Portland Oregon

Journey to a Land of Water Wind and Fire

Epilogue 1: Portland Oregon

Classically Chinese

Well, we finally did make it down from McKenzie Pass, and completed our circle route by arriving once more in Eugene, over 1000 miles after we started from there 10 days ago. The next morning we caught the 9:00 AM Cascades Train up to Portland. Our train back east didn’t leave until 4:00 P.M. but the way the schedules worked out, it was best to take this early train, plus it left us more time in Portland.


One of the really good features about Amtrak travel is that in most cities, Richmond VA’s Staples Mills Road station being one of the worst exceptions, when you arrive at the station you are in the heart of town already. And if you have a lay-over, as we did, you have options other than sitting in a straight-backed plastic chair attempting to read the latest novel, the newspaper, or even, horrors, papers from your place of business.

Instead you can check your bags (there is a fee per bag), and walk to a nearby “destination” and check it out. And that is what we did.


I had had a layover in Portland on 2 previous occasions (including the layover on the way out on this trip). Each time I/we had considered visiting the Portland Classical Chinese Garden which is within easy walking distance of the station. But for various reasons I/we had not gone. But today would be different. So we checked our bags and off we went.

The Portland Classical Chinese Garden occupies an entire city block (about 40,000 square feet) that used to be a parking lot. The garden is the result of a Sister Cities agreement between Portland Oregon and Suzhou China. Artisans from Suzhou came over and built this garden in downtown Portland, and in return, Portland gave Suzhou a Rose Garden (Portland prides itself on its roses). Ironically, the rocks used in the garden (more on these later) were imported from the area around Suzhou China, but the plants were strictly American-grown descendents of Chinese plants that had been brought over many years ago. This is because of the strict agricultural importation requirements in place today.


I have been in Chinese (and Chinese-influenced) gardens before. When I was stationed in Korea back in the late 1960’s I visited several of the palaces in Seoul, and walked through their gardens. However, these visits were all in the winter, and, to be honest, everything in Korea was a bit ragged from a seasonal and an economic point-of-view at that time. Korea in the late 1960’s was just beginning to overcome the ill effects of having your front yard, your back yard, your kitchen etc. in the middle of a war zone with bombs, rockets, bullets, mines, runaway tanks etc. They had not yet produced their economic miracle (though evidences of its emergence were all around us). Accordingly, the palaces I visited, while public recreation areas, were not necessarily being kept up to the standards of a strict oriental garden.

More importantly, when we were in Vancouver BC about 4 years ago, A. and I visited the Sun-Yat-Sen Garden in that city. Thus, we both had some idea of what we would see in this garden. And this helped because often when an American goes to visit a “Garden” one expects to see lots of flowers such as these poinsettias at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh.


Then again, one often expects to see certain total plant environments replicated, as in this steamy tropical forest at the United States Botanical Garden in DC.

And if the garden is outside, one often expects to see elaborate designs made using the plants as the materials, such as in the maze in the Governor’s Palace gardens in Colonial Williamsburg VA.

But a Chinese Garden is a bit different. It is composed of five elements. The first element is water, both still, as in this shot of Zither Lake in the Garden, and also in waterfalls.

The second, and most obvious component is “flowers” such as this lotus blossom. Flowers in a Chinese garden are chosen to provide the maximum amount of beauty, the maximum amount of the time during the year. Further, they are often chosen with an eye towards whether or not they might be edible.


These two elements, water and flowers, are common in many western gardens. However, they are only the beginning of a Classical Chinese Garden.

The third element of a Classical Chinese Garden is the presence of many rocks. Some of these rocks have been placed upright in this garden. They are called Tai Hu, and are from a particular limestone quarry located at a freshwater lake near Suzhou. They are considered especially auspicious due to their porous nature and their weight distribution. Now I must admit, having spent a lot of time in Greenbrier County WV, I have seen, touched, moved, got mad at, etc. many limestone rocks. I knew that for all their hardness when struck with a pick ax, or a drill bit, they are water soluble. That is to say, when exposed to water they will quickly erode. All of that said, I had never quite seen anything like the limestone rocks I saw standing in this garden.

But not all the rocks are standing up in the garden. Many small river pebbles were laid out in intricate patterns to form the walk-ways that one uses as one strolls through the garden. There are several designs for these stones, only one of which is shown here.


The fourth element of a Chinese Garden is the architecture. A Classical Chinese Garden is noted for having many structures, such as the ones pictured in the first shot up above. This is because a Classical Chinese Garden was not only a place of beauty to visit, it was often considered to be an essential part of the home’s living space.

But it was not only that the Classical Chinese Garden has many structures, many American Gardens of late have been sprouting wooden decks, patios, gazebos and metal equipment buildings. In a Classical Chinese Garden it is important to consider the way in which these buildings were designed.

One of the more prominent features in the buildings is the presence of “Leak Windows” as pictured in this shot. They received this name because they allow the beauty in the garden to leak through the wall into the adjoining space.


But there is more to this type of architecture than just windows. There are stone carvings on the walls, around the eves and even on the roofs. Also there is a generous use of wood, in furniture, and also in many elaborate carvings around the windows and sometimes on the walls.

Finally, and this is the 5th element, in a true Classical Chinese Garden there are literary inscriptions, such as seen on the two banners. These inscriptions are found at several places in the garden both inside the building and outside, on rocks, over the waterfall, and even hidden in amongst the plants. These inscriptions are pieces of Chinese poetry. The poems used are chosen with an eye towards deepening one’s experience of the garden.

All in all, we had a very delightful lay-over in Portland. It sure beat sitting around an airport reading a week-old magazine and eating greasy fast food.