The Chinese Cultural Garden is a section of

Overfelt Gardens Overfelt Gardens are a park in San Jose, California, located in the Alum Rock district of East San Jose. History The land for the park was donated by Mildred Overfelt in 1959, in memory of her parents, William and Mary Overfelt, early San Jos ...

, in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

, located in East San Jose. The addition of the Chinese Cultural Garden to Overfelt is primarily the work of Chinese immigrant Frank Lowe, his wife Pauline (who serves as park docent), and Dr. Chen Li-Fu of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Features and events

Features include an ornamental Friendship Gate, the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, the Chiang Kai-shek Pavilion, a large statue of

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

, the Plum Pavilion, a sundial, and a carved, 15 ton black

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

stone, mined and shipped from the

Republic of China (Taiwan) Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

, donated by

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of his ...

, one of San Jose's

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

. The Friendship Gate is wide and tall, dedicated in July 1977. Materials, including 500-year-old juniper wood, were sourced from China. The characters written above the central portal are read right to left as: . The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is constructed from marble, bronze, and mahogany and was built in

, disassembled, then shipped and reassembled in San Jose. It features a ceramic tile roof weighing almost twenty tons. The large black stone is a gift from Tainan and is at least one million years old. It was placed in Overfelt Gardens on 10 October 1980, marking the Chinese day of independence from Imperial rule. The large red carved characters on the rock are , meaning loyalty. On the third Sunday of September, the park celebrates the Chinese Moon Festival. It is primarily an event to showcase

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

n performing arts, but also has arts and crafts for children and promotional booths from non-profit organizations, such as Cityteam and the San José Police Department.

Gallery

File:Memorial (5597882459).jpg, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall File:Plum Pavillion - Overfelt Garden (1347406841).jpg, Chiang Kai-shek Pavilion File:9914 CKS (28043785044).jpg, The Chiang Kai-shek pavilion features a bust of Chiang File:9927 Plum Pavilion (28554345812).jpg, Circular Plum Pavilion File:Confuscius (5597884849).jpg, Statue of

File:Black Rock 3495 (3639084478).jpg, Million-year-old black stone gift from

References

*City of San Jose Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Overfelt Gardens brochure, March 2001 revision

External links

Chinese Cultural Garden homepage
* * * * Chinese-American culture in the San Francisco Bay Area Parks in San Jose, California {{SanJoseCA-stub