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 ...

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).

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

History

Features

See also

References

External links