Lan Su Chinese Garden (), formerly the Portland Classical Chinese Garden and titled the Garden of Awakening Orchids, is a walled
Chinese garden enclosing a full city block, roughly in the
Chinatown area of the
Old Town Chinatown
Old Town Chinatown is the official Chinatown of the Northwest section of Portland, Oregon. The Willamette River forms its eastern boundary, separating it from the Lloyd District and the Kerns and Buckman neighborhoods. It includes the Portland ...
neighborhood of
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
, United States. The garden is influenced by many of the famous
classical gardens in
Suzhou.
History
In the early 1980s an effort was started to build a Chinese garden in Portland, and in 1988 Suzhou and Portland became sister cities. Portland mayor
Vera Katz
Vera Katz (née Pistrak; August 3, 1933 – December 11, 2017) was an American Democratic politician in the state of Oregon. She was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives and was the 49th mayor of Portland, ...
continued those efforts in the 1990s and assisted in the non-profit group that operates the garden in finding a site for a garden.
The garden was designed by Kuang Zhen
and built by 65 artisans from Suzhou on land donated by
NW Natural on a
99-year lease
A 99-year lease was, under historic common law, the longest possible term of a lease of real property. It is no longer the law in most common law jurisdictions today, yet 99-year leases continue to be common as a matter of business practice and ...
;
groundbreaking occurred in July 1999, and construction was completed 14 months later at a cost of about $12.8 million. 500 tons of rock, including
Chinese scholar's rocks
''Gongshi'' (), also known as scholar's rocks, are naturally occurring or shaped rocks which are traditionally appreciated by Chinese scholars.Metropolitan Museum of Art "The World of Scholars' Rocks Gardens, Studios, and Paintings" retrieved ...
from
Lake Tai
Taihu (), also known as Lake Tai or Lake Taihu, is a lake in the Yangtze Delta and one of the largest freshwater lakes in China. The lake is in Jiangsu province and a significant part of its southern shore forms its border with Zhejiang. Wi ...
(
Taihu stone
Taihu stone () or porous stone is a kind of limestone produced at the foot of Dongting Mountain () in Suzhou, which is close to Lake Tai. Due to long-term surging by water, this kind of stone features pores and holes.
These stones are very popula ...
), were brought from China and used in the garden. The garden's grand opening was on September 14, 2000.
The construction of the central lake has created problems at times, such as leakage and one case of three visitors fallen into it.
In 2010, to mark the 10-year anniversary of the garden, the garden was renamed to Lan Su Chinese Garden. Su represents Suzhou and Lan represents Portland.
Features
About 90% 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,
orchid
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...
s, water plants,
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...
s,
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...
s, 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.
It includes examples of a number of structures common to
Chinese gardens, including covered walkways (''lang''), bridges (''qiáo''), and structures such as:
*Celestial Hall of Permeating Fragrance (a ''xuan'', or scholar's studio for practicing the
Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar);
*Flowers Bathing in Spring Rain (a ''shuixie'', or water-side pavilion);
*Painted Boat in Misty Rain (a ''fáng'', or boat-shaped pavilion):
*Moon Locking Pavilion (a ''tíng'', or stopping place); and
*Tower of Cosmic Reflection (a ''lóu'', or two-storied building).
See also
*
List of botanical gardens in the United States
*
List of Chinese gardens
This is a list of Chinese-style gardens both within China and elsewhere in the world.
Greater China
This list is organized by region within the Greater China region, roughly following the structure laid out by Maggie Keswick in ''The Chinese Gar ...
*
History of Chinese Americans in Portland, Oregon
According to ''The Oregonian'', 18,000 (7.5 percent) of the Portland metropolitan area's 135,000 Asian/Pacific residents live along 82nd Avenue, in an area dubbed New Chinatown, as of 2012.
Old Town Chinatown features the Lan Su Chinese Garde ...
References
External links
Lan Su Chinese Garden Official Website*
{{Parks in Portland, Oregon
2000 establishments in Oregon
Botanical gardens in Portland, Oregon
Chinese-American culture in Portland, Oregon
Chinese gardens
Northwest Portland, Oregon
Old Town Chinatown
Parks in Portland, Oregon