ice crystals. Chinese gardens are meant to awaken all five senses; when you walk across the mosaics, you can feel the texture through your shoes. The mosaic floors were laid by hand one stone at at time.
This building is the Tower of Cosmic Reflections. It will serve as a teahouse. The view from it is called Pine Winds with Cranes.
I really like this scene; I think the tour guide said that it is the favorite of the designer.
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