Lan Su Chinese Garden (simplified Chinese: 兰苏园; traditional Chinese: 蘭蘇園; pinyin: Lán Sū Yuán; Jyutping: Laan4 Sou1 Jyun4), formerly the Portland Classical Chinese Garden and titled the Garden of Awakening Orchids, is a walled Chinese garden enclosing a full city block, roughly 40,000 square feet (4,000 m2) in the Chinatown area of the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, United States. The garden is influenced by many of the famous classical gardens in Suzhou.
| Lan Su Chinese Garden | |
|---|---|
 Lake Zither at the center of the garden | |
  Lan Su Chinese Garden  Lan Su Chinese Garden  Lan Su Chinese Garden | |
| Type | Chinese garden |
| Location | Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Coordinates | 45°31′32″N 122°40′23″W / 45.52565°N 122.67299°W |
| Area | 40,000 sq ft (4,000 m2) |
| Opened | 2000 |
| Website | lansugarden.org |
History
editIn 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 continued those efforts in the 1990s and assisted in the non-profit group that operates the garden in finding a site for a garden.[1] The garden was designed by Kuang Zhen[2] and built by 65 artisans from Suzhou on land donated by NW Natural on a 99-year lease;[1] 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 from Lake Tai (Taihu stone), were brought from China and used in the garden. The garden's grand opening was on September 14, 2000.[1] The construction of the central lake has created problems at times, such as leakage and one case of three visitors fallen into it.[2]
Name Origin
editOriginally named Portland’s Classical Chinese Garden, the garden was renamed to Lan Su Chinese Garden in January 2010 in celebration of the garden’s tenth anniversary.[1] The name derives from the combination of the characters Lan from the Chinese translation of Portland and Su from Suzhou and is a representation of both cities being present in the garden. The character used for Lan (simplified Chinese 兰) (traditional Chinese 蘭) also means orchid and the character used for Su (simplified Chinese 苏) (traditional Chinese 蘇) also means to awaken, so one can also translate the name as Garden of Awakening Orchids.[3]
Current Events
editIn 2024, Portland City Officials erected a security fence around the Lan Su Chinese Garden to stop repeated vandalism and hate crimes.[4] Incidents include an axe being thrown through one of the tea house windows, the smearing of feces on a door, people engaging in drug use in-view of the gardens, racist pamphlets and their welcome sign being struck with a bottle full of red paint which have caused some employees to quit. Incidents such as these as well as the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the tourism to the gardens with the garden losing about 50,000 visitors per year starting from the time the pandemic hit.[5] As stated by Elizabeth Nye who is the current Garden Director, there has been around a 10% decline in visitors from 2023 to 2024.[6]
Features
editPlants
editAbout 90% of the plants featured in the garden are indigenous to China.[7] 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.[1] Some of the plants that can be found in the garden include:
- Chinese parasol tree
- Daylily
- Star jasmine
- Variegated mock orange
- Hybrid gardenias
- Wintersweets
- Autumn flowering-osmanthus
- Chinese 12-month rose
- Southern magnolia
- Yulan magnolia
- Loquat
- Holly-leaf osmanthus
- Dove tree[8]
Water
editThe dominant feature is the artificial Lake Zither at the center of the garden.[1] Water covers 8,000 square feet (20%) of the garden's total area, its visual impact makes it feel much more widespread and dominant throughout the space.[9] The inclusion of waterways such as Lake Zither is a type of technique used in Chinese gardens to avoid using straight lines. "The simplest law of geometry is that the straight line between two points is the shortest. Thus, twisting the lines of corridors, paths, watercourses, and even the boundaries of buildings make a space feel larger."[10] Reflection off a body of water such as Lake Zither also helps enhance and broaden the area visually.
Garden structure
editIt includes examples of a number of structures common to Chinese gardens, including covered walkways (lang), bridges (qiáo), and door threshhold (ménkǎn.)[11] Examples of such structures in Lan Su Chinese Garden are:
- 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)
- Tower of Cosmic Reflection (a lóu, or two-storied building)
- Crabapple Blossom Gate (a doorway with a ménkǎn, or door threshold)[11]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f Beaven, Steve (January 3, 2010). "Portland Classical Chinese Garden celebrates 10th anniversary with a new name - Lan Su Chinese Garden". The Oregonian. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
- ^ a b Gragg, Randy (2000-12-10). "OUTSIDE THE GARDEN WALLS". The Oregonian. pp. F08.
- ^ Li, Han (2017). "Another World Lies Beyond: Three Chinese Gardens in the US". Education About Asia. 22 (3) – via Association for Asian Studies.
- ^ "Portland City Officials Fence in Lan Su Chinese Garden to Stop Vandalism". 3 August 2024.
- ^ "City of Portland puts a fence around Lan Su Chinese Garden in response to vandalism". kgw.com. 2024-08-05. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "Lan Su Chinese Garden vandalism addressed in Mayor Wheeler public safety plan". KOIN.com. 2024-08-23. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ Olson, Donald (2014). The Pacific Northwest Garden Tour. Timber Press, Inc. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-60469-451-2.
- ^ Brigham, Don (2003). "Poetry for the Senses". Landscape Architecture. 93 (1): 28–30. ISSN 0023-8031. JSTOR 44673545.
- ^ Hinshaw, Mark (2003). "Secret Garden in the City". Landscape Architecture. 93 (1): 88–95. ISSN 0023-8031. JSTOR 44673554.
- ^ Yu, Kongjian; Del Tredici, Peter (1993). "Infinity in a Bottle Gourd: Understanding the Chinese Garden". Arnoldia. 53 (1): 2–7. doi:10.5962/p.251088. ISSN 0004-2633. JSTOR 42955159.
- ^ a b Brash, Carol (2011). "Classical Chinese Gardens in Twenty-first Century America: Cultivating the Past". ASIANetwork Exchange. 19 (1): 17–29 – via Academic Search Complete.