Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Classical Chinese garden in Vancouver, Canada
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is a Ming-style garden at 578 Carrall Street in Vancouver, modelled on Suzhou gardens. A free outer park designed by Joe Wai and Donald Vaughan links to the walled inner garden, where a pond, craggy rocks and sparsely planted foliage are arranged by feng shui principles. The white entrance building has a dark tiled roof, a circular window and two grey stone planters.
The garden was built in 1985–1986 on former railway fill land at 578 Carrall Street. The outer park was designed by Vancouver architects Joe Wai and Donald Vaughan, while the inner garden was conceived by chief architect Wang Zu-Xin with experts from the Landscape Architecture Company of Suzhou. It opened on 24 April 1986, timed for Expo 86, funded by the Chinese and Canadian governments and the local Chinese community.
The garden is named for Sun Yat-Sen, who stayed in Vancouver three times while raising funds for the Chinese nationalist movement; local nationalists helped finance the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. Its Chinese name, Zhongshan Park, honours him as "father of modern China." Bats, dragons and phoenixes appear in objects throughout, and the garden hosts concerts, art and horticulture exhibitions, lectures and traditional Chinese festival events.
The site has two parts: the free outer Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park and the walled inner garden, which charges admission and is entered from Carrall Street. The two are linked by the artificial pond. The garden lies in Chinatown beside the Chinese Cultural Centre, bounded by Carrall, Keefer and Columbia streets.
Every rock in the garden was specially imported from Suzhou, China, and over 50 craftspeople from China assembled all structures without nails, screws, or power tools. This traditional building method makes it a rare example of authentic Chinese craftsmanship in North America.
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