2015 Canada West: Sun Yat Sen Garden (6/25/2015)

Thursday, June 25, 2015
We checked out of the hotel and began exploring Vancouver.

Memorial statue outside the Police Museum

Chinatown street light

Suan Phan/Very Large Abacus (2005, by Gwen Boyle),
which is functional

Very Large Abacus with beads
of British Columbia jade

We were early for the Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden, so went to the Dr Sun Yat Sen Park (1985, designed by architect Joe Wai and landscape architect Donald Vaughan) next door. The design is based on the harmony of four main elements: rock, water, plants, and architecture.

Dr Sun Yat Sen Park (KSS),
with bust of the "Father of Modern China"

The park is part of the Classical Chinese Garden,but is free to the public

View of the Double Corridor in the Classical Chinese Garden

Frames of Reference (2015, by Martina Szijarto) (KSS)

Another Frame of Reference

Urban Botanicals (2015, by Nicole Dextras) (KSS)

Meditation on Land (2015, by Haruko Okano)

Gazebo reflection

Hydrangea macrophylla normalis/Lacecap Hydrangea cultivar

Hydrangea macrophylla normalis/Lacecap Hydrangea cultivar

Now for the Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden, the first Scholar's Garden built outside China. Created on a former parking lot by 52 artisans and horticulturalists from Suzhou, PRC (with Wang Zu Xin as the chief architect) working with Joe Wai and Donald Vaughan, it replicates a 14th-century Ming garden.

Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden entrance

China Maple Hall, formal reception hall,
with naturally stained nanmu wood pillars

China Maple Hall:
Double-sided Suzhou silk embroidery, side 1

China Maple Hall:
Double-sided silk embroidery, side 2

China Maple Hall:
Dragon costume head (KSS)

Chona Maple Hall:
Camphor rafters

Gingko penjing/bonsai (KSS)

Main Courtyard, where the China Maple Hall is balanced by
an open-sided gazebo, the Cloudy and Colourful Pavilion

Main Courtyard of hand-laid pebble patterns,
with smooth and rough pebbles from China

Taihu/Lake Tai rock

Moon gate to the penjing garden

Double Corridor

Brynne and Kent

Jade Water Pavilion, with a Heaven (circular) and Earth (square) gates

Jade Water Pavilion lattice-framed window (KSS)

Trachemys scripta elegans/Red-eared Slider (KSS) 

Kent and Brynne framed at the Lookout

Door lock (KSS)

Duck and ducklings (KSS)

"Heavenly well" with live bamboo
and stone bamboo shoots

Individually-patterned "Leak Window,"
allows air, light, and another view to leak in

Reflections in water is a classical garden element (KSS)

The black Imperial kiln-fired roof tiles balance the white walls;
the overhanging drip tiles have the character for shou/long life
and stylized bats/good luck symbols

Scholar's Study

Wu Zi Gua/Solanum Mammosum/Nipplefruit
is auspicious for the Chinese New Year because of the golden fruits

Scholar's Study: Rock landscape (KSS)

Lattice framed window refelection (KSS)

Door handles (we never found the bat door handles) (KSS)

Hall of One Hundred Rivers:
Local artisan exhibits; jacket by Terry Sasaki (KSS)

Crane, and painting by Terry Sasaki (KSS)

Hair ornaments made from Kingfisher feathers

"Leak windows" and Taihu rock

Finished with the Classical Chinese Garden, we headed back to the car.

Chinatown Memorial Monument (2003, by
Arthur Shu-ren Cheng) with stylized character meaning Centre
and statues of a WWII veteran and railway worker (KSS)

Chinatown sign, Vancouver's Chinatown
is the 3rd largest enclave outside of China

Next: Stanley Park.