Portland Classical Chinese Garden

Lan Su Chinese Garden ( zh, t=蘭蘇園, s=兰苏园, p=Lán Sū Yuán , j=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 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.

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.

Name Origin

Originally 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. 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.

Current Events

In 2024, Portland City Officials erected a security fence around the Lan Su Chinese Garden to stop repeated vandalism and hate crimes. 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. As stated by Elizabeth Nye who is the current Garden Director, there has been around a 10% decline in visitors from 2023 to 2024.

Features

Plants

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, orchids, water plants, perennials, bamboos, and unusual shrubs located throughout the garden. In total there are more than 400 species. 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

Water

The dominant feature is the artificial Lake Zither at the center of the garden. 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. 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." Reflection off a body of water such as Lake Zither also helps enhance and broaden the area visually.

Garden structure

It includes examples of a number of structures common to Chinese gardens, including covered walkways (''lang''), bridges (''qiáo''), and door threshold (ménkǎn.) 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)

See also

* History of Chinese Americans in Portland, Oregon
* List of botanical gardens in the United States
* Mei Sum Bakery

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
Old Town Chinatown
Parks in Northwest Portland, Oregon