Neha Patil (Editor)

Lan Su Chinese Garden

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Website
  
lansugarden.org

Phone
  
+1 503-228-8131

Type of business
  
Chinese garden

Area
  
3,716 m²

Opened
  
2000

Lan Su Chinese Garden

Location
  
Portland, Oregon, United States

Address
  
239 NW Everett St, Portland, OR 97209, USA

Hours
  
Closed now Saturday10AM–4PMSunday10AM–4PMMonday10AM–4PMTuesday10AM–4PMWednesday10AM–4PMThursday10AM–4PMFriday10AM–4PM

Similar
  
Oregon Museum of Science a, Portland Art Museum, Pacific Northwest College o, Warner Pacific College, Oregon Historical Society

Profiles

Lan su chinese garden portland oregon youtube


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.

Contents

Food in bloom open house at lan su chinese garden


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 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; 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. 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

Most 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, orchids, water plants, perennials, bamboos, 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

    Lan Su Chinese Garden Wikipedia